Evocación

8.9918.99

Listen to this album via these Streaming links or get it as High Res Download from NativeDSD.

SKU: COBRA0058 Category:

Description

A recording is a composition too. Not only does it contain compositions, but together they form a new entity. At least, that is the case with this new recording by the Dutch pianist and Liszt Competition prize winner Mengjie Han. He deliberately links Isaac Albéniz and Maurice Ravel. Strange bedfellows, those two? One of them epitomising all things Spanish, the other a Frenchman through and through. And rising between them, literally and metaphorically, the imposing peaks of the Pyrenees.

However, nothing is as it initially appears to be. Although of course Albéniz’s Iberia and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin can only be played consecutively, Mengjie Han would have preferred them to be heard ‘simultaneously’, so as to demonstrate how interwoven their idioms are. After all, Ravel is a lot more Spanish than you might expect, and Albe?niz more French. Ravel incorporates Spanish rhythms, often with that typically Spanish ambiance that you could – somewhat paradoxically – describe as rough and sultry; Albe?niz on the other hand scaled the greatest heights only after discovering French impres- sionism. They cross the Pyrenees in opposite directions, as it were, breathe in the foreign influences and use them to enrich their work.

Tracklist

1.
Iberia - El Albaicin
07:33
2.
Iberia - El Puerto
04:31
3.
Iberia - Evocación
06:18
4.
Iberia - Triana
05:29
5.
Iberia - Almeria
09:34
6.
Iberia - Malaga
05:13
7.
Le Tombeau de Couperin - Prelude
03:06
8.
Le Tombeau de Couperin - Fugue
03:27
9.
Le Tombeau de Couperin - Forlane
06:05
10.
Le Tombeau de Couperin - Rigaudon
03:13
11.
Le Tombeau de Couperin - Menuet
05:10
12.
Le Tombeau de Couperin - Toccata
03:49

Additional information

Format

, ,

Recording dates:

January 18, 19, 20 & 21, 2017

Microphones

Brüel & Kjaer, modified by Rens Heijnis

Cables

Microphone cables & Interlinks, Acoustic Revive

Digital Converters

dCS904

Recording location

Westvest90, Schiedam, The Netherlands

Mastering Engineer

Tom Peeters

Producer

Tom Peeters

Notes

The recording was originally digitized using the dCS 904, which operated at DSD64. 
The original session tracks were edited and rebalanced (which meant going through the mixer) in the only available format for that purpose; the Pyramix 352.8KHz/24bit PCM (DXD). Prior to the advent of direct digital delivery, the next step in the production process from 352.8KHz/24bit PCM would be the DSD64 edited master for SACD production. What we have done now is also make a direct conversion to DSD128 and DSD256 from that original DXD edited master, without going through any interim processing steps.
Those DXD to DSD conversions are not up-samplings, as they would be going from one PCM sampling rate to another, for they are different encoding systems. PCM is a digital value sample based system, and DSD is a digital bit density modulated system. Conversion from any PCM sample rate to any DSD bit rate system is a remodulation, not an up-sampling.
We feel there is an audio advantage to this process in using the original files so we give you the choice and you can decide.

Recording Engineer

Tom Peeters

Editing Software

Pyramix

Recording Software

Merging

Recording Type & Bit Rate

DSD64fs

Type

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Artists

Composers

,

Label

Genre

,

Press reviews

NativeDSD Music Blog

This is a really amazing album. It is a remarkable showcasing of the music of Isaac Albeniz and Maurice Ravel and Mengjie Han’s most unique way of coaxing the music out of the piano. Well done!

Piano News

Die geballte Kraft und Prägnanz seines auf Virtuosität ausgelegten Stils führt beim Iberia-Part ‘El Puerto’ zu einem wahren Feuerwerk der Eindrücke…Das feine Empfinden für den Klang und eine straffe Dramaturgie, verbunden mit technische Brillanz und einem oft fast kessen Blick für die Pointe zeichnen auch Ravels ‘Le Tombeau’ fazinierend aus.

Basia con fuoco

Han is een zeer tot de verbeelding sprekende pianist, iets wat zonder meer door zijn kleurrijke, fantasievolle spel komt. Doordat hij het technisch volkomen beheerst kan hij zich op de verhalen achter de noten concentreren en ze – ogenschijnlijk moeiteloos – naar de luisteraar overbrengen.

Zijn spel is zo uitermate boeiend dat ik er eindeloos naar zou kunnen luisteren. Iets, wat ik ook doe: de ‘reapeat-knop’ staat aan.

Stretto

Warm aanbevolen. Het bijhorende boekje bevat bijzonder interessante en uitvoerige informatie van de Nederlandse componist en publicist Stephen Westra.

Opus Klassiek

“Mengjie Han raakt de sfeer van ‘Iberia’ bijna intuïtief, melancholie en uitbundigheid contrastrijk afgewisseld, zonovergoten en volbloedig, maar ook dichterlijk verbeeldend.”

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