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Dialogues
Noémie Raymond-Friset, cello; Zhenni Li-Cohen, piano
Leaf Music, 2024
This joint album by Noémie Raymond-Friset and Zhenni Li-Cohen, released in September 2024 by Leaf Music, provides the duo with an ideal touring program. Over the next few weeks, three concerts are scheduled: two in New York, on March 20 and 21, preceded by a performance in Farnham, Que., four days earlier.
What is the basis for such success? First of all, the repertoire: the irresistible charm of Rachmaninoff’s music, combined with the virtuosity of the piano part, make the Sonata in G minor, Op.19, a delightful opener. Some passages in the first movement recall the theme of the famous Piano Concerto No. 2, immortalized in popular culture. The cellist is not to be outdone. Her colour and generous vibrato reflect the Russian school of interpretation. Whether consciously or not, this choice perfectly embraces the melodic style of this music.
The second movement, Allegro scherzando, takes virtuosity up another notch, especially in the piano. Li-Cohen maintains an impressive fluidity from start to finish, whether in the gentle or the dramatic outbursts. We can only regret that we sometimes hear too much of the grain of the strings and not enough of the contour of the cello line.
The lyricism of the Andante, magnificently rendered thanks to a mastery of rubato, is followed by the last movement. Here, Li-Cohen’s refined playing serves as an envelope to the cello’s majestic line.
The album closes with a sonata originally for viola by composer Rebecca Clarke, a contemporary work to Rachmaninoff’s. It deserves to be better known, drawing as it does on a variety of musical styles (romanticism, impressionism, Orientalism, evocative passages of Gregorian monody). The second movement seems to suggest a musical dream, with all its mystery bordering on anguish. The final Adagio alternates between several sound moods established in the first two movements. Moments of calm include modal music characteristic of early music, followed by virtuoso passages that resemble variations on the same theme.
Translation: Madeline Boldt
This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
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