Severin von Eckardstein - Vers la flamme: Works by Beethoven, Messiaen, Scriabin, Strauss (2023) [Digital Download 24/96]

"The starting point was Beethoven’s Sonata op. 111, but this little piece ‘Vers la flamme’ by Scriabin exemplifies an idea, and the title is ideal for the whole album. The idea is a journey from the earthly to the light, it is about the question of how life and death are connected. Now you can say that it is generally a function of music that it catapults you into a new level of consciousness. But I think the four works on this album do that in a special way, they radiate a tremendous power. They reflect different personal worlds, were written at different times and spring from different genres and sound ideas, yet they all have a similar function.

Strauss is about a terminally ill person who suffers, but at the end of his life ascends to new spheres and finds redemption. Beethoven is also initially about something threatening, earthly, but he looks at it more philosophically. Beethoven does not reveal much of himself directly, everything is subject to a strict, architectural form, and that is why his music seems to be carved in stone. But in his last piano sonata, he crosses a boundary, one senses the jagged world he is divining, here he has finally expanded the form so much that he can ascend to new spheres.”

Tracklist:
01. Scriabin: Vers la flamme, Op. 72
02. R. Strauss: Tod und Verklärung, Op.24, TrV 158 (Arr. Eckardstein for Piano)
03. Messiaen: No. 20, Regard de l'Église d'amour
04. Eckardstein: Improvisation
05. Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111: I. Maestoso - Allegro con brio ed appassionato
06. : II. Arietta. Adagio molto semplice cantabile
07. Beethoven: Andante favori, WoO 57


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