Poème d l extase (Werke von Alexander Skrjabin, Olivier Messiaen, Franz Liszt, Manfred Kelkel und Harald Banter) Maria Lettberg

• 1Le Poème de l'extase19:44
• Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886): La lugubre gondola No. 2
• 2La lugubre gondola No. 207:41
• Harald Banter (1930-): Naître et disparaître
• 3Naître et disparaître09:09
• Manfred Kelkel (1929-1999): Tombeau De Scriabine, Op. 22
• 4I. Prélude04:29
• 5II. Transmutations12:24
• Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992): Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus
• 6I. Regard du Père06:19
• 7XX. Regard de l'Église d'amour10:59
• Total Runtime01:10:45

Info for Poème d l extase (Werke von Alexander Skrjabin, Olivier Messiaen, Franz Liszt, Manfred Kelkel und Harald Banter)

Latvian-born pianist Maria Lettberg confesses to being addicted to the music of Alexander Scriabin. To mark the 100th anniversary of his death, she releases a very personal homage in which his orchestral 'Poème de l'extase' (in a highly-demanding transcription for solo piano) takes centre stage, alongside pieces by Liszt and Messiaen, and a pair - by Harald Banter and by Manfred Kelkel - both based on the Russian's music.

Scriabin's large-scale orchestral work, 'Poème de l'extase', completed in 1908, is a piece that Maria Lettberg feels reflects his entire creative output. The poem on which it is based tells of a spirit which soars upwards, seemingly to new spheres of consciousness. Lettberg views this idea of ecstasy in Scriabin's work not only as breaking free, but also as yearning and 'in a theosophical sense, the creation of the universe as an erotic act'.

Olivier Messiaen was not a Scriabinite, but the aesthetic connections are clearly recognisable: synaesthesia, a penchant for orientalism and pantheism, and the creation of a new world vision - the world of ecstasy. Lettberg's choice of the first and last pieces from Messiaen's great piano cycle of 1944, 'Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus', leads the listener into a world of religious intoxication. And in Franz Liszt's 'La lugubre gondola', written in mourning for Richard Wagner, one can also hear ecstasy - Liszt's later works exhibit many parallels to Scriabin.

Musicologist and Scriabin researcher Manfred Kelkel's 'Tombeau de Scriabine' was commissioned in 1972 by Radio France for the 100th anniversary of Scriabin's birth. 'Naître et disparaître' by jazz musician Harald Banter, composed in 2008 a hundred years after 'Poème de l'extase' and dedicated to Lettberg, grapples with Scriabin's idea of the act of creation in the cosmos.

Maria Lettberg, piano

Recorded from 4.-6.11.2014 at Studio Britz, Berlin
Engineered by Karola Parry, Henri Thaon
Editing and mastering by Karola Parry
Produced by Stefan Lang, Deutschlandradio Kultur

Maria Lettberg
was born in Riga as the daughter of a professor of Russian literature and a mathematician. Her instrument has been an integral part of her life since she was seven years old. At the age of nine she made her first public appearance playing Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto. Maria is Swedish and has lived in Berlin for several years. She speaks five languages.

Ms Lettberg`s talent was recognised and nurtured at an early age; she went straight from the central Latvian elite school for musically gifted children to the Petersburg Conservatory. There, she was able to develop her personality as a pianist considerably and perfect her virtuoso technique until she graduated with distinction in her concert examination.

Following her concert examination, she took the conscious decision to forgo what seemed so obvious; to try to make a name in the worldwide competitive arena. Instead of perfecting a repertoire to compete in this arena, she made good use of the freedom which scholarships afforded her to develop musically by participating in further courses of study, master classes and individual programmes (Royal College in Stockholm; Sibelius Academy, Helsinki). In this way she was able to widen her repertoire and to deepen her musical interests. Important teachers included Tatjana Zagorovskaja, Andrej Gavrilov, Paul Badura-Skoda, Menachem Pressler, Emanuel Krasovsky, Roland Pöntinen und Matti Raekallio.

Her most important achievement so far has been --- besides a large number of solo recitals, orchestra and chamber music performances, and radio and television programmes --- the recording of Alexander Scriabin`s complete Solo-Piano work, in autumn 2007.

Maria Lettberg became known to the German public because of her work on Scriabin`s Piano Solos and the concerts and regular radio broadcasts which accompanied the recordings. These recordings were a cooperation between Deutschland radio Kultur and Capriccio.

The positive experience in the intensive exploration of Scriabin`s work motivated Maria Lettberg to continue working in this direction recording, discovering and creatively reviving important composers who interested her.

In 2008 the first part (Piano Concertos) of Alfred Schnittke`s music was released in collaboration with Ewa Kupiec and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin conducted by Frank Strobel.

In April 2011 Maria Lettberg presented the piano compositions of the Finnish composer Erkki Melartin in a set of two CDs, which she recorded for Deutschland radio Kultur in a co-production with Delta/Crystal Classics.

In the meantime, Maria Lettberg has recorded the second part of the programme in cooperation again with Deutschland radio Kultur and Phoenix Edition: “Music for Piano and Orchestra” with the RSO conducted by Frank Strobel and Schnittke`s “Piano Trio” and “Piano Quartet” with the Petersen Quartet.

The fresh impulses which these recordings have generated have enriched Maria Lettberg`s wide repertoire. A personal selection of favoured composers such as Brahms, Schumann, Liszt and Chopin, but also Ravel and Debussy, Scriabin and Schnittke or Bach make for a very interesting concert programme with virtuoso elements and a musically coded idea.

This album contains no booklet.