Cathy Krier PIANO - 20th CENTURY

“The early 20th century is a period that fascinates me. The prevalent musical aesthetic was disrupted by a new generation of composers who maintained their roots in tradition, but felt a great desire to expand music’s horizons: they formed a multitude of currents and embarked on a number of different paths, all driven by the idea of transfiguring everything they had previously known. For this disc I have chosen to retrace the path originally taken by Arnold Schoenberg. Born in Vienna in 1874, Schoenberg had an atypical career. Upon his father’s death, he had to leave school as the eldest sibling at the age of sixteen to take up a profession. As an autodidact he learned the essentials of composition by sight-reading great repertoire and by playing chamber music on the cello and the violin. Married to the sister of Alexander Zemlinsky, Schoenberg took some counterpoint lessons from that composer and soon started teaching harmony and counterpoint himself, from 1903 on. His teaching activity remained central throughout his life, both in Europe and after having immigrated to the US. Profoundly aware of the continual evolution of Art as a historical necessity, Schoenberg introduced an important change into composition at the beginning of the 20th century. He took it over the brink into the unknown by dissolving the classical functions of harmony, then by eliminating all familiar points of melodic and thematic reference. Schoenberg’s Op. 11 is the first truly atonal work for piano ever written….” (Cathy Krier)

Cathy Krier LEOS JANÁCEK The Piano

"Cathy Krier—born, trained, performing, and recording in Luxembourg—appears to be about 16 in the photos, but her playing reveals a mature, sophisticated artist. So do her interview comments: “… finely nuanced structures in miniature, punctuated by several distinct changes of mood within one piece. Those changes can be abrupt, occasionally giving rise to a certain form of brutality. Janácek’s scores are the only ones I know that contain the indication con durezza , ‘with harshness’.”  

Although Janácek was already a part of her repertoire, Krier spent three months researching his piano music. Then she waited a few weeks “to re-establish a healthy distance between Janácek and myself.” She had intended to record the complete piano works, but she rejected some “mere exercises or sketches” as not worthy of the composer. Her playing is more than just mature; it is phenomenal in both technique and musical understanding. Krier can create atmosphere in a brief span of three or four notes: ominous portent, gaiety, profundity, yearning. She breathes life into Janácek’s music: several of these pieces—the Allegro from the “Paralipomena, Korycanský troják” of the Moravian Dances , the Variations for Zdenka , the rough, awkward 1892 Ej, danaj! —come alive as never before. In her range of tonal color, Krier exceeds even such masters of Czech music as Radoslav Kvapil and Ivo Kahánek; she nearly matches the former’s intensity and the latter’s brilliance.  

Nor are the big “important” pieces immune to Krierization. She leans on the sustaining pedal in “Foreboding,” the first movement of the Sonata. Is it overkill? I don’t think so; this is not just a sonata, it is a recounting of a murder, and dramatic gestures are totally within the pale. Krier’s In the Mists is not as drenched in fog as Kvapil’s memorable account; her gentle sections are beautifully simple, her abrupt changes wild and spellbinding. In her hands, the final Presto is a four-minute summary of everything Janácek. But others have also made as much of these two great works; it is in the smaller pieces, so often played as if just to get through them, that Krier’s vision, imagination, and executive excellence shine most brightly. Disc two ends with the Moravian Folksongs , a piece somewhat removed from Janácek’s usual style; Krier’s daring, imaginative reading sounds odd at first, but she soon convinces us that what she has to say is very worthwhile. It seems thoroughly folk-like, although I am no expert on Moravian culture.  

We are not told what instrument is being played; it has a lovely, consistent tone. The recording was made in early 2013 at Philharmonie Luxembourg; the acoustic is warm and the recording first rate. Krier was 27 or 28 at the time. I find it somewhat distasteful (and certainly misleading) that she is being marketed as a sweet young thing; this is a master pianist at work. Her own website does portray her as an adult. This marvelous recital prompts the question: can Krier do as well with the music of other composers? Her debut recording, from 2007, includes music by Scarlatti, Haydn, Chopin, Alexander Müllenbach (a Luxembourg contemporary), and Dutilleux. Once again Krier’s playing displays extraordinary technical fluency and her written comments mature comprehension. Her Dutilleux Sonata is lucid and coherent; her Haydn F-Minor Variations has all the elements but does not quite jell. That disc would evoke a “promising young artist” conclusion. Everyone should have Janácek piano music in his or her library; Krier’s is the set to have." (FANFARE / James H. North)

Cathy Krier DEBUSSY - SZYMANOWSKI

"In this new album, Cathy Krier takes an original step and goes entirely against the grain of her previous programmatic approach. In her two most recent CDs she had juxtaposed the apparently divergent styles of Rameau and Ligeti, or Liszt vs. Berg/Schoenberg, uncovering astounding new connections among them. The current release now takes the opposite path. At first glance, Claude Debussy – the inventor of musical Impressionism – and Karol Szymanowski – often called the ‘Polish Impressionist’ – would seem to have much in common. Both composers even use the same title in French: Masques (masks). Cathy Krier affirms, nevertheless, that she is much more interested in the differences one can observe between these two works written roughly during the same period. Our listening experience is thus enriched thanks to a new, fascinating aesthetical perspective."(excerpts from the booklet notes by Clemens Matuschek)

Cathy Krier RAMEAU - LIGETI

Born in Luxembourg in 1985, Cathy Krier began taking piano lessons at the Luxembourg Conservatoire at the age of five. In 1999 she was admitted to Pavel Gililov’s masterclass at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne. In 2000 she recorded Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in G major with the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra conducted by Carlo Jans. In 2003 the Prix Norbert Stelmes was awarded to her by the Jeunesses Musicales du Luxembourg and, in the following year, the IKB International Foundation Prize. In 2005 Cathy joined Cyprien Katsaris for a four-hand performance at the inauguration of the Philharmonie Luxembourg. In 2006 she played at the Ruhr Piano Festival following an invitation by Robert Levin to join his masterclass. Further stepping stones in Cathy’s training as a professional pianist were an invitation to the Académie musicale de Villecroze and her participation in masterclasses with Dominique Merlet, Homero Francesch and Andrea Lucchesini under whom she undertook further study at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. In 2007 Cathy performed at the «Luxembourg and Greater Region – European Capital of Culture» opening ceremony. Besides her concerts at the Philharmonie, she also makes regular appearances at the Bourglinster, Echternach International and «Musek am Syrdall» Festivals in Luxembourg.

Cathy’s international concert engagements included performances in the United States (Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Washington, D.C.) and the Netherlands where she played at Rolduc Abbey in response to an invitation by the Euriade Foundation. She also performed at venues across Austria, Spain, Germany, Latvia, Andorra, Italy, France and Belgium and was subsequently invited to play at the Summerclassics Festival and at Pianoplus Bonn, and to perform recitals at the K20/K21 Museum in Düsseldorf, the Luxembourg House in Berlin as well as at the Grand Théâtre and the Philharmonie Luxembourg. During 2012 and 2013, Cathy performed at the Liepaja Piano Stars Festival, the Midi-Minimes Festival in Brussels, the Sint-Peter Festival in Louvain, the Spaziomusica Festival in Cagliari, at Schloss Elmau, the Hôtel d’Albret in Paris, the Leipziger Klaviersommer and the Mendelssohn-Haus. Further, she has been invited to be Artist in Residence at the Biermans-Lapôtre Foundation in Paris and was on tour in China. During the 2013/14 season, Cathy Krier plays at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, the Körber-Stiftung in Hambourg, the Festival International Echternach, the festival “Nuits d’été à Pausilippe” in Naples and the festival “1001 notes” in Limoges. Furthermore she will play on several occasions with The Berlin Philharmonic String Quintet and be on tour in Colombia.

In addition to her work as a recitalist, Cathy has performed as a soloist with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Solistes Européens Luxembourg, L’Estro Armonico, the Liepaja Symphony Amber Sound Orchestra and the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under various conductors including Bramwell Tovey, Garry Walker, Pierre Cao, Yoon K. Lee and Atvars Laktsigala.