Beatrice Berrut LISZT

 

LISZT

Camille Thomas / Beatrice Berrut A CENTURY OF RUSSIAN COLOURS

 

A CENTURY OF RUSSIAN COLOURS

Beatrice Berrut ATHANOR

Athanor. A mysterious name to designate, in alchemy, the long-combustion furnace that produces the philosopher’s stone. This matrix, which symbolises the quest of one who seeks to the Absolute, is a metaphor of Liszt’s approach.
With the patience of the alchemist who pursues the perfection of the material, the virtuoso composer and pianist has long matured the genesis of his two Piano Concertos and of the Totentanz: in fact, more than 20 years separate the first sketches of their publication.
These three major works are each crossed by a powerfull and captivating leading theme, and driven by a logic of transformation: the Totentanz uses the theme and variations form while the concertos are unifyed by a unique theme that nourishes the whole musical flow through its metamorphoses.
Pianist Beatrice Berrut, who was already venturing on the Lisztian paths in her previous record, testifies here to the infinite invention of the composer: she performs the first Concerto with its last variants noted by Liszt himself on the copy of his pupil Hans von Bülow. (Aparté)

Beatrice Berrut METANOIA Piano Works by FRANZ LISZT

The Swiss concert pianist and Bösendorfer Artist Beatrice Berrut is presenting her newest album Metanoia, with selected pieces by Franz Liszt. Immerse yourself in the mystic sound universe of the Hungarian composer and genius and discover moments of virtuosity, human vulnerability and spiritual inspiration.

Music as healing, music as consolation, and also suffering as a direct inspiration of the act of creating music: at no time has this been more apparent than in the Romantic era, with composers such as Liszt, one of the most contradictory individuals of that period.

The first part of his life was devoted to triumphant tours to every corner of Europe, where he astonished and delighted audiences with his solo “recitals”, for which he composed strong, characterful, virtuosic works displaying his amazing abilities as a pianist. Later his life became more obscure, more visionary, opening the way for atonality, and finally leading him to adopt the Franciscan habit (his “mantle of renunciation”) and withdraw far from the worldly salons that had brought him fame in his youth. His life, with its shift from the glory of playing before aristocratic audiences to years punctuated by spiritual retreats behind the walls of a monastery, may be seen as an illustration of metanoia. In his life as in his work, Liszt managed to reconcile the extremes, thereby awakening archetypes that are rooted in the human subconscious: his music always represents a stylised struggle between good and evil, light and darkness. His writing, which may at times be described as Manichean, nevertheless explores all the pains and joys that a human soul can experience and creates an unbreakable thread between feelings that are very remote from each other. Thus he is in accord with the Jungian concept of healing, in that he “legitimises” and unifies those contradictions by assuming and exalting them. And indeed, what would joy be without sorrow?

Beatrice Berrut ROBERT SCHUMANN The Three Sonatas for Piano

"This is a mostly impressive debut recording by the Swiss pianist Beatrice Berrut. Berrut brings coherence to its structure with the clarity and control of her playing (...) she has the work's considerable technical difficulties entirely under control (...) She plays the second movement of the Third Sonata as expressively as Horowitz." (Fanfare, Paul Orgel)

 “Here is another excellent recording of all three of the Schumann sonatas. The pianist has contributed her own perceptive notes and plays the music with full understanding of the composer's many tempo quirks and mandatory free use of rubato..." (American Record Guide, Becker)

 “…Beatrice Berrut isn’t afraid of challenges. And what a challenge, indeed, to play three Schumann piano sonatas after great names such as Pollini, Argerich or Horowitz. At 26 years old, the pianist puts all her determination and spirit into these three little-recorded pieces. Breathtakingly beautiful sound, winged virtuosity, refined sensitivity: Beatrice Berrut plunges deeply into the whimsical universe of Schumann, embracing the tiniest bit of expression with astonishing, natural flow. Superb Romantic piano pieces performed by a pianist we should follow carefully…” (Tribunes de Genève, Luca Sabbatini)

 

Beatrice Berrut LUX AETERNA Visions of Bach

Described by the international press as "a revelation, an exceptional pianist", whose "transcendent playing revels in multiple layers of genius and beauty", Beatrice is considered one of the most talented artists of her generation.
She has played numerous concerts throughout Europe and America at prestigious venues (the Berlin Philharmony, the Preston Bradley Hall of Chicago, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Teatro Coliseo of Buenos Aires, the Cleveland Museum of Arts...) in recital as well as a soloist with orchestras such as the Orchestra della Svizerra Italiana, the North Czech Philharmonic, the Camerata Menuhin, the Berliner Kammerphilharmonie, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the United Nations Orchestra… 

Beatrice was born in the Swiss canton of Valais in 1985, and and after studying at the Conservatoire de Lausanne and at the Heinrich Neuhaus Foundation in Zurich she graduated from the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, where she studied with Galina Iwanzowa. She was awarded an Artist Diploma in John O’Conor’s class at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. 

She also appears regularly on television (ARTE, France 3, RTS, Sat3, ZDF, Tv Berlin, Canal9) and on Swiss, German, US, French, Belgian and Canadian radios (BBC3, WFMT Chicago, CWKR, France Musique, Espace 2, RTBF…).
Her discography is internationally acclaimed, and whereas Fanfare Record Magazine compares her playing to Horowitz, French magazine Diapason praises her “silvery sound, her warm and charming playing”.
In 2005 Beatrice was personally invited by Gidon Kremer to play several concerts at his festival in Basel, and she regulary appears with first class partners such as Shlomo Mintz, Itzhak Perlman, Frans Helmerson and Mihaela Martin. She has been as well collaborating with French-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas since years now.
Her career has been granted numerous awards - the “Revelacion” prize 2011 of the Argentinian Critics’ Association, Geneva’s Arts Society’s Prize in 2006, The Förderpreis of the State of Valais, as well as the Griffon culturel of the Association du Chablais (CH).