COMPOSERS: Brahms,Schumann
LABELS: NAIVE
PERFORMER: Vanessa Wagner
CATALOGUE NO: DR 2107
Of nearly 90 pianists who took part in the 2002 La Roque d’Anthéron International Piano Festival in Provence, eight gave short recitals (from one hour to 90 minutes) filmed live in partnership with Idéale Audience International. Later the films were shown theatrically, and are now brought out by Naïve as individual DVD releases.
The German school of playing finds a particularly talented exponent in Vanessa Wagner. She commands a beautiful, bronze-coloured sonority built from the bottom up, finger-oriented legato phrasing, strong attention to bass lines and a generally sober demeanour. Her Brahms Op. 10 Ballades are cases in point, even with her unusually rapid No. 3.
The third and fourth movements of Schumann’s F sharp minor Sonata are less individually characterised than Wagner’s tightly unfolding, crystal-clear way with the discursive opening movement and sublime ‘Aria’.