Echoes of Life エコーズ・オヴ・ライフ

人生に響き続けるプレリュード、アリスが紐解く24+7のストーリー

日本とドイツの血をひき、世界で活躍する美貌のピアニスト、アリス=紗良・オット3年振りのニュー・アルバム。
大ヒットを記録した2ndアルバム『ショパン:ワルツ全集』以来のショパン・アルバム。今回はショパンの『24の前奏曲 作品28』を中心に、アリスに影響を与えた7つの作品を間奏曲(インタールード)として織り込んだアリスの足跡を辿る個人的なアルバム。
バッハの平均律クラヴィーア曲集に倣い、24の全ての調で書かれたショパンの前奏曲集作品28は、それぞれの曲が短く、感興の赴くまま溢れる詩情を自由に綴ったかのような個性的な性格を持つ楽曲が次々と現れるため、非常に親しみやすい作品集となっている。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

Pianist Alice Sara Ott offers a complete set of Chopins preludes for piano here, in order, but framed and interspersed with short contemporary piano compositions. These appear at the beginning and end (the latter composed by Ott) and then after each group of four preludes. The concept isnt one that Chopin or Liszt would have found too unfamiliar, and Ott is a strong Chopin pianist with the ability to draw listeners in without being excessive about tempo rubato. Try one of the famous pieces like the Prelude No. 4 in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4, which has a fresh feeling despite the works ubiquity. Ott suggests extramusical associations for both the Chopin pieces and the modern works, and while, of course, her reactions are her own, it may be that this device works a bit less well for the preludes than for Chopins works in other genres. More than other Chopin works, the preludes are intricately technical pieces, with some of the most daring harmonic moves in the whole Chopin canon. In this technical sense, though, Otts program succeeds beautifully. In her hands, the range of Chopins influence in the 20th century is revealed to be startlingly wide, extending from the cinematic semi-pop of Nino Rota and Chilly Gonzales to Ligetis modernism to Arvo Parts minimalism. The whole program has a delightful sense that one is exploring Chopin and then pausing periodically to look forward in time as if to see what hidden secrets time might reveal in his music. A typically imaginative release from this fine pianist.