Consolations
CRD, 2022
8/10
The British-American violinist Maya Magub is accompanied by the pianist Hsin-I Huang here, and together they construct a pandemic record, where they recorded their portions separately, though you would never know it by listening to this live sounding collaboration.
Robert Schuman’s “Abendlied” opens the listen with the keys and strings interacting with incredible beauty that makes an immediate emotional connection that’s quite absorbing, and “Meditation from Thaïs” follows with the string manipulation finding a very heartfelt place to reside amid the graceful piano in the Jules Massenet song.
Elsewhere, Franz Liszt’s “Consolations” unfolds across 6 segments of poetic, expressive musicianship that’s a bit hypnotic, too, while “Largo From Xerxes”, by George Frederic Handel, makes the most out of a mature melody that showcases much skill on the piano and tremendous warmth from the violin.
Close to the end, Felix Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words” moves at a quicker pace of agile keys and lovely violin, and “Raindrop’ Prelude exits the listen with a very sublime interpretation of Frederic Chopin’s vision.
Although there are no words sung here, Magub expresses much with her artistic approach, and by turning to music for solace during the lockdowns she’s created a timeless body of work.
Travels well with: Variant 6- New Suns; Margaret Brouwer- Reactions