Tags
Classical music, Franz Schubert, Le Voyage Magnifique, Maria Joao Pires, Piano music, Romantic composers
Soulful limpidity
After hearing Pires playing one of the Impromptus on Radio 3 I immediately and feverishly downloaded this as soon as the music had finished
And I have been soaking in this music, as if it were crystalline water in some enchanted, secluded grotto. Yes, fine, there is technical mastery here – but so much more. This is expressive, emotionally engaged playing, yes, but it is also extremely refined. Not otiose flamboyance, even in the thundering passages, we don’t get the musician ‘showing off’, we get the music itself being shown.
At times, I steer away from the Romantic canon, as it can lead to some self-indulgent playing, and feel a little chocolate boxy, but Pires is light years away from self-indulgence, and from the saccharine
Le Voyage Magnifique : Pires, Schubert Amazon UK
Le Voyage Magnifique : Pires, Schubert Amazon UK
Lady Fancifull 
Pingback: Maria Joao Pires – Le Voyage Magnifique: Schubert Impromptus | Kurt Nemes' Classical Music Almanac
Sumptuous. Thank you for following me and reminding me of this piece.
You are most welcome. I’m really enjoying the little musical forays which happen when bloggers post teasing little clips and incorporate music as a thread through discourse about a topic – its like a very special and exquisite collection being displayed, which sparks off more thought, and a slight twist and rearrangement of a new collection posted by another blogger!
Eyes might start to give trouble reading hours on end, but thankfully ears (and my heart) drink up the music which I find here and on our mutual friend “kurtnemes” site. And I find myself sitting high up in the Castello San Jorge in Lisbon – I found just one of those beautiful secluded grottos there. 🙂
Ah, how wonderful. It ALWAYS awes me, how powerful music is. And you are right, it touches the connection between ears and heart.
Reminds me of a book written by a rather unusual osteopath, Hugh Milne, called ‘The heart of Listening’ – he starts with a meditation about semantically heart contains hear and ear. And music, great music seems to work that route – the ears receive and suddenly the heart swells up. The language of music, the language of the heart, it is all one!
Thank you to Maria Joao Pires and also to Franz (and of course to all us music lovers throwing these little nuggets of joy at each other!