Angels & Demons

Description

The journey proposed by the 19-year-old Monegasque pianist is that of a Lisztian program that has transformed her, articulating around the character of Mephisto different figures from tales, legends, and poems: she approaches virtuosity not only with intensity but with an ancient and visceral love for Liszt, her lifelong companion. “From light to darkness, from awakening to downfall, from silence to incandescence, Liszt never chooses a mask: he embraces them all and holds up a mirror to us… A mirror that does not lie.”
This album is an audacious program, entirely Lisztian, wildly virtuosic. Stella Almondo does not fear the challenge or the intensity: on the contrary, they are for her a source of inspiration and encourage her to surpass herself. “With Liszt, it is impossible to cheat,” confides the young Monegasque pianist. “His music demands a true risk-taking, but the moments of grace are all the more dazzling. This brilliant virtuosity is nothing artificial: I love it because it reveals a great depth as soon as we bring it back to life by telling the stories it carries within.” Among these stories populated by fantastic characters born from tales, legends, and poems, that of Mephisto, “this great seducer with malevolent intelligence, both mischievous and petty,” takes the listener into the frenzied whirlwind of his Mephisto Waltz. “This burning desire to live, this intensity of feelings that does not overshadow moments of delicacy are for me an invitation to seek all kinds of different touches,” emphasizes the 19-year-old pianist. Under her winged fingers, the angelic and luminous Ave Maria, Consolation, or Liebeslied, which elevate the soul and radiate pure love, the very tormented Dante and Petrarch (After a reading of Dante, Sonnet 104 by Petrarch), the hypnotic rocking of the Lorelei (Die Lorelei), and the cursed hunter of the Wilde Jagd (Transcendental Study No. 8) also respond and intertwine. All haunted, each in its own way, by the shadow of death. With the frantic Danse macabre – the version by Vladimir Horowitz, made from Liszt's transcription of the original orchestral piece by Saint-Saëns – Stella Almondo finds the mischievous spirit of Mephisto, but transfigured, taken to a degree of freedom and malice even higher. “Each work of this journey demanded a risk, a sincerity without defense. For Liszt's music does not tolerate lies: it reveals. It forces us to face what drives us, what frightens us, what tempts us, and what saves us.”