Arcanum

Description

The American-Armenian violist Kim Kashkashian, one of the major musical voices of ECM New Series and winner of a Grammy Award in 2013 in the category "Best Classical Solo Performance," presents a new duo with the Russian pianist-composer Lera Auerbach. Their first joint recording features an arrangement by Auerbach for viola and piano of the 24 Preludes Op.34 by Dmitri Shostakovich, as well as the Arcanum sonata for viola and piano composed by Auerbach, with a darker color. For Lena Auerbach, 'Arcanum' means 'a mysterious knowledge'; "I have been fascinated by the inner voice present in each of us, some may call it intuition, others may call it guided meditation, but we do possess knowledge that we cannot necessarily verbalize or rationalize. It allows us to see the truth, to be guided, to seek answers." Auerbach wrote her sonata for Kashkashian: "she has a wonderful and rare expression of life and intensity."