MUSIC
Nodar Gabunia, Giya Kancheli
Some music stays with you for a lifetime — not just in your memory, but in your hands, your ears, your way of feeling the world. For me, that music began in Tbilisi, Georgia, where I was born and raised, and where these sounds first took root. The journey of this album begins with the music of Nodar Gabunia — a composer, mentor, and teacher who shaped my early musical voice. His musical language is deeply personal, yet unmistakably his — full of clarity, warmth, wisdom, wit, and beauty. The second half of the album gently shifts into the sound world of Giya Kancheli — a close friend of Gabunia’s. While internationally renowned for his symphonic works, at home Kancheli’s music for theatre and film is woven into the fabric of daily life. His melodies drift through the air — subtle, poetic, melancholic, and full of unspoken emotion. Recording this album felt less like performing and more like remembering. The music flowed naturally, as if something long held inside was finally finding its voice. It felt like writing a diary in sound — one filled with affection, gratitude and quiet moments of awe.
"Throughout his life, Brahms was influenced by those he admired: the musicians he idolized, and the women with whom he formed powerful bonds. Clara Schumann represented both, and Nino Gvetadze explores their fascinating dynamic in The Muse. Brahms’s Two Rhapsodies Op. 79 were dedicated to Elisabet von Herzogenberg, whose loss he mourned in the Intermezzos Op. 117; and he was inspired by Handel to write a phenomenal set of Variations dedicated to Clara Schumann – whose Op. 21 Romances date from a time that neither she nor Brahms would ever forget."
The album “Aufgelebt” is all about revival, rebirth and recreation, the promise of new beginnings. Beethoven worked on his Piano Concerto No. 4 and the Op. 61a (piano version of a violin concerto) in the same period of his life. Both concertos were neglected and would have been forgotten had it not been for the attention of Felix Mendelssohn, who revived the Fourth Piano Concerto in 1836 and conducted the violin concerto, in 1844. Since then, these two concertos have been considered to be masterpieces of classical music literature. The Violin Concerto had yet another chance of rebirth long before young Joachim’s success. After attending the premier of the piece, Muzio Clementi asked Beethoven to transcribe the work for piano and orchestra. His wish was promptly fulfilled by the composer, who at the same time enriched the Concerto with authentic cadenzas, of which the first - in the First Movement - is very special as the piano is accompanied by timpani!