Elisabeth Leonskaja - Saudade '2017

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 Grand Sonata: I. Moderato e risoluto
02. Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 Grand Sonata: II. Andante non troppo quasi
moderato
03. Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 Grand Sonata: III. Scherzo – Allegro
giocoso
04. Piano Sonata in G Major, Op. 37 Grand Sonata: IV. Finale – Allegro
vivace
05. Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61: I. Allegretto
06. Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61: II. Largo
07. Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61: III. Moderato
08. Morceaux de fantasie, Op. 3: No. 2. Prelude
09. Preludes, Op. 32: No. 12. Prelude in G-Sharp Minor. Allegro
10. Preludes, Op. 23: No. 6. Prelude in E-Flat Major. Andante
11. Morceaux de fantasie, Op. 3: No. 1. Elegie


The concept lying behind pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja’s new recording
entitled “Saudade” stems from no set of musicological ideas; nor
does it have any programmatic basis. Instead, it derives from an emotional state
or feeling. Therein lies its argument and the justification for this programme.
The composers and their particular works presented here are deservedly important
and carry out an especially meaningful role. Yet, it is the feeling which is
important here, and it is the unifying theme of what is the most personal (so
far) of the Russian pianist’s recording projects.

Why, then, saudade? For the reason that within the heart of this album resides a
feeling. Feelings are enigmatic in terms of definition, can be complicated to
translate and, on occasion, more than a single method is needed in order to
express them. Portuguese in origin, the word saudade, is difficult to pin down
exactly and is nigh on impossible to render into another language. Consequently,
other languages (such as Spanish and Galician) tend to use it in its original
form. Saudade expresses a fundamental emotional state, close to melancholy,
spurred on by one’s distance – in time or space – from
someone or something loved; it involves bridging that distance. Often it implies
the suppressed awareness that that person or thing will perhaps never return.

Saudade is not merely loneliness; nor is it just yearning; nor does it reflect a
sense of either sadness or joy; it is much more than melancholy. It resembles
the Welsh hiraeth, the Romanian dor (this was referred to in the context of
Elisabeth Leonskaja’s earlier album “Paris” in connection
with George Enescu’s Piano Sonata No. 1), and the German Sehnsucht, but
the main difference between saudade and other states close to nostalgia lies in
how it is perceived by the people who feel it. The sentiment expressed by
Leonskaja is a particular one, her own, personal, private, special and
non-transferable sentiment. It is a sentiment focused on the very origins of
existence and one which finishes with its openness to transcendence. It is what
has been experienced and understood; it is a loved one no longer visible but who
yet keeps on existing; it is embraces…; perfumes scented which the sense
of smell revives only in the mind; melodies, whose intervals, having been
detected and comprehended, become part of one’s musical bloodstream;
landscapes sketched out at an early age; all the many lives which have been
lived; joy and sadness simultaneously; everything that will return no more; all
this is saudade.

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