LAURA FARRÉ ROZADA
PIANIST · MATHEMATICIAN · RESEARCHER · PRESENTER
Nimbus (2021)
Second album by Laura Farré Rozada, and the second conceptual part of debut album The French Reverie (2018). This completes a tribute to the French piano repertoire of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and specifically to the figure of the composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). The album explores the creative and conceptual possibilities of water, featuring works by Maurice Ravel, Pierre Jodlowski, Tōru Takemitsu, Dai Fujikura, Unsuk Chin, Anna Þorvaldsdóttir, Josep Maria Guix and Yixuan Zhao. Includes the world-premiere recordings of Guix's Drizzle Draft, Fujikura's Frozen Heat and Zhao's Still Life.
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REPERTOIRE
Pierre Jodlowski (b.1971): Série Blanche (2007)
Unsuk Chin (b.1961): Etude No.5 'Toccata' (2003)
Unsuk Chin (b.1961): Etude No.1 'In C' (1999, rev. 2003)
Tōru Takemitsu (1930-1996): Rain Tree Sketch II ‘In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen’ (1992)
Josep Maria Guix (b.1967): Drizzle Draft (2007)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Gaspard de la nuit (1908)
I. Ondine
II. Le Gibet
III. Scarbo
Anna Þorvaldsdóttir (b.1977): Scape (2011)
Dai Fujikura (b.1977): Frozen Heat (1998)
Yixuan Zhao (b.1993): Still Life 'dedicated to Laura’ (2020)
REVIEWS
01.10.2021 Miquel Pujadó, Serra d'or: "Les possibilitats del piano són enormes... De vegades és un element més de l'orquestra; de vegades hi dialoga... de vegades, tot sol, ens ofereix meravelles tan diferents com Brahms i Bach visitats per Glenn Gould, el concert de Colònia enregistrat per un fatigat Keith Jarrett amb un instrument de mala qualitat, els Portraits i Solituds de Jordi Sabatés... I ara, el Nimbus de Laura Farré Rozada... d'una gran trajectòria malgrat la seva joventut... Està format per interpretacions impecables i molt personals de peces, sovint molt recents... Una obra intensa i captivadora, que oscil·la d'una volguda fredor a l'expressió continguda dels sentiments... [The possibilities of the piano are enormous... Sometimes it is another element of the orchestra; sometimes it dialogues... sometimes, alone, it offers us wonders as different as Brahms and Bach visited by Glenn Gould, the Köln concert recorded by an exhausted Keith Jarrett with a poor quality instrument, the Portraits and Solitudes by Jordi Sabatés... And now, Nimbus by Laura Farré Rozada... of a great trajectory in spite of her youth... It is formed by impeccable and very personal interpretations of pieces, often very recent... An intense and captivating work, which oscillates from a deliberate coldness to the contained expression of feelings...]"
18.09.2021 Bernat Dedéu, The New Barcelona Post: "Laura Farré Rozada va demostrar com un instrumentista del país podria posar-se al costat de les millors orquestres del planeta a dreta llei... [Laura Farré Rozada showed how an instrumentalist from our country could stand next to the best orchestras on the planet on her own right...]
17.09.2021 Lluís Trullén, Scherzo: "Farré es una intérprete que escruta hasta el más mínimo detalle para extraer del piano un abanico de sonoridades en el que las temibles complejidades técnicas que pueden aparecer en obras como el Preludio nº 8 Un reflet dans le vent de Messiaen, la célebre Gaspard de la nuit de Ravel o Rain tree sketch II, in Memoriam Olivier Messiaen de Takemitsu, no le suponen obstáculo alguno para adentrarse en una especie de magia sonora en la cual los matices más delicados coexisten con un pianismo aguerrido, percutivo y de enorme magnitud a la hora de conseguir grandes volúmenes sonoros... [Farré is a performer who scrutinizes the smallest detail to extract from the piano a range of sounds in which the fearsome technical complexities that can appear in works such as Prelude No. 8 Un reflet dans le vent by Messiaen, the famous Gaspard de la nuit by Ravel or Rain tree sketch II, in Memoriam Olivier Messiaen by Takemitsu, do not imply any obstacle for her to enter a kind of magic sound in which the most delicate nuances coexist with a fierce, percussive pianism of enormous magnitude at the time of achieve large sound volumes.]"
17.09.2021 Jaume Radigales, Diari ARA: "La música és una intèrpret total, i aplega en una mateixa persona la racionalitat matemàtica i la sensibilitat davant de l'instrument... És realment just i necessari: s’ha d’estimar Laura Farré Rozada. S’ha d’escoltar el seu segon disc, Nimbus (Seed Music), cal seguir-la, cal escoltar el seu programa radiofònic La cinta de Moebius (Catalunya Música) i cal saludar-la com una música global, com una intèrpret total, com una artista que aplega en una mateixa persona la racionalitat matemàtica i la sensibilitat davant de l’instrument. Va estudiar ciències exactes i es nota en la seva manera estructurada de presentar-se i d’organitzar el discurs. Però la seva sòlida formació musical (i en plena gestació de la tesi doctoral) també es nota en la transmissió de la seva sensibilitat, compromesa amb la música dels nostres dies... Poques vegades es té l’oportunitat d’escoltar en una sola vetllada tant repertori del nostre temps. I menys encara servit amb l’entusiasme, amb les ganes i amb la saviesa que exhibeix Laura Farré. Per això cal agrair-li la iniciativa i la seva tenacitat en la defensa del llenguatge musical rabiosament contemporani. I estimar-la, precisament per això. [The musician is a total performer, and brings together in one person the mathematical rationality and sensitivity to the instrument... It is really fair and necessary: Laura Farré Rozada must be loved. You have to listen to her second album, Nimbus (Seed Music), you have to follow her, you have to listen to her radio program La cinta de Moebius (Catalunya Música) and you have to greet her as a global musician, as a total performer, as an artist who brings together in one person mathematical rationality and sensitivity to the instrument. She studied exact sciences and is noted for her structured way of presenting and organizing discourse. But her solid musical training (and in the midst of her doctoral dissertation) is also noticeable in the transmission of her sensitivity, committed to today's music... Rarely you do have the opportunity to listen in one evening so much repertoire of our time. And even less so served with the enthusiasm, desire and wisdom that Laura Farré exhibits. That is why we must thank her for her initiative and tenacity in defending the rabidly contemporary musical language. And to love her, precisely because of that.]"
01.09.2021 Jacobo Zabalo, The New Barcelona Post: "Pianista de tècnica impecable, llicenciada en matemàtiques, demostra un grau de concentració tan elevat en la tasca interpretativa que l'oient, per poc conegudes que li resultin les partitures, és vivament animat a sentir-se partícip, com per efecte del magnetisme que emana d’elles, inclús si són dispars en confecció i moment de publicació... [A pianist of impeccable technique, with a degree in mathematics, she demonstrates such a high degree of concentration on the interpretive task that the listener, no matter how little he knows the scores, is keenly encouraged to feel involved, as a result of the magnetism that emanates of them, even if they are disparate in preparation and time of publication.]"
25.07.2021 Aina Vega Rofes, Castafiore-Núvol: "Laura Farré Rozada està de moda i sembla que tothom l’hagi de tenir a la seva programació, més enllà del seu talent artístic i intel·lectual, pel que representa, precisament, el seu personatge: una dona jove amb idees potents i originals que ens arriben a través d’una performance pretesament angelical però que amaga un caràcter fort, decidit i que alberga grans aspiracions. El lligam entre la música i les matemàtiques, més enllà de convertir-la en un cronopio, l’ha destinat a ser fama... És valent el que Laura Farré Rozada fa. Combat una doble por endèmica de la societat: la que considera les matemàtiques massa difícils i a la música contemporània llunyana, cerebral i massa complexa. Combat, per tant, dues preteses inaccessibilitats i, gràcies també als altaveus que la seva perícia ha cercat, pot perseverar en la seva tasca propedèutica, que desenvolupa amb gràcia i naturalitat. L’artista considera que la pedagogia és clau per arribar al públic i una manera de fer-ne és col·laborar amb compositors vius. D’aquesta manera, en el seu treball hi ha una triple interacció: amb el present, amb el creador i, a través d’ell, amb el públic, entenent el terme amb una accepció molt àmplia. D’aquesta manera s’ha erigit com una pianista rellevant en posar veu a la música contemporània i de nova creació, amb una doble visió: científica i poètica... El rostre i l’ànima de cadascun dels autors queda reflectit en l’aigua de l’univers matèric de Laura Farré Rozada, que traça un ambiciós transcurs sonor que es relaciona cíclicament de principi a fi. Un etern retorn tan clàssic i atemporal com radicalment actual i nou... [Laura Farré Rozada is trending topic and it seems that everyone should have her in their programming, beyond her artistic and intellectual talent, so she represents, precisely, her character: a young woman with powerful and original ideas that they come to us through a supposedly angelic performance but which hides a strong, determined character and which harbors great aspirations. The link between music and mathematics, beyond turning her into a chronopio, has made her famous... What Laura Farré Rozada does is brave. She fights a double endemic fear in society: the one that considers mathematics too difficult and contemporary music too distant, cerebral and too complex. She fights, therefore, two alleged inaccessibility and, thanks also to the speakers that her expertise has sought, she can persevere in her propaedeutic work, which she develops with grace and naturalness. The artist believes that pedagogy is key to reaching the public and one way to do this is to collaborate with living composers. In this way, in her work there is a triple interaction: with the present, with the creator and, through him, with the public, understanding the term with a very wide meaning. In this way she has stood out as a relevant pianist in giving voice to contemporary and newly created music, with a double vision: scientific and poetic ... The face and soul of each of the authors is reflected in the water from the material universe of Laura Farré Rozada, which traces an ambitious sound course that is cyclically related from beginning to end. An eternal return as classic and timeless as it is radically current and new.]"
07.05.2021 Alexander Keuk, composer, music journalist and author: "Once you've discovered and learned to appreciate an artist, you're hungry for their new projects and inspirations... That's what happened to me with Laura Farré Rozada. The debut album of the 30-year-old pianist three years ago made me sit up and take notice, because her deep sense for the music of the 20th and 21st centuries is paired with a desire for discovery and great pianistic skill... Laura Farré Rozada also has an enormous feeling for this music and knows how to intelligently combine her own handwriting with the requirements of Ravel's outstanding score. The result is an interpretation that makes you listen when you have Ravel's melodies in your ear: the pianist avoids smugness and décor, but finds in “Le Gibet” exactly the quiet tone that the cycle inspired by the poetry of Aloysius Bertrand needed here... Anyone who has immersed themselves up to this point in the well-known and unknown piano music performed by Laura Farré Rozada can only win because the album [Nimbus], like The French Reverie, shows a tremendously wide range of expressive possibilities for the contemporary piano, at the same time connected with tradition and with an exciting, inexhaustible topic.]"
29.04.2021 Núria Perpinyà, Sonograma: "La pianista executa els canvis vertiginosos amb sinuosa perfecció i fa que Ravel sembli del XXI... L’experimentació formal i la recerca de ponts entre els sons instrumentals i els de la natura remet a Messiaen. Alhora, el disc [Nimbus] és ben bé d’ara per la brevetat de les peces, la presència de compositores i per les col·laboracions entre Orient i Occident. La manera de tocar de Farré és tan límpida, ràpida i ondulant que unifica les peces com si fossin d’un sol autor. I aconsegueix treure sons metàl·lics del piano talment un xilòfon. Nimbus és un disc unitari que invita a escoltar la metafísica rítmica de l’aigua i que busca unions entre creadors... [The pianist executes the dizzying changes with sinuous perfection and makes Ravel look like the 21st century... Formal experimentation and the search for bridges between instrumental and natural sounds refer to Messiaen. At the same time, the album [Nimbus] is very current because of the brevity of the pieces, the presence of composers and the collaborations between East and West. Farré’s way of playing is so clear, fast and undulating that it unifies the pieces as if they were by a single author. And she manages to get metallic sounds from the piano like a xylophone. Nimbus is a unitary album that invites you to listen to the rhythmic metaphysics of water and that seeks unions between creators...]"
13.04.2021 Lluís Trullén, Revista Musical Catalana: "Després del seu treball discogràfic The french reverie, la pianista i matemàtica Laura Farré Rozada ens ofereix un viatge per una música tan suggestiva com misteriosa en aquest enregistrament ple de sorpreses i que ens submergeix dins una intensitat musical molt interioritzada... Un disc en què es completa l’homenatge a Olivier Messiaen iniciat al seu enregistrament anterior mitjançant la música del Gaspard de la nuit, de la qual ens ofereix una versió admirable... Disc amb música complexa de llargs silencis, de timbres preciosistes i sonoritats escrupolosament obtingudes mitjançant una amalgama de tècniques pianístiques en el registre preferentment agut, es combinen amb complements de música electrònica, de percussió i d’imaginatives sonoritats obtingudes pel seu efectisme clarament avantguardista... Un disc que requereix plena atenció en l’audició, curosament interpretat, en què els detalls i els colors matisats emergeixen amb un pianisme delicadíssim... i que presenta unes textures sonores molt elaborades que Laura Farré Rozada transmet a la perfecció... Grandíssim treball, el que ens ha aportat Laura Farré Rozada, una pianista de la qual celebrem les aportacions que s’escapen d’una línia tradicional... [After her record The french reverie, the pianist and mathematician Laura Farré Rozada offers us a journey through music as suggestive as it is mysterious in this recording full of surprises and which immerses us in a very internalized musical intensity... An album in which the homage to Olivier Messiaen completed in her previous recording is completed by means of the music of the Gaspard de la nuit, of which she offers an admirable version to us... Album with complex music of long silences, precious timbres and sonorities scrupulously obtained by means of an amalgam of piano techniques in the preferably high register, these are combined with complements of electronic music, percussion and imaginative sonorities obtained by their clearly avant-garde effeminacy... An album that requires full attention in the listening, carefully interpreted, in which the nuanced details and colors emerge with a very delicate pianism... and that presents some textures and very elaborate sounds that Laura Farré Rozada transmits to perfection... Great work, which has brought us Laura Farré Rozada, a pianist whose contributions escape a traditional line...]"
01.04.2021 Jordi Martí Fabra, 440 Clàssica: "...[Nimbus] podria descriure's com una sèrie de retrats impressionistes de pluges en què les notes són gotes, sempre diferents. [[Nimbus] could be described as a series of impressionistic portraits of rain in which the notes are drops, always different.]"
26.03.2021 Joan Vives, "Tots els matins del món", Catalunya Música: "Àlbum excel·lent... Aquest és el segon disc certament esperat de Laura Farré Rozada. Una aposta amb repertori contemporani d'una extraordinària qualitat i atractiu, com podeu apreciar. [An excellent album... This is the second album certainly awaited by Laura Farré Rozada. A bet with contemporary repertoire of extraordinary quality and attractiveness, as you can appreciate.]"
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