Kontrastprogramm

Emotional intuition meets rational logic. That applies to Carolin Danner’s latest album, KONTRASTPROGRAMM, on several levels simultaneously. Chronologically there is a time span of almost two centuries between the piano works which have been assembled here. Nevertheless they have a lot in common: not only the piano pieces by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but also the works selected from the mid-20th century feature impressively clear structure combined with emotional animation. While Mozart composed intuitively and his ideas appeared to flow from his quill as if by their own volition, Ligeti and Kurtàg went about writing in an entirely different way: very considered and at times with an almost mathematical thought process. Emotion and logical reasoning also complement each other in the pianist, Carolin Danner’s, character. As a child she was fascinated by logic and natural science and initially qualified as a Diplom-Physikerin (advanced Physics degree) before dedicating herself to studying the art of piano playing. In addition to the selection of works and their interpretation one finds very personal touches in some details of the album. For example, Danner omits the usual D-major conclusion to Mozart’s Fantasy in D-minor, which was completed by one of the composer’s contemporaries. Instead, she rounds off the Fantasy with an addition of her own, lending it a new framework of suspense. Even Mozart’s famous Sonata in A-major has unfamiliar features: Danner bases her interpretation in part on a section of manuscript which was only discovered as recently as 2014 in Budapest. Finally, the pianist contrasts Mozart’s Rondo in D-major with Messiaen’s Rondeau and in doing so performs two widely differing works with strong similarities. György Kurtàg’s ‘Eight pieces for Piano, op.3’ contrast vividly with each other in a very compact series of movements. Ligeti’s ‘Musica Ricercata’ is a display of contrasts par excellence and is one of the most important piano works of the 20th Century. The piece conveys the traumatic experiences of a composer who experienced first-hand the Second World War and its aftermath. This is expressed with haunting drama and powerful emotions, which are bound together by the use of a stringent composition concept: the step-by-step build-up of the complete 12-tone range, beginning with just a single note in the first piece and culminating in the full 12-tone fugue. Ligeti’s character was also one of contrasts, for he initially aspired to a career as a scientist but as a Jew was not permitted to undertake academic study. Carolin Danner’s CD KONTRASTPROGRAMM shines with an evocative synthesis of personal and musical contrasts, where compositions by Mozart and works with a more modern spirit refresh themselves in an inspiring interplay.