Description
Arc I is the inaugural album of an ambitious three-part series and features important works for solo piano from the frantic years of 1911-1913 – the precipice before World War I.
The three musical stories on Arc I – Granados' Goyescas, Janacek's In the Mists, and Scriabin's Piano Sonata No. 9 'Black Mass' – each struggle with the same impossible awareness of what was coming for the world, and in doing so, plunge further into modernity and despair.
Of his Arc album series, Orion Weiss explains: 'The arc of this recital trilogy is inverted, like a rainbow's reflection in water. Arc I's first steps here head downhill, beginning from hope and proceeding down to despair. The bottom of the journey, Arc II, is Earth's centre, grief, loss, the lowest we can reach. The return trip, Arc III, is one of excitement and renewal, filled with the joy of rebirth and the anticipation of a better future.'
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"I greatly enjoyed listening to this performance [of In the Mists] but expected it to stand up less well to some selected comparisons. To my surprise not only did I prefer Weiss to the recent, well reviewed account by Jan Bartoš but also the very famous DG account by Firkusny!" - David McDade, MusicWeb International