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Milking Darkness
Lera Auerbach

Delta Piano Trio

Milking Darkness

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917296327
Catnr: CC 72963
Release date: 29 September 2023
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Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917296327
Catalogue number
CC 72963
Release date
29 September 2023

"The Delta Piano Trio delivers this remarkable music with magnificent artistry and unwavering passion."

Fanfare Magazine, 01-5-2024
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
Press
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About the album

If you mix every colour of paint together, you end up with black. Similarly, the darkness in the music of Lera Auberbach (b. 1973) consists of every imaginable shade of colour, from pitch darkness to dazzling light. The composer thus captures the mercuriality of life and the human psyche. Her music sometimes also depicts a dance with the inescapable: the struggle against Fate, the inexorable passing of time, an unattainable dream – but always with black humour and a dark though starlit sky. ‘Many composers create something “beautiful”, outside human reality,’ according to the Delta Piano Trio, who worked hard with Auberbach in preparing for this album. ‘Instead, Lera’s music is raw as well as human. She never eases up on what she wants to express, which would rob the music of all its fervour.’

It was Auerbach’s own idea to call this album Milking Darkness. The Delta Piano Trio feels that it is a fitting description not only of her work as a whole but also of the intense effect her music can have.
Wenn man alle Farben zusammenmischt, erhält man Schwarz. In ähnlicher Weise besteht die Dunkelheit in der Musik von Lera Auberbach (geb. 1973) aus allen erdenklichen Farbschattierungen, von pechschwarz bis gleißend hell. Die Komponistin fängt damit die Sprunghaftigkeit des Lebens und der menschlichen Psyche ein. Ihre Musik schildert manchmal auch einen Tanz mit dem Unausweichlichen: den Kampf gegen das Schicksal, das unaufhaltsame Vergehen der Zeit, einen unerreichbaren Traum - aber immer mit schwarzem Humor und einem dunklen, aber sternenklaren Himmel. Viele Komponisten schaffen etwas "Schönes", das außerhalb der menschlichen Realität liegt", so das Delta Piano Trio, das mit Auberbach intensiv an diesem Album gearbeitet hat. Stattdessen ist Leras Musik sowohl roh als auch menschlich. Sie lässt nie nach in dem, was sie ausdrücken will, denn das würde die Musik ihrer ganzen Inbrunst berauben.

Es war Auerbachs eigene Idee, dieses Album Milking Darkness zu nennen. Das Delta Piano Trio ist der Meinung, dass dies nicht nur eine treffende Beschreibung ihres Werks als Ganzes ist, sondern auch der intensiven Wirkung, die ihre Musik haben kann.

Artist(s)

Delta Piano Trio

Untainted and uncompromising musicality coupled with exceptional interpretive depth characterize the playing of the Delta Piano Trio, founded in Salzburg in 2013 by the three Dutch musicians Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin and Vera Kooper. The trio completed its studies in Salzburg, Paris and Basel with Wolfgang Redik (Vienna Piano Trio), Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Anton Kernjak and with Trio Wanderer. Numerous prizes and awards underline the trio’s reputation, including first prizes at the international chamber music competitions Stasys Vainiunas in Lithuania, Salieri-Zinetti in Italy, Orlando in the Netherlands, at the Orpheus chamber music competition in Switzerland and, in particular, the highly endowed Kersjesprijs, the most important chamber music prize in the Netherlands, awarded in December 2020. The Delta Piano Trio has toured...
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Untainted and uncompromising musicality coupled with exceptional interpretive depth characterize the playing of the Delta Piano Trio, founded in Salzburg in 2013 by the three Dutch musicians Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin and Vera Kooper. The trio completed its studies in Salzburg, Paris and Basel with Wolfgang Redik (Vienna Piano Trio), Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Anton Kernjak and with Trio Wanderer.

Numerous prizes and awards underline the trio’s reputation, including first prizes at the international chamber music competitions Stasys Vainiunas in Lithuania, Salieri-Zinetti in Italy, Orlando in the Netherlands, at the Orpheus chamber music competition in Switzerland and, in particular, the highly endowed Kersjesprijs, the most important chamber music prize in the Netherlands, awarded in December 2020.

The Delta Piano Trio has toured Europe, Russia, Israel, China, South Korea, Indonesia, and the United States, and has performed in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the National Center of Performing Arts in Beijing, the Gang Dong Art Center in Seoul, St. Johns Smith Square in London, and the Jerusalem Music Center. The trio collaborates regularly with contemporary composers and maintains a collaborative relationship with Russian-American composer Lera Auerbach. They frequently give chamber music masterclasses and love coaching younger ensembles.


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Gerard Spronk (violin)

Irene Enzlin (cello)

Vera Kooper (piano)

Composer(s)

Lera Auerbach

Russian-American composer and concert pianist Lera Auerbach is one of today’s most sought after and exciting creative voices. Auerbach’s intelligent and emotional style has connected her to audiences around the world and her work is championed by today’s leading perform- ers, conductors, choreographers, choirs and opera houses, including the Theatre an der Wein, New York’s Lincoln Center, the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow, the Hamburg Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Netherlands Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of China; choreographers, John Neumeier, Aszure Barton, Goyo Montero, Terence Kohler, Sol León, Paul Lightfoot, Tim Plegge and Medhi Walerski; violinists Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos, Daniel Hope, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Gluzman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Dmitry...
more

Russian-American composer and concert pianist Lera Auerbach is one of today’s most sought after and exciting creative voices. Auerbach’s intelligent and emotional style has connected her to audiences around the world and her work is championed by today’s leading perform- ers, conductors, choreographers, choirs and opera houses, including the Theatre an der Wein, New York’s Lincoln Center, the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow, the Hamburg Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Netherlands Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of China; choreographers, John Neumeier, Aszure Barton, Goyo Montero, Terence Kohler, Sol León, Paul Lightfoot, Tim Plegge and Medhi Walerski; violinists Gidon Kremer, Leonidas Kavakos, Daniel Hope, Hilary Hahn, Vadim Gluzman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Dmitry Sitkovetsky; violist Kim Kashkashian; cellists Alisa Weilerstein, Gautier Capuçon, Alban Gerhardt, David Finckel, Joshua Roman, Clive Greensmith, David Geringas, Ani Aznavoorian, Wendy Warner, and Narek Hakhnazaryan; the Artemis, Borromeo, Tokyo, and Ying string quartets and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Her orchestral works have been brought to life by Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Andris Nelsons, Vladimir Jurowski, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Neeme Järvi, Vladimir Spivakov, Osmo Vänskä, Andrey Boreyko, and many others.

In 2015, Auerbach was composer-in-residence at the Trans-Siberian Art Festival and the Rheingau Musik Festival in Germany. Past residencies include the Staatskapelle Dresden, Switzerland’s Verbier Festival, Norway’s Trondheim Festival, the São Paulo Symphony in Brazil, and Marlboro Music Festival in the USA. Awards include the Hindemith Prize, a Golden Mask, Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship, German National Radio prize and the ECHO Klassik award. In 2011, her opera GOGOL marked the first time a major opera written by a female composer was produced in Vienna.

Auerbach is equally prolific in literature and the visual arts (especially painting and sculpture) and incorporates these forms into her professional creative process, simultaneously expressing ideas visually, in words, and through music. She has published three books of poetry in Russian and her first English-language book, “Excess of Being” – in which she explores the difficult form of the aphorism – was published by Arch Street Press in 2015. Her visual art has been included in several exhibitions, is often exhibited at performances of her musical work, and has been reproduced in magazines, CDs and books. As a poet, Ms. Auerbach has been long established and was named Poet of the Year in 1996 by the International Pushkin Society in New York. Her poetry and prose has been included in various anthologies and high school textbooks. She is the author of several librettos and is a regular contributor to the Best Ameri- can Poetry blog through her column, The Trouble Clef.

From 2007-2012 Auerbach was a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in Da- vos. Today, she serves the WEF as a Cultural Leader, giving presentations around the world on Borderless Creativity. The LeraArt Foundation, a 501c3 organization, was established in her name in 2015 and seeks to create an artist-centric paradigm for composers through its “Mod- ern Renaissance” project.

Auerbach was raised in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on the border of Siberia. She gradu- ated with bachelor’s and master’s degree in composition from the Juilliard School and a post- graduate degree in piano from Hanover University. Her work is published exclusively by the Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski. Her music is available on Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, BIS, Cedille and other labels.


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Press

The Delta Piano Trio delivers this remarkable music with magnificent artistry and unwavering passion.
Fanfare Magazine, 01-5-2024

The Delta Piano Trio plays on the cutting edge and the recording is simply excellent. This release is definitely Edison-worthy.
Klassiek van nu, 02-2-2024

The Delta Piano Trio are quite a remarkable trio, and they bring their usual technical mastery to these performances. Their performances in this new recording are a tour de force of high intensity, immense concentration, and forceful communication whether in the solo, duo or trio assemblages required by these various compositions.
Positive Feedback, 28-1-2024

Pianist Vera Kooper clearly feels at home in all extremes of this composition.
Luister, 01-12-2023

There is enough variety in the programme, even with its predominant darkness, to make it a worthy addition to the Auerbach discography.  The recorded sound itself is exemplary.
Music Web International, 08-11-2023

The three musicians created the album in close collaboration with the composer and can therefore delve deeply into the notes. Auerbach sometimes milks the darkness sublimely, but also mixes black humor into it.
Trouw, 16-10-2023

The pizzicato playing sounds soft and particularly subdued in the 2002 'Lonely Suite – Ballet for a Lonely Violinist', alternating with even modest string movements. Auerbach expresses loneliness in music. Visual, melodic, but also with that rawness mentioned above, for example in the third part 'No Escape'. Viola player Gerard Spronk plays it with great empathy and expression.
Nieuwe Noten, 13-10-2023

In the Third Piano Trio the intensity of the three musicians is unprecedented too. They fall from wild dissonant madness into withdrawn contemplation, delicately reflecting the echoes of seemingly recognizable melodies.
De Volkskrant, 28-9-2023

Play album Play album
01.
Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, Op 70: I. Dancing with Oneself
01:58
(Lera Auerbach) Gerard Spronk, Delta Piano Trio
02.
Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, Op 70: II. Boredom
01:31
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk
03.
Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, Op 70: III. No Escape
01:31
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk
04.
Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, Op 70: IV. Imaginary Dialogue
02:57
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk
05.
Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, Op 70: V. Worrisome Thought
01:09
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk
06.
Lonely Suite - Ballet for a Lonely Violinist, Op 70: VI. Question
01:05
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk
07.
Piano Trio No. 4
18:34
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin, Vera Kooper
08.
Milking Darkness
10:03
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Vera Kooper
09.
Three Dances in the Old Style, Op. 54: I. Andantino scherzando
01:43
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin
10.
Three Dances in the Old Style, Op. 54: II. Andante
01:35
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin
11.
Three Dances in the Old Style, Op. 54: III. Andante
01:20
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin
12.
Piano Trio No. 3: I. Grandioso
07:03
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin, Vera Kooper
13.
Piano Trio No. 3: II. Andante libero
04:42
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin, Vera Kooper
14.
Piano Trio No. 3: III. Adagio religioso
04:46
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin, Vera Kooper
15.
Piano Trio No. 3: IV. Allegro brutale
09:41
(Lera Auerbach) Delta Piano Trio, Gerard Spronk, Irene Enzlin, Vera Kooper
show all tracks

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