Zala Kravos - Zala (2018)

World-renowned young pianist Zala writes of her new release: This recording brings together some of my favorite music, which I have been playing for several years. It acts like a mirror in which I can see reflections of my own playing, which now belongs to be past: it is one of the first pages that I have turned in the book of my musical activities. Brahms Ballades Op. 10 were quite a discovery for the young girl that I was more than three years ago- especially the first, the Edward Ballad, which is also the darkest and cruelest of the four. Adults around me were often surprised at how strongly I felt this music, which is rarely, if ever, performed by children. I was intrigued by their surprise, as the music and the feelings it conveys seemed perfectly natural to me. Perhaps we are all born with an innate and unconscious understanding of cruelty and tragedy?...Liszts Ballade is, like Brahms Edward, based on a poem, the famous German ballad LenoreWith its tumultuous fight between evil and good, it represents for me a transition, a hair-raising horse ride, from the darkest side of the preromantic piano music on this album to much brighter and peaceful atmosphere The composition Crystal Dream that closes the [album] is particularly dear to my heart. Albena wrote it for me when I was eleven with the aim of introducing me to a more modern style. She is always happy when I play it and insists that I have a good sense for contemporary music.