Stella Almondo - Passion (2024) [Hi-Res]

The passion that is the root of Stella Almondo’s character permeates this first studio recording. Born in Monaco in 2006, a disciple of Amédée Briggen in Nice, then of Igor Lazko in Paris, Stella Almondo proclaims here her unconditional love of music, an art that she perceives as the quintessence of love and which allows her to explore in depth, as she did from a very young age, the bewildering diversity of emotions and human experiences. Throughout this recital, Stella Almondo delights in the most lyrical moments, her crystalline sound radiating in majestically deployed phrases. The fierce energy of her playing, the fluidity of the musical impulses are felt throughout this album, played with conviction and sincerity. This program, which weaves together works by three great composers born in Imperial Russia in the second half of the 19th century, pays homage to the music, this universal language which, through the exaltation the inner world of man, the elevation of the soul, becomes a vehicle for the expression of passionate feelings. Sharing a deep Slavic intensity, Felix Blumenfeld (1863-1931), Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) and Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) lived and worked in Russia through times of major social and political changes leading in particular to the Revolution of 1917 and the overthrow of the Tsar. Their compositions reflect these historical turmoils, as they question Russian identity and bear testimony the social upheavals. Another notable common ground is found in the melancholy so deeply ingrained into the Slavic soul, often yearning for a world that has already vanished, in pages like the Etude-tableau in E- flat minor by Rachmaninoff or the beautiful Prelude in G minor by Blumenfeld (Op. 17 No. 22). With Blumenfeld, the rich Polish folkloric heritage also nourishes the discourse, even though the composer takes up the main framework of Austro-Germanic music on a structural level, endowing it with a superior dramatic power.