Lettres Intimes

Album review

The title of Bulgarian pianist Plamena Mangova's new album, 'Lettres intimes', has absolutely nothing to do with Janáček's quartet of the same title. Here it covers a programme dedicated to the friendship between the Schumann couple, Clara and Robert, and the young, blond angel from northern Germany: Johannes Brahms.

The intimate letters evoked by this title refer rather to German musical notation where the notes are written as letters, so therefore differ from the Latin system (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti), which is based on the beginning of each verse of the Hymne à Saint-Jean-Baptiste, and reputedly devised by the Tuscan Benedictine monk Guido d'Arezzo at the beginning of the 11th century. German notation allows for all sorts of secret combinations and messages, often amorous, which can only be interpreted by the receiver. The most famous of these combinations is undoubtedly that of B.A.C.H. (B flat, A, C, B natural) with which the composer could sign his works.

The works which figure in this programme are intertwined, like this symbiotic trio of composers who so respected and admired each other. Clara Schumann, a pianist adored throughout Europe (her reputation was such that her husband took umbrage) inspired the two men and interpreted their music, which she continued to play throughout her long performing life. In this very well thought-through programme, youth joins maturity, verging on death in a surprising concatenation of dates and emotions. © François Hudry/Qobuz