On February 17 at 6 p.m., a presentation concert of pianist Rihards Plešanov’s first solo album “Les Flexibles” will be held in the roof choir of the Latvian National Library.
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In addition to the contemporary piano music, the album’s presentation concert will also feature the poetry of Liana Lang, Anna Rancāne, Sergej Timofeev and Inga Žoluda read by the authors themselves, the “Delfi” portal is informed by the album’s publishers from “Skani”.
For the album “Les Flexibles”, pianist Rihards Plešanovs has carefully chosen close and important pages of contemporary piano music by Latvian and foreign composers.
Rihards Plešanovs reveals about the concept of the album and the choice of content in the Latvian Radio 3 “Klasika” program “On the road with Klasika”: “The first idea for the program came in 2017 and exactly in the order in which this music is arranged in the album. When the pandemic came in 2020 , – like everyone else – I decided to realize something new in my profession, because the opportunities for concerts were limited. I included retrospective compositions in the album program, which I return to from time to time. Therefore, the name – “Les Flexibles” – expresses the flexibility towards these compositions and the desire to find something new in them again.”
In addition to the works of the great 20th century modernist masters – two études “Fanfares” and “L’Escalier du diable” by Giorgis Ligeti and the XV part of Olivier Messiaen’s grandiose piano cycle “Twenty glances at little Jesus” “Mazā Jesus kūpsts” – the album includes the prominent Turkish pianist and the composition “Black Earth” by the music author Fāzil Say, which was inspired by the song “Kara toprak” (“Black Earth”) composed by the singer and symbol of all Turkish culture, Veisel.
Latvian music in the album is represented by Pētera Vaska’s “White Landscape” from the cycle “Seasons”, and it is dedicated to his friend and associate Imantas Zemzari. His artwork on the disc is represented by “Textures” created in the minimalist (repetitive) technique. Linda Leyman’s opus “Les Flexibles” gave the name to the whole disc, but it was created by improvising the played piano and thinking about O. Roden’s sculpture “Gates of Hell”. The album closes with Edgar Raginski’s piano work “Mazā elektroniskā muzika”, which is an energetic reflection on the genres of electronic music, and Rihard Plešanov’s “Mushroom Rhapsody” – a tribute to John Cage, which combines two layers of piano sounds – ordinary and pre-tuned piano.
Along with the music, the album features poetry by Liana Lang, Anna Rancāne, Sergej Timofeev and Inga Žoluda read by the authors themselves.
The album “Les Flexibles” was recorded in the summer of 2020 at the Latgale embassy “Gors”, Rēzekne, together with sound director Gustavus Erenpreis.
From February 17, the album will be available in CD format in Latvia and 80 countries around the world, as well as digitally on the most popular music streaming and download platforms.
