In 2012, Tigran Mansurian wrote a piece called Quasi parlando for Anja Lechner. The title can be translated as ‘almost speaking’ or ‘as if speaking’. The new transcriptions of the Songs of Komitas and the Four Hayrens provide Mansurian with another opportunity for allowing the cello to become close to or even replace the human voice. In arranging vocal pieces to accommodate the language of an instrument, the composer embarked on the difficult task of converting the characteristic intonations and phonetics of Armenian, in which the pieces were originally written, for the medium of the cello. This year’s Nostalgia we've listen to these new works, enhanced by the fact that they were performed by Mansurian himself and by Anja Lechner.
REVIEWS
The warm, deep sound and the lyrical phrase of the cello harmonised perfectly with the ascetical piano accompaniment. In Capriccio for cello solo, Anja Lechner showed her faultless skills and her ability to convincingly interpret Tigran Mansurian’s distinct music. Everyone who attended the concert must agree that Anja and Tigran are the perfect duet.
Ewa Chorościan, Magdalena Nowicka, Nostalgia na dwa głosy, MeaKultura
To say about Anja Lechner that she has a beautiful timbre would be an unfair simplification – even in the simplest of phrases, she operated with an impressively extensive palette and a myriad of the most minuscule hues. Using immaculate sound emission combined with a perfectly refined choice of expression devices, she very logically guided listeners also through Tigran Mansurian’s two-movement Capriccio for cello solo.
Magdalena Lubocka, Cztery struny melancholii, Kultura Poznań, 25.10.2014