Des cloches sonores

Catalin Serban

George Enescu - Suite No. 2 D major op. 10
Franz Schubert - Sonata G major op. 78, D 894
Alexander Scriabin - Sonata No. 5 op. 53

catalog number 21107

"While looking for exciting correlations and comparisons of works and composers who, for a long time, have touched and inspired me, I discovered these three compositions – stylistically completely different, and yet united by their bell-like motifs and sounds. George Enescu’s Suite op. 10 No. 2 even has the title “Des cloches sonores” (Eng. “Sonorous Bells”), and the bell sounds are unmistakeably audible in all four movements of the Suite, albeit in very differing dynamics and atmospheric sound colours. The G major Sonata op. 78 D 894 by Franz Schubert is a piece with which I have a long and close association. What greatly influenced my interpretation of the famous first movement was my contemplation of the long, expansive chords – these sound as if they are produced by a faraway bell in a quiet, profound landscape. The impressive ending and the highlight of the Sonata No. 5 op. 53 by Alexander Scriabin uses the very gentle harmonies and individual notes of the beginning, which develop from distant tolling bell to become an overpowering, mighty peal of bells." Catalin Serban