Yamen Saadi - Voices from Paris
Works by Fauré, Poulenc, Ysaÿe
Yamen Saadi, violin
Nathalia Milstein, piano
catalog number 21130
Yamen Saadi was born in Nazareth in 1997. He started to study the violin at the Barenboim-Said Conservatory in Nazareth, and after that began to study under the guidance of the renowned Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra Concertmaster, Chaim Taub.
At only 11 years old, Saadi joined the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. 6 years later he served as concertmaster of the orchestra.
“Voices from Paris” is the debut album of this outstanding young musician. Together with the outstanding young pianist Nathalia Milstein he presents works by Fauré, Poulenc and Ysaÿe.
“On his debut album, he plays an all-French program, and when the CD is called Voices from Paris, that’s no lie. Saadi and Milstein give the music a genuinely French character. Saadi’s Stradivari ‘Ex-Lord Amherst of Hackney, Ex-Fritz Kreisler’ sounds elegant and sensual, he and the pianist let the tragic elements of the Poulenc sonata become audible but not dominant. Thus, just as in La Reine de Coeur, the bittersweetness of the composition is perfectly expressed. In the Ysaÿe pieces, too, the blend of virtuosity, lyricism and controlled expressivity is perfect. The Fauré Sonata is wonderfully interiorized in the slow movement, sparkling, elegant and racy in the fast ones. Sadi plays with great suppleness, flexibility and a finely graduated but wide dynamic range. Nathalia Milstein matches him perfectly.And so it must be said: this debut CD is fully successful and highly recommended.”Remy Franck in pizzicato
Francis Poulenc:
Sonate for Violine & Klavier FP 119
La Reine de Coeur
Eugène Ysaÿe:
Rêve d’enfant
Poème élégiaque
Gabriel Fauré:
Sonate for Violine & Klavier No. 1
Les Berceaux