Wilhem Latchoumia - Prokofiev: Cinderella (2019) [Hi-Res]

During the Second World War, Prokofiev composed a new ballet, Cinderella, based on the fairytale by Charles Perrault. Shortly afterwards he made three piano suites consisting of arrangements of pieces from the ballet. The piano writing is often virtuosic, combining irony and lyricism.

Wilhem Latchoumia has chosen to place the pieces in the sequence of the ballet in order to respect its narrative continuity. This has never been done before until now. Moreover, with his passion for rare repertory and the most varied contemporary aesthetics, the pianist has integrated four pieces by the American composer Henry Dixon Cowell into Prokofiev's ballet.

These compositions, written between 1912 and 1930, used new modes of writing and playing for the time, such as playing directly on the instrument’s strings.

The four pieces separate the key episodes of the ballet, offering each listener’s imagination new sonic horizons.

Cowell’s magical universe fits perfectly into Prokofiev’s world and brings a unique colour to the disc’s narrative - for in a piano recital, the notion of telling a story is always present.

More generally, recording transcriptions is always a challenge. For Wilhem Latchoumia, it was important not only to reproduce the colours of the orchestra on the piano but also to give the work a pianistic colouration, to be active on both levels at the same time, thus giving the transcription its fullest dimension in performance.

Wilhem Latchoumia, piano