Catherine Gordeladze - Caprice Brilliant (2020)

This elegant sounding and wonderfully performed new album from Catherine Gordeladze features a wonderful combination of familiar pieces and those which are rarely performed by composers including Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Jaëll and Liszt.

While there is no denying it is wonderful to hear such a variety of pieces including the title piece of the album, ‘Caprice Brillant’ by Jaëll, there are times when it feels as though the album has too many pieces placed on it and can become slightly overwhelming to listen to.

This being said, it is a lovely opportunity to examine caprices -particularly as it exposes the listener to some lesser known pieces such as Jaëll’s ‘Caprice Brilliant’ that is filled with plenty of drama and certainly feels one of the most improvised pieces on the album. But in her selection, Gordeladze contrasts the older works with a more contemporary style that blends in well as evidenced by Kapustin’s Capriccio Op.71 that while feels less smooth than other works suits the pianist’s style of performance well.

Throughout it all, Gordeladze performs with great style and delicacy, able to make her own mark on pieces such as Bach’s Capriccio Auf Die Abreise des Geliebten Bruders which is light and elegant to listen to. Thanks to her performances and the way in which the pieces have been constructed, a variety of images and emotions sweep the listener into the world created by these pieces. This can be heard on tracks such as Clementi’s Capriccio No.1, that brings to mind the Spring and life reawakening after a long Winter – it is hopeful and delicate.

There is no denying there is plenty of colour and life in every piece that has been clearly carefully selected for this album, and each piece ebbs and flows from one to the next beautifully.

As always, Gordeladze performance with great elegance and has a way of selecting pieces for an album that is refreshing. Her statement of not wishing to record pieces that have been recorded constantly is particularly strong here and makes for a consistently intriguing listen. But perhaps it just needs condensing down slightly on how many composers work to feature to prevent it from becoming overwhelming for the listener.