ANNABEL GUAITA - Identities (2022) Hi-Res

On this digital release, we hear the Norwegian-Spanish pianist Annabel Guaita perform piano works by three western composers. The main work, Ketil Hvoslef's Rondo con Variazioni (1970), is considered one of the most important contributions to Norwegian piano literature from the 20th century. The work is framed by piano pieces by Edvard Grieg and Harald Sæverud.

The pianist himself says: When I turned 50, it was natural to look back. Who am I? What has shaped me as a musician? What is my identity as a practitioner? In the work leading up to this recording, I have also asked myself: What does this music mean to me? What did it do to me, and what do I do with it now? I grew up with Grieg and Sæverud, and I have a long and dear relationship with this music. It's weird with it, music you play or hear as a child, always lies close to the heart. Music you play as a teenager stakes a path. But it is only in the artistic choices one makes as an adult that one's identity is properly expressed. By putting the works together in this order, I ask: What does it do to the experience of music? Will there be new threads formed between the works? What kind of tissue is this really? Do the works form some kind of whole? There is often talk of composers' style, but less often of performer style. Identity is also about playing style, and in this project I have thought a lot about what my own playing style is and may have been influenced by.