Lotte Nuria Adler - Bach x Ysaÿe: Partitas & Sonatas (2022)

Of course, the mandolin did not exist in Bach's lifetime, but with her instrument in the same tuning as the violin, the interpreter achieves wonders executing the original score: an Allemanda that sounds so sweet, serene and different, played with note-for-note dedication; a sweeping Corrente illustrating the complexity of transcription; a Sarabande full of contrasts between its secluded and livelier passages; and a Tempo di Borea that is brought to ecstasy by Adler.

Bach's works sound beautiful on this plucked string instrument. I think that if he had known the mandolin, he surely would have written for it, affirms the young musician in her presentation of the piece before the audience.

With Pietro Denis, this illustrious descendant of the lute had its first heyday in Paris in the 18th century when it became fashionable among the nobility and the first schools and works were created through which one can resort today to the many classical techniques (for the right and left hand), explains the mandolinist.

Playing her instrument built by the luthier Alfred Woll (from Welzheim, near Stuttgart) Adler has already performed as a soloist and accompanied by major symphony orchestras in numerous concert halls, including the Mendelssohn Auditorium in the Tonhalle and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, in Düsseldorf; the Philharmonie, from Essen; and the Cologne Opera. In her repertoire there are also works by the prominent composer Juan Carlos Muñoz.

Lotte Nuria Adler is the first mandolinist who has also dared to transcribe the Solo Violin Sonata No. 4 in E minor (op. 27) by Eugène Ysaÿe, strongly influenced by Bach. Ysaÿe dedicated this to the great maestro Fritz Kreisler when he composed it in 1923, along with five other sonatas dedicated to as many famous violinists.

This juxtaposition of such different and complementary works is almost obvious, such as Partita 1, previously performed by Adler, and this Sonata No. 4. Here, too, the Belgian composer marked the Allemande and Sarabande movements and is not far behind Bach in terms of to polyphony and polysemy. The mandolinist will include them in her second album that she plans to release in 2022 with the three partitas by Bach and the corresponding sonatas by Ysaÿe.

The execution of the first movement was diaphanous and balanced with wonderful, safe and precise plectrum picking. The second, more passionate and sensual, evaporated into the ether; and finally the playful and bouncy Finale at first dies down a bit before going back to his funny old ways and reaching a tremendous close.

The other three compositions (encore included) performed by Adler were written directly for mandolin. Taa-tadum-do, by Carlo Domeniconi, is a melting pot of Indian and Arabic influences. At times the relationship with Ravi Shankar's sitar came to mind.

Prelude No. 1, Op 45 by Raffaele Calace is the climax of this matinee; the composer, with his fortissimos and pianissimos, makes the mandolin cry and laugh. In some passages he expresses himself in all his splendor like a Spanish guitar, in others like an Andean charango. For Adler, Calace, our great romantic teacher, is the Frédéric Chopin of the mandolin, a creator who, like no other, knew how to better exploit the tonal and technical possibilities of this instrument and with such skill. The main technique is the tremolo which radiates its own charm.

In the encores, and to somehow calm the effusive cheers of the spectators, Lotte Nuria Adler goes into northeast Brazil with her song "Animação", with its undeniable sensual and dancing rhythm that evokes the paradigmatic musical diversity of that South American country, walking briefly through the baião, the frevo, the forró, the ciranda, the maracatú, the choro, and the legendary traces of the cavaquinho. What a finale, this afternoon at the Friedenskirche, in Krefeld!