CCMusic.com

Every piece on this album by pianist Romain Nosbaum has a reference to the Portuguese word 'Saudades'. It embodies the desire for a place (Adios a Cuba, Asturias), the soul, the human being (Alma Brasiliera) or popular manifestations. The music usually has a close connection to dance and is very much connected to the human emotional world. Romain Nosbaum is an individualist among the pianists of his generation. Without airs and graces, but with modesty and passionate devotion, he is solely focused on music. Both the grand gesture and sheer brilliancy have no meaning to him - instead, his playing stands out through intelligence, subtle individuality and technical perfection. The subtlety and immediacy of his pianistics encourage Romain's repertoire, which focuses on the romantic piano literature as well as music of contemporary composers. A universal interest in 'tradition and innovation' expresses itself not only soloistically, but also through his activities as a passionate chamber musician. Thus, he regularly performs as a vocal accompanist with artists such as his sister Véronique. He is also a member of the Random Trio, which comes with the colorful instrumentation of flute, violoncello, and piano. Moreover, Romain is very involved in interdisciplinary projects such as Claude Mangen's staging of Schubert's Winterreise, Giorgio Mancini's live choreography A nima, or the musical readings of texts by Vaslav Nijinsky and Michel Houellebecq together with actor Christian Berkel and pianist Kevin Tamanini.