Luiza Borac, piano : Chants nostalgiques

   in Piano International (Mar, 2015)
This latest release from Luiza Borac ticks a number of boxes, including idiomatic playing of the highest virtuosity. It features original compositions – Constantin Silvestri’s extraordinarily poetic Chants nostalgiques (1944) and Godowsky’s charming Alt-Wien – as well as a nicely judged group of transcriptions by Liszt of Schubert songs, and Rachmaninov’s transcription of Kreisler’s Liebeslied et Liebesfreud, made in 1931. There are also first recordings (the Silvestri, and Borac’s recasting of Tarrega’s evergreen Recuerdos de la Alhambra) and even some technical wizardry, in remixed recordings of songs tenor Ion Buzea made in 1964. The programme as a whole is beautifully judged; the sound is exceptional. …