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CD Feature/ Salome Scheidegger: "Anthology"

  Tobias

For all of you who thought Switzerland had nothing more to offer than Heidi, cheese and some mountains: Eat this! Apart from performing as a Nihon Buyo-dancer for many years (it’s all about  the trinity of costume, music and choreography), Salome Scheidegger has quickly evolved into possibly the country’s finest young pianist, faithful to the great masters and courageous enough to take on Rock bands on stage.

If this were the world of Pop, her face would be all over the place, but the way (Classical) things are, her label debut is left to linger for just a little longer. Until those record companies finally wake up, there’s “Anthology”, a fine collection of recordings made over the last two years and sold exclusively through her excellent own web page. No experiments with loud Guitars and thundering Drums here, instead a well-ballanced program, switching nicely between Mendelssohn, Chopin, Janacek and Debussy. While listening to the material, two things become apparent: The ease and fluency, with which she masters some pretty virtuoso prestos and her alertness for those more intimate moments. While the former puts her into direct competition with artists such as Lang Lang (whom she can’t yet touch), the latter is truly exceptional and give her a distinct musical personality, especially in the live recording of Mendelssohns Piano Concerto No.1, when she manages to open up ghostly dark little rooms inside a hall full of people, evoking chambermusical silence for just a few seconds. Salome emphasizes the soft qualities of her playing rather than the ragged and jagged edges, which seems more natural and in place with the Classical and Romantic repertoire than it does with Janaceks sometimes bizarre visions.

On the other hand, the first few notes of “In the Mist” more than make up for this: Distant, muted tones, a moment of uncertainty, just like treading one’s way through the fog. Maybe that’s a perfect metaphor for describing Salomes way through the music business, which is already greatly promising but yet slightly opaque. We have no doubts, however, that she will come out just fine.

Homepage: Salome Scheidegger