In the Mist Œuvres pour piano de Janacek Schumann et Schubert Lee - DUX1924 - DUX - Classique

The album features popular works from the piano literature, all connected by the theme of distant reminiscences of lost happiness—expressed explicitly in the titles of the pieces or veiled, as in Schubert’s A major Sonata composed just months before his death. It is a tribute to Beethoven’s style, but also a typical conglomerate of intimate emotions characteristic of the composer, conveyed through lyrical motifs where brilliant pianism takes a secondary role, though it is undeniably present. Janácek’s cycles were created during the darkest period of his life. The first, On an Overgrown Path, commemorates the composer’s prematurely deceased daughter, while the titular In the Mist, with its transparent texture and innovative harmony, depicts the creator’s inner emptiness and confusion. Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) presents the perception of an adult looking back nostalgically at childhood—the simple, sometimes naive musical language corresponds with an idealized image of the past. Min Jung Lee is a versatile artist who, in her subtle interpretations, perfectly conveys the spirit of these compositions, painting a misty portrait of the composers’ personal experiences transposed onto the musical staff.