The French pianist Jean-Pierre Collot presents a highly interesting and, at first glance, unusual juxtaposition of the music of Lachenmann (born 1935) with that of Ludwig van Beethoven. Here, Franz Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's Symphony no. 6 "Pastoral" is in dialogue with Serynade and Marche fatale by Lachenmann. In this WDR production, Collot comes across as a contemporary painter and creates fascinating timbres and shades of these highly virtuosic masterpieces. This album was created in collaboration with Lachenmann, whose tonal and highly melodic "fatal march" arrived as a shock after his decades of experimentation with extremes of musical possibility. Serynade, the title of his great piano work, is intentionally misspelled, with a y; the shift references the first letter of its dedicatee's name: Yukiko Sugawara, a pianist and Lachenmann's wife.
