C Major Entertainment - Khatia Buniatishvili Mind in the Wilderness - The Forest Concert (2013)

Framed by the tranquil beauty of a forest near Berlin, Khatia Buniatishvili gives a recital of pianistic masterpieces dappled by the shade of verdant ferns and leafy canopies. As a special treat, her older sister Gvantsa joins her for four-handed works by Dvorak, Brahms, and Piazzolla. Described as a “force of nature”, Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili takes her art into the wilderness with this concert. On a wooden stage, she sits in an earthy concert hall performing works of particular meaning for her, and beloved by audiences the world over. From Debussy's Clair de Lune to Ravel’s La Valse, from Stravinsky’s Petrushka to Piazzolla's Improvisations on Libertango, Buniatishvili demonstrates her wide palette of expression and lyric approach to her instrument. Interspersed with the music are intimate interviews of the artist herself in which she discusses on her musical upbringing, her career, and her impressions of the pieces she has chosen to include in the program. Khatia Buniatishvili's playing has been described as having “an aura of elegant solitude and even melancholy. It's a perfect characterization of the pianist with such a wide palette of expression.” Kha­tia Buni­at­ishvili com­mands a nat­ur­al mu­sic­al­ity. “Force of nature”, “Spir­ited­ness”, or “In­fin­ite free­dom” are fre­quently men­tioned at­trib­utes of her in­ter­pret­a­tion. These im­ages epi­tom­ize the earth­i­ness of the young Geor­gi­an. For Kath­ia, the pur­pose of art is to touch people; the most bliss­ful mo­ments are those of shar­ing mu­sic with people, tak­ing them to places, they have nev­er been be­fore. Every con­cert stage feels dif­fer­ent for her “I like this kind of ad­ven­ture mo­ment when you don't know what it's go­ing to be it makes it more in­tense”, and this site in the midst of a se­greg­ated forest is cer­tainly un­com­mon. The forest as a place of ma­gic and danger is found among myth­o­logy wherever the nat­ur­al state of wild land is forest a forest is a loc­a­tion bey­ond which people nor­mally travel, where strange and won­drous things might oc­cur. Forests can also be places of refuge – a refuge from the speed of daily life, al­low­ing the minds to wander. It has been said that the forest knows all and is able to teach all – Aures sunt nem­or­is, oculi campestribus oris – the field has eyes, the woods have ears. Buniatishvili's artistic approach to making music is undoubtedly associated with the Romantic tradition, always maintaining a fine balance between unhinged wildness and lyrical introspection. This repertoire comprises cheerful moments, melancholic passages, and nocturne-like episodes virtuously brought to life throughout a concert experience with a great quality of intimacy and generous ardor. The program includes works by Bach, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Debussy, Kancheli, Brahms, Ravel, Skrjabin, Dvorak, Handel, and Stravinsky.

Director Bernhard Fleischer ; A BFMI and Sony Classical Co-Production with C Major Entertainment

Program Johann Sebastian Bach/Egon Petri, Sheep May Safely Graze, from Cantata BWV 208 ; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Seasons, Op. 37b , X. October – Autumn Song ; Frederic Chopin, Scherzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 31 ; Claude Debussy, Suite bergamasque III. Clair de lune ; Giya Kancheli, “When almonds blossomed” from the film by Lana Gogoberidze ; Johannes Brahms, Intermezzi, Op. 117 No. 2 in B-flat minor ; Maurice Ravel, La Valse ; Alexander Scriabin, Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 2, No. 1 ; Frederic Chopin, Etudes, Op. 25 No. 7 in C-sharp Minor ; Antonin Dvorak, Slavonic Dances, Op. 72, 2. Dumka. Allegretto grazioso (E minor) ; Johannes Brahms, Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G Minor ; Igor Stravinsky, Three movements from “Petrushka” ; Traditional/Khatia Buniatishvili, Vagiorko mai (“Don't you love me?”) ; George Frideric Handel/Wilhelm Kempff, Suite des Pieces, Menuet ; Astor Piazzolla, Improvisation on “Libertango”

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