Elizabeth Sombart’s Singing the Nocturnes might be a misleading title for some. The classical pianist’s album is an instrumental affair featuring only her piano and not a trace of the human voice is heard. However, Frederic Chopin’s sophisticated yet beguiling melodies are laden throughout the album’s twenty-one tracks and gives the release a distinct vocal quality that more than substitutes for the lack of a singer. You won’t miss it at all.
URL: https://www.elizabethsombart.com/en/home-english/
Those melodic powers are fully displayed in the first two compositions. “Op. 9 No. 1 in B-Flat Minor” and its successor “Op. 9 No. 2 in E-Flat Major” offers listeners melodic lyricism of the highest order and the alternating tones struck are nonetheless complementary. Chopin shows himself to be a master of establishing themes and finding endless variations without those original structures. This high level of craftsmanship is apparent, as well, in later tracks such as “Op. 15 No. 2 in F-Sharp Major”. It has a near narrative quality as Sombart’s playing takes listeners through an early dark night of the soul, through an ultimately triumphant climax, and out the other side with immense sensitivity. One of the highlights of Singing the Nocturnes is Sombart’s skill seamlessly transitioning from one mood to another without any jarring after-shocks.
She explores shadowy passages during pieces such as “Op. 27 No. 1 in C-Sharp Minor” but lightens the atmosphere near the end. Rarely does Chopin move into outright darkness, though there is a definite melancholic pallor presiding over Singing the Nocturnes. “Op. 37 No. 1 in G Minor” and “Op. 37 No. 2 in G Major” are important performances coming at the album’s halfway point.
They are never obvious, however. Chopin presents listeners with several shifts in tone and mood that never sound forced thanks to Sombart’s thorough understanding of the material. It’s no surprise from someone who has loomed as a global level talent in classical circles for over two decades. France has honored with several prestigious artistic awards; Sombart reached the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite in 2006 and awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres two years later.
A similar motif comes into play near the Nocturnes conclusion. “Op. 62 No. 2 in E Major” and “Op. 72 No. 1 in E Minor” takes the overall piece further inward, in some respect, but Sombart does an equally stellar job of highlighting Chopin’s continued melodic creativity. The finale “posth. in C Minor” doesn’t ever feel tacked on in Sombart’s capable hands and brings the Nocturnes to a gentle and considered close. The rare moments of bluster layered through the earlier performances vanish here and a hush falls over the final curtain.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/elizabeth-sombart/20763218
It’s a fitting end. Elizabeth Sombart is, without question, one of the finest modern interpreters of classical music and his growing discography attests to her enduring power. Singing the Nocturnes is doesn’t compromise Chopin’s vision in any fashion, yet her personality emerges at numerous points during this piece and finds a spectacular “dance partner” in the great Polish composer’s legendary work.
Jodi Marxbury