20th Century Feminine Louise Chisson & Tamara Atschba

• Lili Boulanger (1893 - 1918):
• 1 Boulanger: Nocturne for Violin & Piano 03:13
• 2 Boulanger: D'un matin de printemps (Version for Violin & Piano) 05:40
• Grażyna Bacewicz (1909 - 1969): Violin Sonata No. 4:
• 3 Bacewicz: Violin Sonata No. 4: I. Moderato - Allegro non troppo 06:40
• 4 Bacewicz: Violin Sonata No. 4: II. Andante ma non troppo 04:59
• 5 Bacewicz: Violin Sonata No. 4: III. Scherzo. Molto vivo 03:38
• 6 Bacewicz: Violin Sonata No. 4: IV. Finale. Con passione 05:46
• Galina Ustvolskaya (1919 - 2006):
• 7 Ustvolskaya: Violin Sonata 20:46
• Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962): String Poetic:
• 8 Higdon: String Poetic: I. Jagged Climb 02:30
• 9 Higdon: String Poetic: II. Nocturne 05:03
• 10 Higdon: String Poetic: III. Blue Hills of Mist 06:58
• 11 Higdon: String Poetic: IV. Maze Mechanical 03:40
• 12 Higdon: String Poetic: V. Climb Jagged 02:48
• Total Runtime 01:11:41

Info for 20th Century Feminine

Recording an album is always an amazing adventure, this time even more so, and we are very grateful to everyone who made this album possible. But why was it so special? Firstly, because of the choice of program, of little known, exciting works, and secondly due to the fact that this project was overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, there is the special significance that each of these works has attained precisely under the current circumstances. There is no doubt that the chronological sequence of the pieces tells a story documenting the development of musical styles over the course of the century in witness to contemporary events. But today, having experienced this music from the first lockdown through to the present day, the music itself and the sequencing have taken on a very significant relevance for us. From the melancholic, naïve and yet somewhat dreamy sounds of Lili Boulanger through the courage, tenderness and complexity of Grazyna Bacewicz, to Galina Ustvolskaya’s no-man’s land, where the absence of structured time reminds us of aimless days and hours without knowing what might happen the next day. And finally, Jennifer Higdon and her organized chaos that is nevertheless not hopeless, but a little rebellious, emotional, with deep insight into nature that seems to be a light and source of energy for humankind. Louise Chisson and Tamara Atschba.

"The American composer Roy Harris said of Galina Ustvolksaya’s sonata that it was kind of ugly. And the Fourth Sonata by Grazyna Bacewicz can be heard as rising impulsively into a frenzy. Jennifer Higdon’s Five Poetic Pieces, while poetic by title, are also considerably more brittle. Along with jags, machine chugging, and frantic labyrinthine, there are also mysterious mists. Before these works, which are demanding to hear, the two interpreters have placed the two miniatures by Nadia Boulanger, which in retrospect are almost relaxed, rather impressionistically shimmering, but they have also given them a good portion of expressiveness. It may perhaps be taken as the strongest impression from the overall view that the two interpreters, violinist Louise Chisson and her piano partner Tamara Atschba, present on this varied CD a strong expressive view of four works of a century of gender comrades. In doing so, they deftly highlight interpretive and creative differences, allowing each work to reflect its due character. One really cannot accuse the interpreters of having hidden their creative will and its technically intensively realized realization. Rather, they keep the listeners spellbound with their demanding playing until the very last note." (Uwe Krusch, pizzicato.lu)

Louise Chisson, violin
Tamara Atschba, piano

Louise Chisson
A "rare talent", a "great technical mastery" and "above all a deep and remarkable musical personality", says Dora Schwarzberg about the young violinist Louise Chisson who has become through the years an original and multifaceted artist, displaying her outstanding abilities in the classical and romantic repertory as in the modern and contemporary music. ​

​Louise Chisson has been on stage from a very early age and, among others, has played with the following orchestras: Solistes Moscou-Montpellier, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, l’Orchestre d'Auvergne, l’Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, die Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie, the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, the Salzburg Chamber Soloists and the Deutsche Kammerakademie. She has also been invited to take part in numerous festivals and works with prestigious violinists such as Isaac Stern, Maya Glesarova, Tedi Papavrami, Gilles Apap, Augustin Dumay, Ana Chumachenco and Wolfgang Marschner.

First Prize, all categories, of the Concours International des Jeunes Interprètes Lille-Wattrelos, she is then winner of the Alfredo Zanella violin competition in Bologna, Italy. Shortly afterwards she is prizewinner at the Henryk Szeryng Competition in Mexico and is invited to interpret the Bartok violin concerto n°2 in a series of concerts with the Mexico State Symphonic Orchestra. Her performances at the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud violin competition were strongly noticed, as well as at the Lipizer competition where she attracts the attention of the german violinist Wolfgang Marschner who invited her to perform in Freiburg. She distinguishes herself by her audacious choices and her great technical skills during solo performances of the integral of the 24 Caprices of Paganini, the sonatas of Ysaye, Bach and Prokofiev.

The special affection she has for the great sonatas as well as her constant desire to enrich her repertory bring her to attach a special importance to the works of the 20th century (Bartok, Prokofiev, Szymanowski…). The choices of her programs and the quality of her interpretations always delight the public. She plays recitals with great french pianists, in particular Jean-Philippe Collard, Eric Ferrand N’Kaoua…

She works and performs as a duo with the georgian pianist Tamara Atschba and became in 2013, first violin of the Ensemble Lux, a string quartet dedicated to the modern and contemporary repertoire. ​

Born in Bordeaux, Louise Chisson started to play the violin at the age of three with Robert Papavrami, father of the violinist Tedi Papavrami, and studied with him until the age of seventeen. "During my long teaching career, I have met a very few violinists who showed right from the beginning such a real love for the violin. She is today a violinist who understands the high demands of her profession and who has a natural musicality, a unique sensitivity and fine fantasy which never stopped growing over the years." (R. Papavrami). She is noticed at eight years old by Isaac Stern and three years later, Tibor Varga says to be "very impressed by the certain gift she shows for the violin". At seventeen years old she enters the class of the great violinist Dora Schwarzberg, student of the world renowned russian teacher Yuri Jankelevich, working with her several years, as well as with her assistant Anna Kandinsky, at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she received her Master degree.

Her first Cd dedicated to Janacek, Prokofiev and Poulenc was released in 2013 under austrian label Gramola and ranked by Artistxite.com as one of the 10 best recordings of the year, followed in 2014 by another recording, "1914", consisting of works by C. Koechlin and L. Vierne.

From 2015 Louise Chisson is teaching at the Prayner Konservatorium in Vienna, and from 2020 at the Franz Schubert Konservatorium.

In 2016 she created with Tamara Atschba the Esperus Art Fund, aiming to support exceptional young talents, as well as the Esperus Music Academy, in collaboration with the renowned summer festival L'Eté Musical en Bergerac. In 2019, the duo worked and performed together with cellist Gary Hoffman. 2019 also brought to life another project, a concert with narrator dedicated to Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms, performed with the austrian actress Katharina Stemberger.

In January 2020 Louise Chisson and Tamara Atschba opened their new concert cycle at the Ehrbar Hall in Vienna, Musik durch die Jahreszeiten. They signed that same year a contract with label Hänssler Klassik, planning the release of their new recording in 2021.

Still in the frames of their cycle in the Ehrbar Hall, they give an acclaimed performance with cellist Ophélie Gaillard in october 2020.

Tamara Atschba

Tamara Atschba is winner of several competitions, such as the Dmitri Kabalewski Piano Competition, the Caucasian Piano Competition for Young Artists, the Piano Soloists Competition of the Philharmony of Tbilisi and the National Georgian Composition Competition of Georgian National TV and Radio. At an early age, she performed as a soloist together with the Georgian National Philharmonic orchestra and wrote several prize - awarded compositions for violin and piano, piano solo, vocal duo.

Described by critics as an "incomparable, inspired pianist", she has been playing in Austria, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Turkey, Russia, Israel, USA, Japan, Korea and Mexico and has been performing at numerous international festivals, such as l’Eté Musical dans la Vallée du Lot, L'Eté Musical en Bergerac, Ankara Music Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival "Libertas", Zarlino Festival di Musica da Camera, Tel Aviv chamber music festival "Bridges" and Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad.

Numerous CD recordings and concert performances at the Wiener Konzerthaus, the large ORF broadcasting hall in Vienna, Bösendorfer Hall, the ceremonial hall of the Austrian National Library, radio and concert hall Flagey in Bruxelles, the Liszt concert hall of the conservatory in Budapest, the Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Hall (Italy), Rose Theater Hall Fuji (Japan), Jacques Thibaud Conservatory Hall in Paris (France), Kaufman Hall in New York (USA) among other concert halls in London, Freiburg, Hannover, Barcelona, Madrid, Milan, Florence, Istanbul, Ankara, Prague, Warsaw and Moscow testify her agile artistic activities.

With her Album "1914", published by Gramola, Tamara Atschba marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War. A range of works have been written during the years of war. In her album, Tamara Atschba presents the following selection, as a musical commemoration of the year 1914, together with her colleagues Louise Chisson, Matthias Adensamer, Alexander Znamensky und Christophe Pantillon: Preludes for Piano op. 38 and piano quintet in c minor op. 42 (1917/18) by Louis Vierne, as well as the Sonata for Violin and piano op. 64 (1915/16) by Charles Koechlin. One of her CD's has been added to the list of the “Top10 classical” of 2013 and published in the „Magazine Artistxite“. In 2015 she started the project „Dialogue entre musique et lumieres - Hommage á Scriabine - Synesthetic Perception: Alexander Scriabin's Color Hearing“ at the French fesival „L'Eté Musical en Bergerac“, in memory of the 100th anniversary of the composer's death.

Tamara Atschba is a long-term chamber music partner of the violinist Prof. Dora Schwarzberg, who said „in noumerous concerts, Tamara Atschba showed her refined skills, as well as her extraordinary musicality“. The prime violinist of the Alban Berg Quartett verified her as „an outstanding partner for the entire chamber music repertoire“. Furthermore, she is duo partner of the French violinist Louise Chisson. In 2016, the two musicians founded a summer music academy in Monpasier, France.

Through her carreer, Tamara Atschba came across fascinating artistic personalities, such as Valentin Berlinsky, Claudio Abbado, Ruggero Ricci, Martha Argerich, Boris Berezovsky and Maxim Vengerov.

Her strong musical personality, the high quality of her playing and the exceptional colours of her piano sound have been noticed by outstanding musicians such as Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Metha ("such a wonderful and powerful sound!"), Vladimir Ashkenazy ("an exquisite piano playing"), Vladimir Krainev, Liana Isakadze, Wolfgang Marschner, Ivry Gitlis („she is an amazing musician!“) and Yuri Bashmet.

In 2015, the book „Georgian – German Faces and Names“ was published, in which contains a detailed report about the pianist Tamara Atschba („Professor of Music from Georgia“).

Tamara Atschba has been frequently invited to give master classes throughout Europe and Asia, as well as a juror at international music competitions. 2015 she became a member of the „International Academy of Performing Arts and Sciences“.

Since 1995, Tamara Atschba has worked as a teacher and accompanist at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and from 2012 to 2020 she was teaching at the Prayner Conservatory of Music and Drama. From 2020 Tamara Atschba is Professor at the Schubert Concervatory in Vienna. Several of her students are prize winners of international competitions and festivals.

From 2016, Tamara Atschba is a co- founder of the Summer Music Academy in Monpazier, France and a Vice President and Artistic Director of the Esperus Art Fund.

Booklet for 20th Century Feminine