Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse – Charles Owen

With his critically acclaimed recordings of music by Bach, Brahms, Fauré, and Rachmaninov to his credit, celebrated British pianist Charles Owen celebrates his 50th birthday by scaling the heights of Franz Liszt’s anthology Années de pèlerinage—Première année—Suisse, which evokes the composer’s travels throughout Switzerland and the breath-taking Alpine landscape. The program concludes with the emotive Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude. Owen remarks, “During the first COVID lockdown of spring 2020, I became especially drawn to this music for its evocation of the natural world, its sense of beauty and liberation. Against the background of an unexpected homebound existence, the imagery of journeying took on extra meaning in my mind.”