The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is glad to the release of their latest recording, with pianists Mari Kodama, Momo Kodama, Karin Kei Nagano under the direction of conductor Kent Nagano: Double & Triple Piano Concertos by Mozart & Poulenc, on the PENTATONE label.
Recorded at the Victoria Hall in 2023 following concerts in Geneva, this unique project highlights the musicality and congeniality of this extraordinary family of performers. On this album, the four members of the Nagano-Kodama family - Kent (husband), Mari (wife), Momo (sister), and Karin (daughter) - join forces with the OSR. The collective performance on this album resonates with Mozart’s own practice of performing his music together with his father, his sister, his wife, and his sister-in-law.
Despite belonging to different ages in music history, Mozart and Poulenc share a combination of playfulness and seriousness, and Poulenc – who adored Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos – manages to integrate touches of Mozartian neoclassicism into his genuinely French and twentieth-century double concerto.
“Making music with family members is always something very special. The level of intimacy is incomparably higher, the shared understanding often deeper, the tension more exciting and grueling, because it always involves personal relationships that go far beyond professional music-making. Once we actually succeed in letting ourselves be carried away together by the music, magic unfolds, which in turn affects our personal relationships deeply. This project has more than just fulfilled our expectations. A dream has come true.”*
– Mari Kodama, Momo Kodama, Karin Kei Nagano and Kent Nagano –
