Cristian Sandrin’s first album is "Correspondances", launched in April 2022 by Antarctica label. The album recreates a unique conversation between the music of Cyril Scott, George Enescu and Maurice Ravel. This conversation takes place through the medium of sound poems to create a reality which is perhaps more perfect than our own. This vision of art is, however, rooted in a specific zeitgeist, and in contemporary currents within the visual and literary arts - including Symbolism and Impressionism. The works recorded here display a common musical language - a language whose syntax springs directly out of Wagner's deconstruction of tonal harmony, further elaborated by Debussy's free experimentations with timbre, sound and touch. In the latter's art, the fluid harmonic language creates the sense of a series of vivid pictorial images - but these images also suggest a further intangible element beyond the realm of sense impressions, an intuition of the 'Symbol', a key which can unlock the inner content of appearances, an idea which played a crucial role in the artistic discourse of the time. Ravel, Enescu and Scott were unequivocally children of their times, but perhaps what is truly fascinating to performer and listener lies in disclosing the individual response of each composer to this artistic milieu.

“This album is a blessing for the diversity of pianistic expression and allows us to listen to an incredibly gifted pianist”

CD des Doppelmonats (selected to be the CD of two months: July and August) 

PIANO News Deutschland July 2022

“This is now one of my favourite performances of Miroirs (…) Gorgeous music, resplendent sound from the Steinway Model D, perceptive notes. A luscious recital and the highlight this month’s listening”

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE (Vol. 86 No. 5 September/October 2023)

“Cristian Sandrin draws convincing parallels between the piano music of Enescu, Ravel and Scott. This is a brave new world (…)”

★★★★

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE - July 2023

“Whilst listening, one senses how much Sandrin enjoys playing”

★★★★

KULTURA EXTRA DEUTSCHLAND

“An immaculately played recital”

MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL

“Sandrin’s generous sonorities issue forth in marvellous  diversity (…) The varieties of touch and timbre required challenge every interpreter, among whom the late Dinu Lipatti stands out as a true Romanian rival”

Fanfare Magazine (Issue 47:2 Nov/Dec 2023)

“Sandrin succeeds in producing an almost endless variety of quiet timbres which this music needs. Yet, when required, the necessary power of expression is not lacking”

Nieuwe Noten Nederland

Photography by Yvonne Hartmann

Producer and Editing: Rachel Smith

Sound Engineer: Ben Connellan