Pianist Inna Faliks releases new recording on May 17: Manuscripts Don't Burn
Features works written for Faliks by Clarice Assad, Ljova Zhurbin, Veronika Krausas, Maya Miro Johnson, and Mike Garson
Plus music by Fanny Mendelssohn, Fazil Say, and Schubert
Album is companion piece to Faliks' memoir Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books, 2023)
"Inna Faliks is a superb concert pianist" – Berkshire Fine Arts
The pianist Inna Faliks’ new album, Manuscripts Don’t Burn, is released on May 17, 2024 on Sono Luminus. “It is my most personal album yet, with five premieres written for me in celebration of my favorite book, Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, my Ukrainian-Jewish heritage, my hometown of Odesa, and so much more,” says Faliks. "This collection of music speaks to my love of dialogue between music and words. The connections between text and sound here are not just literal but emotional, based on memory, intuition, dreams and hopes."
Master and Margarita is a seminal Russian novel of art censorship and dictatorship. Several of the works on the album are directly related to this book: Maya Miro Johnson's theatrical and extended techniques-filled "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (the phrase is a crucial line in the book) and the elegant, understated "Master and Margarita Suite" by Veronika Krausas. Clarice Assad's "Godai" for speaking pianist features a poem by Steve Schroeder depicting the same imagery of the "manuscripts don't burn" line. The lieder of Schubert transcribed for solo piano by Liszt alludes to the mythical and Faustian lore that is also in Master and Margarita: "Gretchen [Margarita] at the Spinning Wheel," a mystical love story "By the Sea," a monstrous Elf King and the death of a child in "Erlkonig." The rarely heard "Notturno" by Fanny Mendelssohn* connects to the story through the dark, impassioned character of Margarita.
The other works tie into the pianist's experiences and memories growing up Jewish in Ukraine. Fasil Say's "Black Earth"* takes the listener on a journey from Odesa across the Black Sea, while Mike Garson's "Psalm to Odesa" pulls from a well-known Odesan song and features improvisatory elements. "Voices" by Ljova Zhurbin features historical recordings of Jewish cantorial and klezmer music alongside Faliks' piano.
The recording is a mirror image to Faliks's newly-published memoir, The Weight in the Fingertips: A Musical Odyssey from Soviet Ukraine to the World Stage (Backbeat Books, rel. October 2023), as it intertwines the literal images from Master and Margarita with more autobiographical themes and layers. The memoir has been widely praised, most recently in the LA Review of Books. Anne Midgette (formerly of The Washington Post) writes "There are a lot of musician's memoirs out there; this one, about a piano prodigy turned professional, is a standout. Highly recommended."
* the works by Fanny Mendelssohn and Fazil Say are only available on the digital album
Pianist Inna Faliks
Manuscripts Don't Burn
Release date: May 17, 2024 | Sono Luminus (DSL-92275)
Note: physical CD (DSL-92259) does not include Fanny Mendelssohn & Fazil Say tracks
TRACK LISTING
Veronika Krausas (words by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. Inna Faliks)
Master and Margarita Suite for Speaking Pianist^
[01] I. Time to Go – a Sarabande 1:37
[02] II. 14th of the Month of Nisan 3:06
[03] III. Night Streets of Moscow – a Polonaise 2:00
[04] IV. Yellow Flower Waltz 2:40
[05] V. Fantasia, “Have you stopped loving me?” 2:30
[06] VI. Behemoth’s Somersaults into Cognac – a Bagatelle 2:08
[07] VII. Listen to the Silence – Epilogue 2:330
Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt)
[08] Gretchen am Spinnrade (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel) S. 558/8 4:30
Maya Miro Johnson (words by Mikhail Bulgakov, trans. Inna Faliks)
[09] Manuscripts Don’t Burn, for Speaking Pianist^ 6:59
Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn (digital album only)
[10] Notturno in G minor, H337 4:23
Franz Schubert (arr. Franz Liszt)
[11] Erlkonig (Erlking) S.558/4 4:43
[12] Am Meer (By the Sea) S. 560/4 4:37
Fazil Say (digital album only)
[13] Black Earth 7:06
Mike Garson
[14] A Psalm for Odesa^ 4:36
Ljova Zhurbin
Voices, Suite in Three Movements for piano and historical recordings^
[15] I. Sirota 6:51
[16] II. Alter(ed) Zhok 5:16
[17] III. Freydele 6:05
Clarice Assad (words by Steve Schroeder)
Godai, the Five Elements, for Speaking Pianist^
[18]I. Dry Bones – Wind 2:30
[19] II. Absence – Fire and Water 3:07
[20] III. Earth 2:01
[21] IV. Ascension-Sky 2:19
[22] Hero for piano solo 2:22
Total Time = 84:10
^ – signifies world premiere recording
ARTIST BIO
“Adventurous and passionate” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire, as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages in recital and with many major orchestras, performing with conductors Leonard Slatkin, Keith Lockhart and many others.
Ms. Faliks collaborates with and premieres music by some of today’s most significant composers, including Billy Childs, Richard Danielpour, Timo Andres and Clarice Assad. She is known for her poetry-music series Music/Words, and has worked with a number of prominent poets. She regularly tours her monologue-recital Polonaise-Fantasie, the Story of a Pianist, which tells the story of her immigration to the United States from Odessa (recorded on Delos). Her discography includes Manuscripts Don't Burn (Sono Luminus, May 2024), which consists of world premiere recordings alongside 19th and 20th century works. Also in her catalogue: Reimagine: Beethoven and Ravel (Navona), and all-Beethoven and Rachmaninoff/Ravel/Pasternak discs on MSR Classics.
In addition to her other impressive accomplishments, she is is head of Piano Studies at UCLA and is a critically acclaimed writer. Her memoir, Weight in the Fingertips (Backbeat Books) was published in October 2023, and her articles and essays have appeared in Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Inna Faliks is a Yamaha Artist.