Divine Art Records

Composer: Alexander Scriabin

  • Dualities

    Dualities

    The critically acclaimed Invencia Piano Duo make their Divine Art debut with Dualities, a dazzling album that expands the possibilities of the piano duet and duo repertoire. Drawing on their virtuosity and innovative spirit, the duo explores works that transcend the boundaries of traditional solo piano, delivering arrangements that demand the synergy of four hands.

    Highlights of the album include Andrey Kasparov’s stunning arrangements of Liszt’s Totentanz, Ravel’s La valse, Scriabin’s Vers la flamme, and Albéniz’s Triana. These beloved solo pieces are reimagined with breathtaking scope and texture, demonstrating the Invencia Piano Duo’s interpretive depth.

    The album also features two original compositions by Kasparov: Fantasy on Lutheran Chorales and Cadenza for LvB. These works showcase the duo’s mastery of both performance and composition, taking full advantage of the dynamic and expressive potential of four-hand piano playing.

    Founded by Andrey Kasparov and Oksana Lutsyshyn, the Invencia Piano Duo bring a wealth of experience and accolades to their performances. Educated at the Moscow State Conservatory and later at Indiana University’s School of Music, the duo has won international recognition for their compelling interpretations and bold programming. Both artists are esteemed faculty members at Old Dominion University in Virginia and serve as artistic co-directors of the Norfolk Chamber Consort.

    Their individual achievements are equally impressive. Lutsyshyn, a prizewinner at the William Kapell International Piano Competition, made her Carnegie Hall debut following her success. Kasparov, winner of the Albert Roussel Prize, has premiered significant works such as Bartók’s revised Piano Concerto No. 3 and earned recognition as a composer of published and recorded works. The Invencia Piano Duo’s discography includes a celebrated four-volume series of Florent Schmitt’s piano duet works on Grand Piano Records, as well as albums for Albany and Naxos. With Dualities, they continue to push artistic boundaries, presenting an arresting collection that redefines the piano duo repertoire.

    This album is an essential addition for lovers of virtuosic piano music, blending brilliance, originality, and deep musicality in a singular listening experience.

  • Violetta Fialko – Ciccolini Prizewinner Recital

    Violetta Fialko – Ciccolini Prizewinner Recital

    Violetta Fialko is an exceptionally talented Ukrainian pianist, who has been signed by Divine Art for her commercial recording debut, as winner of the 2021 Ciccolini Prize for Pianists, a new international competition which had to be held ‘virtually’ due to the Covid pandemic. At the time of writing this, Violetta is living in a part of Ukraine which has so far not been desecrated, having been evacuated from her home town. The audio masters arrived from the studio in Kyiv only days before the Russian attack, for which we are thankful, and we do not yet know if the studio still exists. Leaving the war aside, we have a brilliantly talented pianist who has chosen a varied and highly virtuosic program of Russian Romantic classics (though Prokofiev, to give him his due, was born in Ukraine).

    Violetta was born in 1997 into a family of musicians. She began to attend music school at the age of 5, and at 9 entered the Lysenko Specialized Music School in Kyiv, graduating with top honors in 2016 and entering the Kyiv Conservatory. She won many prizes, culminating in the 2021 Ciccolini Prize which has led to this album being made. She worked (until the current war began) as a teacher of piano performance and music theory, and is also a volunteer and program host on the Evangelical Radio station ‘Emmanuel’.

    We commend this album as the debut of a fantastic pianist and also in support of her home country and peace and freedom everywhere.

  • At the Heart of the Piano

    At the Heart of the Piano

    A special 3-CD / triple digital album of great Romantic works by one of the world’s most accomplished pianists specialising in works of that era. These stunning performances of Busoni’s Chaconne (after J S Bach) and Berg’s Sonata are receiving their first release; the other tracks were previously issued (on CD only, not digitally ) by Bayer and have been newly remastered.

    Schliessmann is a unique interpreter, never afraid to find a new expression and always searching for the heart of the music and the composer’s inspiration.

    On their initial release these recordings attracted great accolades: American Record Guide said : “The best pianist I know at entering the world and expressing the awareness of the German romantics. There is something personal and unique about Schliessmann’s Schumann. It does not sound like anyone else’s. He is better than any other pianist I have heard.”

    High Performance Review said of his Scriabin: “This is the most imaginative playing one has heard yet – on the level of Richter, Michelangeli, Wild, Gould – the highest order of artistry.”

  • Christopher Langdown Live in London

    Christopher Langdown Live in London

    This 2-CD set contains the whole of an acclaimed recital at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 9 June 2009 by the awesomely talented young British pianist Christopher Langdown, who gives phenomenal performances of Beethoven’s Tempest Sonata and other virtuoso works, as well as the world premiere of his own Deo Omnis Gloria, a very fine set of three neo-romantic pieces conceived in the late 19th-century style. This debut album shows yet another remarkable talent in the world of modern pianism.