Georgian born but Dutch citizen Ketevan Roinsvhili presents her long-expected debut album ‘nana’ at 7MNTN! Nana means lullaby in Georgian, and this relates to the folk theme of this CD. The young cellist welcomes her listeners with a colourful musical palette with music coming from her home country, accompanied by compositions from Turkey, Hungary and a Dutch commission piece by ‘classic rock star’ Florian Magnus Maier.

Tsintsadze is a composer not many people may have heard about before. We think that needs to be changed. Because the music by this Georgian is of a natural beauty, describing Georgian culture and surroundings on a lovely manner. Next to this on ‘nana’ music lovers will be treated by the powerful Four Cities by Fazil Say, the Romanian Folk Dances by Bartók, the daring Cello solo sonata by Ligeti and the mesmerizing Elegie by Lagidze.

Georgians like to sing. And Ketevan is no different in this. Together with the hypnotizing voice of Nora Fischer she performs the Georgian song Tsintskaro as a kind of encore on this disc. Originally meant for polyphonic mail choir, they sing it together two-voiced with Ketevan on cello also playing a fixed note continuously.

‘Nana’ is an album on which Ketevan Roinishvili, assisted by the gifted Daniël Kool on piano, brings true gems from countries that may not have been associated so frequently with Western classical music in the past.

Reviews

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4 stars @ DB van het Noorden Sept ’19 (Dutch): tuneful and refined playing

3 stars @ Volkskrant Oct ’19 (Dutch): Liquid and expressive playing

Opusklassiek, Sept ’19: completely flexible phrasing, the imagination is constantly leading (links to other page)