There is something so magical about hearing a familiar piece played as if for the first time. Rekha's newest piano record, "Für Elise, WoO 59," is that kind of happening, a minor revelation, simultaneously intimate and reverent. Rekha's "Fur Elise, WoO 59" isn't just a cover; it's an interpretation and conversation with Beethoven himself over the centuries. She doesn't outshine the original by any means; instead, she listens to it intently and answers back with soul. The result is a profoundly personal version of the song, and in that vulnerability, universally resonant.
For centuries, Beethoven's "Fur Elise, WoO 59" has been prominent in classical music, but Rekha doesn't simply return to this masterpiece; she breathes life into it. It's not virtuosity for the sake of it so much as storytelling with her emotions. Every note feels hand-placed as if she's kneeling beside you and taking you by the hand through a memory dear to her.
From the starting motif, a gentleness, a come-hither murmuring, immediately distinguishes her version. Rekha slouches into the open spaces between the notes, and the music has a tentative quality that can get marked over in more rigid readings. Her pacing is deliberate and poetic, never hurried, allowing each pause and crescendo to bear its emotional fullness. A gem for its sincerity and grace, Rekha's rendition of "Fur Elise, WoO 59" belongs in every well-considered classical playlist. This is the special news of it being music made with care, and you can hear it in every phrase.
This interpretation is dynamic, and the piece breathes, soft and painful by turns. It's that mix of hyperfamiliarity and novelty that Rekha does best. She honors the human heart of Beethoven's work but does not shrink from painting it with her colors muted tones that, when she chooses to deploy them, of grace, despair, and tranquil joy. What's remarkable is how human the piece is in Rekha's hands. It is a thank you to the past, graced with pleasurable, softened eyes to the future. The performance makes new and longtime listeners want to stop and feel something.
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