Two business cards

Patricia Pagny, piano professor at the Bern University of the Arts, is the initiator of the "Tasti'Era" project, which aims to breathe new life into the classical music scene through interdisciplinarity. Her declared aim is to make musical performances attractive, versatile and appealing to audiences by combining them with other arts. So far, however, only two CDs have emerged as a tangible result and calling card, which, despite their respectable quality, can hardly be described as ground-breaking. Pagny's piano class performs two well-rounded programs, but they do not stand out from the usual themed CDs.

Based on the strong influence of Japanese painting on French artists at the end of the 19th century, the class on the CD Entre la France et le Japon in search of something comparable in music. In fact, a convincing juxtaposition is achieved through an apt choice of pieces. Toshio Akaishi and Toru Takemitsu provide an insight into Japanese compositional culture, and through more or less well-known French representatives from Maurice Ravel to Jean-Jacques Werner, differences, but also far-reaching similarities, soon become clear. The mostly atmospheric, floating works are primarily distinguished from one another by their different sound structures, which can be traced back to the different cultures. The Prelude La Puerta del Vino by Claude Debussy, with its strong Spanish influences, stands out due to its very beautiful but thematically inappropriate sound world. Three first recordings, Jean-Jacques Werner's Madigan SquareToshio Akaishi's A Heavy Cloud Drips in the North Winter's Sky and The blue moon is rising from beyond a mountain ridgeThe compositional finesse and individuality of Akaishi's works can be found in some expressive and colorful impressionistic elements. The interpreters are convincing and do justice to the works; in addition to Patricia Pagny herself, who stands out qualitatively as a mentor, Mrika Sefa deserves special mention, who plays Poulenc's Improvisation XIII and Takemitsus Song of love offers.

Entre la France et le Japon, un sentiment de parfaite harmonie, works by Messiaen, Akaishi, Ravel, Takemitsu and others.

Video examples:

Tanja Biderman plays Toru Takemitsu: Litany II in Memory of Michael Vyner
Aimi Sugo plays Toshio Akaishi: A Heavy Cloud Drips in the North Winter's Sky
Zarja Vatovec plays Jean-Jacques Werner: Madigan Square

In the second CD Bern-Thun-Interlaken, véritable source d'inspiration the game of associations continues, albeit quite loosely. Although the four closely connected composers (the Schumann couple, Brahms and Mendelssohn) all knew and appreciated the area in question, only one of the recorded works was actually written here: Three fantasy pieces op. 111 by Schumann. Tanja Biderman opens the recording with the very intelligently chosen Toccata op. 7 by Robert Schumann, a piece that is so difficult that few pianists can or want to include it in their repertoire. It is mastered surprisingly confidently and with relievingly little emphasis on technique, which is also evident in Mendelssohn's Variations sérieuses and Brahms' Intermezzo op. 118 No. 6 does not change. The fact that immediately afterwards the Intermezzi op. 117 by Brahms, played by Tomomi Hori, shows exactly the differences between the two pianists. While Biderman performs Brahms expansively, with a lot of rubato and pathos, Hori does not allow herself many liberties, playing almost woodenly at times. Such divergent interpretations become more apparent in the course of the CD. Nevertheless, the overall quality remains very high, with particular praise for the conception of a rounded sound and the noticeable focus on the internal logic of the compositions, which, despite all the differences, never slips into the arbitrary.