Bittersweet

Like a Gentle Embrace Inspired by a moving concert in a women's shelter in Munich, ECHO Klassik winner Sophie Pacini wanted to give as many other people as possible hope and light in dark hours with a compilation of her personal favorite pieces. The result is bittersweet - a collection of encouraging masterworks intended as a gentle embrace amid crises and challenges. With great emotional depth, Pacini takes the listener on a varied program featuring popular works by Händel, Schumann, Brahms and Mozart, among others, whose music mirrors our lives with all their ups and downs like a pendulum between lightness and melancholy. In twelve carefully selected classics from the piano repertoire, Pacini invites us with passion and sensitivity to let ourselves fall into the soothing sounds of the piano and to find comfort in the great and small crises of life. It is the pianist's most personal project to date, who - unintentionally called a "prodigy" - has had to fight resistance, marginalization and resentment from a young age and has always drawn her strength from music. "Bittersweet is like a musical diary for me," says the now 33-year-old. "The album reminds me of many turbulent phases in my life. Phases that called for reflection and courage and phases that gave me strength and confidence. Playing and listening to it fills me equally with humility and inner joy. I am very grateful for everything I have achieved, but I am also aware of the obstacles I have had to overcome. But it is worth believing in your dreams and not giving up. If I can pass on even a little of what it has given me through my music, that makes me happy."