Russian Sonatas = MYASKOVSKY; SCRIABIN – Timur Mustakimov, piano – Blue Griffin

by | Sep 23, 2019 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

Russian Sonatas = MYASKOVSKY: Piano Sonata No. 5 in B Major, Op. 64; No. 1, No. 8 in D minor,Op. 83; SCRIABIN: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-sharp minor, Op. 23 – Timur Mustakimov, piano – Blue Griffin BGR 511, 57:01 [Distr. by Albany] ****:

Pianist Timur Mustakimov studied with Tatyana Kiseleva, Alfiya Burnasheva, and Vladamir Feltsman. This recital marks his premier appearance on disc.

It seems the etiology of Myaskovsky’s Fifth Sonata (1908-1917; rev. 1944) involves a major transformation of the composer’s style: his First Sonata set the tone for a combination of chromaticism and polyphony, and Myaskovsky proceeded on this turbulent course through his Fourth Sonata in C minor.  The Fifth Sonata recorded here (July 12-14, 2017) turns to a more bucolic, lyric temper, asking for a perpetual motion in 16th notes for the opening Allegretto Capriccioso, whose secondary theme projects a dancing character. The development as such exposes us to subtle variations set in a pastoral mood, with only temporary explosions of emotion. Pianist Mustakimov manages a lush patina in this movement, his Steinway D resonant in a manner that already connects Myaskovsky (1881-1950) to his equally emotional contemporaries Scriabin and Rachmaninov.

Commentators point out that the second movement, Largo Espressivo, takes its cue from Myaskovsky’s having been deeply affected by Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony. The music proceeds stealthily, arioso, intensely meditative.  The bass chords hold our attention while the upper voice cautiously wends its way to a nervous illumination.  Eventually, a lovely song emerges, disarming in its brittle purity. The intensity of the song, richly harmonized, assumes an epic character, much in the manner of both Chopin and Mussorgsky.  In immediate contrast to the somber pathos of the second movement, the ensuing Vivo third movement presents a whirling scherzo, an etude, really, in dazzling colors, especially in running scales and staccatos. A moment of contrapuntal seriousness emerges in the Trio, only to return to the devil-may-care antics of the da capo.  The last movement, Allegro energico, strives for epic grandeur in the manner of a sonata-rondo after Haydn, but rife with Russian characters, among which the sense of bogatyr – think Borodin – heraldry sounds a martial hymn. The variety of sonic effects rings with authority and ferocity, a victory over adversity, whether personal or political.

The Piano Sonata No. 8 (1949) of Myaskovsky presents a “Soviet” composer who has mastered the notion of communicating to “the people.”  The opening movement, Barcarolle-Sonatina (Allegretto) certainly convey a lulling, water sensibility in a transparent D minor mode. An extended arioso, the music has no development as such: it introduces a rocking staccato motif that intrudes only briefly upon the swirling, diaphanous motion that might owe passing debts to Debussy. The second movement Song-Idyll (Andante cantabile) extends the lyric impulse, its chords somewhat recalling harmonies in Faure.   The last movement effects a real sense of contrast: marked Chorale-Rondo (Vivo), the music proffers a folk dance, a Khorovod moment of Slavic rusticity that might stand to Myaskovsky’s oeuvre as Tchaikovsky’s Op. 59 Dumka adds to his piano idiom. The peasant requires that villagers hold hands as they  dance and sing in a circle.  This music, too, maintains a rippling figure that plays like an etude, but direct and unpretentious.

Alexander Scriabin’s Third Sonata (1897) aspires to symphonic expression, in four spiritually poignant movements. The essentially through-composed nature of the thematic material borrows from both Liszt and Franck in its cyclical approach.  The first movement Drammatico demands heroic assertion from pianist Mustakimov, who rises to the occasion. According to the unofficial program, the, passionate free soul “launches itself into pain and struggle.”  The uncertain cadence at the coda leads into the scherzo (Allegretto) second movement, an agitated blend of major and minor harmonies which purport to “veil” the wounded, uneasy soul.  Much of the third movement, Andante, resonates with lulling chords we know from the Chopin B minor Sonata, Op. 58. The soul here supposedly floats “in a sea of gentle emotion.” Analogies for this music evoke “a halo of sound” and the composer’s exclamation, “The stars are singing!”  The turbulence of the final movement threatens a kind of willed dissolution, a la Tristan. The lure of “the abyss of non-being” as a rubric resounds with Nietzsche’s notion of Dionysian Wisdom.
Even after a relatively glorious hymn episode, the ending argues for denial and spiritual frustration. The rendition here by Mustakimov, perforce, finds us seduced, enthralled, and tragically abandoned.

—Gary Lemco




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