Scriabin Archive
Anna Fedorova: Four Fantasies = Piano Works by Scriabin, Chopin, Schumann, Beethoven – Channel Classics
Anna Fedorova explores the imaginative creations of four composers
The Music Treasury for 27 May 2018 — Reed Tetzloff, pianist
This week, pianist Reed Tetzloff is featured on The Music Treasury, hosted by Dr Gary Lemco. A recent graduate of the Mannes School, Tetzlaff is already a name on the international stages, having performed in Europe, the United States, and China. The show is broadcast live on Sunday 27 May 2018, from 19:00 to 21:00 PDT from Stanford University, KZSU, and can be heard concurrently through its Internet stream on kzsu.stanford.edu. Mr Tetzloff will be joining Dr Lemco as an on-air guest for the evening’s show. More details of the the show, the artist, and the evening’s playlist follow. Reed Tetzloff, pianist Our on-air guest this evening is American pianist Reed Tetzloff (b. 1992). Mr. Tetzloff has expressed his admiration for several pianists of the past, such as Alfred Cortot and Vladimir Sofronitsky, whose examples we may sample in the course of our discussion, along with performances by Mt. Tetzloff himself. Mr. Tetzloff earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Mannes College the New School for Music, where he studied in with Dr. Paul Wirth. Tetzloff has also had studies with Leif Ove Andnes, Yefim Bronfman, Vladimir Feltsman, Richard Goode, and Andre Watts. He came to international attention at the […]
Presentiment: Orion Weiss = GRANADOS: Goyescas; JANACEK: In the Mists; SCRIABIN: “Black Mass” Piano Sonata
Orion Weiss initiates his own label with a recital ominous in its visions of the WW I apocalypse. Presentiment: Orion Weiss = GRANADOS: Goyescas, Op. 11; JANACEK: In the Mists; SCRIABIN: Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 “Black Mass” – Orion Weiss, piano – Orion Weiss, 74:18 (3/2/18) ****: Orion Weiss (b. 1981) has chosen three major piano compositions from the period 1911-1913, each anticipating the throes of WW I and its cataclysm for the world spirit. What Gustav Mahler would label the “Century of Death” had already begun to “flood the aesthetic of the old with anxiety, nostalgia, and confusion.” Weiss describes this music as conveying “foreboding, tormented by premonitions of a horrific future.” Performing on a Steinway CD 888 at SUNY Purchase (May 2014) as produced by David Frost, Weiss achieves alternately liquid and clarion tones that project love and death as two sides of a fateful coin. The 1911 six-movement piano suite Goyescas, Op. 11 of Enrique Granados takes its sensibility from the often Gothic paintings of Francisco Goya, “the last of the Old Masters and the first of the New.” The subtitle of the suite Los majos enamorados indicates that the subject will be love-affairs of […]
SCRIABIN: The Final Recital = Recreation of Scriabin’s program from his final concert – Jeremey Thompson – MSR
Pianist Jeremy Thompson recreates the composer’s last public appearance as a performer. SCRIABIN: The Final Recital = 2 Preludes, Op. 35; 4 Preludes, Op. 37; Prelude in G Major, Op. 39, No. 3; Mazurka in E Major, Op. 25, No. 4; Etude in b-flat minor, Op. 8, No. 7; Valse in A-flat Major, Op. 38; Sonata No. 3 in f-sharp minor, Op. 23; 3 Preludes, Op. 74; Nuances, Op. 56, No. 3; Danse languide, Op. 51, No. 4; Guirlandes, Op. 73, No. 1; Flammes sombres, Op. 73, No. 2; Etrangete, Op. 63, No. 2; Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp Major, Op. 30 – Jeremy Thompson, piano – MSR MS 1669, 65:57 (11/2017) [Distr. by Albany] ****: Pianist Jeremy Thompson realizes his ambition to recreate the ambitious program that composer Alexander Scriabin presented in St. Petersburg, Russia on 2 April 1915, Thompson’s homage to the composer’s centennial (rec. 22-23 May 2015). Scriabin would perish just three weeks after he gave his recital; a pity, for he had peaked as a performer, and his imagination, busy comprehending his virtual “Universe,” likely had cosmic possibilities. A contemporary writer for Etude magazine, Ellen von Tiedehohl, reported that Scriabin’s eyes “blazed fire” during the concert. […]
Reed Tetzloff: Sounds of Transcendence = Piano Works by GRIFFES; SCRIABIN; FRANCK – Reed Tetzloff, piano – Romeo Records
Pianist Reed Tetzloff approaches three late Romantic composers by way of their transcendent visions. Reed Tetzloff: Sounds of Transcendence = GRIFFES: Piano Sonata; The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan; SCRIABIN: Valse in A-flat Major, Op. 38; Fragilite, Op. 51, No. 1; Enigme, Op. 52, No. 2; Sonata No. 7, Op. 64 “White Mass”; Vers la Flamme, Op. 72; FRANCK: Prelude, Chorale et Fugue – Reed Tetzloff, piano – Romeo Records 7323, 70:40 (11/1/17) [Distr. by Albany] ****: Reed Tetzloff (b. 1992), a graduate of Mannes College and recipient of the CME International Performing Arts Grant, presents a recital in the spirit of C.S. Lewis, whom he cites in the liner notes: “I was made for another world… Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy [my desire] but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.” Consequently, Tetzloff chooses music (rec. 15-24 March 2017) that appeals to his Platonic or Emersonian concept of the Over-Soul in the form of three hyper-Romantic composers. The 1919 Piano Sonata of Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1872-1920) opens the recital, a work of rather audacious vision on the part of the composer, who took his “German” training to and beyond the accepted musical envelope, […]
Editorial for December, 2017
Every year, the internationally acclaimed Music@Menlo hosts a multi-week chamber music festival. The 2016 season, entitled “Russian Reflections”, features significant Russian composers—Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Scriabin among others—interspersed with pieces by European composers. The programming touches on different perspectives of the music: the ways in which Russian history is vividly reflected in its music, the parallels between Russian musical works and their Western European counterparts, and the compelling theme of self-reflection in Russian music, art, and literature. Through each disc of the 8 CD box set for Music@Menlo LIVE’s 2016 edition, these themes and other perspectives cast Russia’s musical identity in sharp relief, while also revealing an essential character that transcends any cultural divide. In addition to their summer festivals, Music@Menlo hosts winter concerts, this year featuring the Chamber Music of Lincoln Center, playing works of Brahms and Dvorak, as well as the Schumann Quartet, playing Bartok, Haydn, and Schumann Quartets. More information Music@Menlo can be found at their website, MusicAtMenlo.org. This exceptional offering is sponsored by Music@Menlo and Audiophile Audition. All you need to do to enter the drawing is to fill out the form here: Register To Win AUDIOPHILE AUDITION began as a local program in San Francisco and then in […]
Thanos MITSALAS: Tribute – Clear Note
Thanos MITSALAS: Tribute – Clear Note 75681, 65:07 (9/12/17) ****: Outstanding guitar artistry in a presentation of several first-rate contemporary works—Assad, York, Piazzolla—as well as a stupendous Alexandre Tansman “Scriabin Variations.” (Thanos Mitsalas; guitar) In the liner notes to this 2017 release by the Greek guitarist Thanos Mitsalas, we are told that the artist is “steadily achieving recognition as one of the leading virtuosos of his generation.” The first half of the CD at hand, Tribute, earnestly substantiates those claims, emphasizing finger-wiggling velocity on a technically daunting polyphonic piece by Alexandre Tansman called 3 Variations on a theme of Scriabin. This is a impressive piece, and at 10:16, the longest on the record. The enigmatic Scriabin theme leads the guitar far away from the typical guitaristic ambience, into the realm of heady Modernism that is nicely fit to the demands of the guitar. The first track Tiento Antiguo, an inward looking lyrical piece with a minor mode brooding but few Iberian gestures, is by Rodrigo. The same composer is featured on track four, Un Tiempo Fue Italica Famoso, a dark piece that alternates between Iberian castanet-accented strumming with florid passages of excessive virtuosic self-consciousness. The sound engineer has achieved a […]
Vilde Frang: Homage = Violin Music by RIES; SCHUMANN; WIENIAWSKI; GLUCK; SCHUBERT; POLDOWSKI; DEBUSSY; SCRIABIN; KREISLER; DVORAK; PROKOFIEV; ALBENIZ; PONCE; BAZZINI; MENDELSSOHN – Vilde Frang / Jose Gallardo – Warner
Vilde Frang: Homage = RIES: La capricciosa; SCHUMANN: Widmung; WIENIAWSKI: “Obertass” Mazurka; Caprice in E-flat; GLUCK: Melodie; SCHUBERT: Ballet Music from “Rosamunde”; POLDOWSKI: Tango; DEBUSSY: La plus que lente; SCRIABIN: Etude, Op. 8, No. 10; KREISLER: Gypsy Caprice; Rondino; DVORAK: Slavonic Dance in e minor; PROKOFIEV: Masks; ALBENIZ: Sevilla; PONCE: Estrellita; BAZZINI: Calabrese, OP. 34, No. 6; MENDELSSOHN: Song without Words, Op. 62, No. 1 – Vilde Frang, violin/ Jose Gallardo, piano – Warner Classics 0190295605326, 54:51 ****: Vilde Frang “indulges” her talents by paying homage to composers in transcriptions by masters of her instrument. Norwegian Violin virtuoso Vilde Frang (b. 1986) pays literal homage to the pedagogues and luminaries of the past with seventeen pieces and arrangements (rec. March 2017) made for her chosen instrument by the likes of Auer, Kreisler, Heifetz, and Szigeti. Frang performs on an 1854 Jean-Baptiste Vauillaume, opening her suave program with an “undoctored” original piece from 1925, La capricciosa, by Franz Ries (1846-1932), a work that slides and cavorts in flirtatious gestures, then breaks into a spiffy version of a Brahms Hungarian Dance. The fine lied from Schumann’s Op. 25 Myrthen, “Widmung” makes as ravishing a violin transcription (by Leopold Auer) as it does […]
Horowitz Live at Carnegie Hall, Vol. 1 = Works of HAYDN, SCHUBERT, SCRIABIN, KABALEVSKY, CHOPIN – Pristine
Horowitz Live at Carnegie Hall, Vol. 1 = HAYDN: Piano Sonata No. 62 in E-flat Major, Hob. XVI:52; SCHUBERT: Impromptu in G-flat Major, D. 899, No. 3; SCRIABIN: Vers la flamme, Op. 72; Poeme in F-sharp Major, Op. 32, No. 1; Etude in F-sharp Major, Op. 42, No. 4; Etude in d-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12; KABALEVSKY: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Major, Op. 49; CHOPIN: Fantasie in f minor, Op. 49; Nocturne in e minor, Op. 72, No. 1; Impromptu No. 1 in A-flat Major, Op. 29; Nocturne in F-sharp Major, Op. 15, No. 2; Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53 “Heroic” – Vladimir Horowitz, piano – Pristine Audio PAKM 071, 79:52 [www.pristineclassical.com] *****: The immortal Horowitz returns to us from private archives to enchant and astound us. This from Producer and Recording Engineer Andrew Rose: “This recording is the first of a collection of recordings made for Vladimir Horowitz’s private use of concerts given in New York’s Carnegie Hall. The recordings were captured on 78rpm acetate discs and survive in various states of disrepair in a collection held at Yale University.” Horowitz performs at Carnegie Hall on 2 February 1948, and he appears in excellent form, […]
Domo: Tippet Rise OPUS 2016 = Various works by SCRIABIN; ABRIL; RACHMANINOV; STRAVINSKY; CHOPIN – Pentatone
Domo: Tippet Rise OPUS 2016 = Various works by SCRIABIN; ABRIL; RACHMANINOV; STRAVINSKY; CHOPIN [Tracklist and Performing Artists follow] – Pentatone Oxingale Series Multi-channel SACD PTC 5186 660, 65:45 (8/4/17) ****: The 2016 music festival in Fishtail, Montana celebrates various ecstasies of music and Nature in pantheistic colors. The inaugural concert (24 June-20 August 2016) of the Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, Montana brought together a number of musicians to celebrate Scriabin’s centennial, given the magnificent backdrop of the Beartooth Mountains and the megalith Domo, a huge table in the shape of a Neolithic dolmen. The intended effect means to combine architecture, natural beauty, and music into an ecstatic experience that defied Scriabin’s prediction that such a venue of extended music, dance, and drinking would invoke the Apocalypse. The musical site embraces 10, 260 acres for outdoor and indoor performances again, 7 July-September 16, 2017. Yevgeny Sudbin opens the proceedings with Alexander Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata (1907), whose strong ties to the Symphony No. 4 (“The Poem of Ecstasy”) have been well documented. After a towering chordal introduction—“I call you to life, mysterious forces!”—the music goes into convulsions, alternately languid and accelerated. Sudbin’s sonorous range and pedal effects prove equal […]
Lynelle James, piano = BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 28; ROSLAVETS: 5 Preludes; SCRIABIN: Piano Sonata No. 4; SCHUMANN: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 – Lynelle James, piano – Blue Griffin
Lynelle James, piano = BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major, Op. 101; ROSLAVETS: 5 Preludes; SCRIABIN: Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp Major, Op. 30; SCHUMANN: Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 – Lynelle James, piano – Blue Griffin BGR435, 61:28 (5/1/17) [Distr. by Albany] ****: A gifted pianist makes a resonant impression in a recital of diverse musical colors. Pianist Lynelle James recorded this recital 13-15 April 2016, which displays her capacity for rich colors in a variety of musical styles. After a somewhat hesitant—or just too slow—Allegretto ma non troppo opening for the 1816 Piano Sonata No. 28 in A Major of Beethoven, Ms. James becomes more confident in her stride and declamations as the movement unfolds, and she finds excellent energy in the second, martial movement and the pungently contrapuntal last movement. As in many of the “later-style” Beethoven opera, this sonata condenses classical form into tight, cogent spaces, often indulging in sudden and canonic excursions into the minor modes of the main themes. The Allegro last movement enjoys an extremely fluent sense of musical transition, especially as the competing motor elements traverse a panoply of registers. The music of Nikolay Roslavets (1881-1944) has a special attraction […]
RACHMANINOV: Piano Sonata No. 1 in d minor; 3 Etudes-Tableaux; 4 Songs; Variations on a Theme of Corelli – Sandro Russo, p. – Steinway & Sons
Sandro Russo pays homage to the continuity of style and mood in early and late works of Sergei Rachmaninov. RACHMANINOV: Solo Piano Works = Piano Sonata No. 1 in d minor, Op. 28; 3 Etudes-Tableaux; 4 Songs (arr. E. Wild); Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 – Sandro Russo, piano – Steinway & Sons 30077, 78:04 (3/17/17) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: A graduate of the Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in London, pianist Sandro Russo means “to showcase the multiple facets of [Rachmaninov’s] artistic language.” Russo (rec. 13 & 20 June 2016) addresses the imposing Piano Sonata No. 1 (1908), a piece inspired by both the Faust legend and the Liszt Faust Symphony, with its musical portraits of Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles. In fact, the sketches for the d minor Sonata suggest Rachmaninov’s symphonic ambitions, though he would discard any program from the piece, as such. In three large, intricate movements, the sonata resonates with the ubiquitous Dies Irae of the Requiem Mass, especially given Rachmaninov’s gothic sensibility and his admiration of the Liszt Totentanz. Rachmaninov presented the draft of the work to colleague Konstantin Igumnov, who premiered the work. Russo attacks the first […]
SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major; SCRIABIN: Piano Concerto in f-sharp; DVORAK: Sym. Variations – Paul Badura-Skoda, p./ Polish Radio Sym. Orch./ Charles Mackerras – Pristine Audio
Charles Mackerras makes his Pristine debut with a concert appearance in Scotland with the Polish Radio Orchestra. SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 9 in E-flat Major, Op. 70; SCRIABIN: Piano Concerto in f-sharp minor, Op. 20; DVORAK: Symphonic Variations, Op. 78 – Paul Badura-Skoda, p./ Polish Radio Sym. Orch./ Charles Mackerras – Pristine Audio PASC 487, 74:47 [www.pristineclassical.com] ****: I had the privilege of meeting Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010) and his wife in Atlanta after a symphony concert. Mackerras’ fine recording of Handel’s Messiah for EMI having piqued my interest in a conductor of such nice proportions and instrumental balances, I felt no less curiosity about his having studied with one of my idols, Vaclav Talich. “We tried to convince Talich to leave Czechoslovakia,” urged Mackerras, “but by 1960 his health issues had become manifest and was simply too late.” The present disc from Pristine comes from the Edinburgh Festival (27 August 1962, in stereo), from a BBC transcription of a second concert by the Polish Radio Orchestra unissued in the United Kingdom but pressed onto vinyl for US broadcast. The piano solo for the rare Scriabin Concerto, Viennese Paul Badura-Skoda (b. 1927), performs a work derivative of Chopin but already rife […]
BORTKIEWICZ: Lyrica Nova; Etude in D-flat Major; Nocturne; Esquisses de Crimee; Three Preludes; Piano Sonata No. 2 – A. Soldano, p. – Divine Art
The music of Bortkiewicz receives ardent and luxurious realization from pianist Soldano. BORTKIEWICZ: Lyrica Nova, Op. 59; Etude in D-flat Major; Nocturne from Op. 24; Esquisses de Crimee, Op. 8; Three Preludes; Piano Sonata No. 2 in c-sharp, Op. 60 – Alfonso Soldano, p. – Divine Art dda 25142, 69:31 (10/14/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: The Ukrainian composer Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952) had been unknown to me until his name arose in a conversation in Atlanta with Rudolf Firkusny, who stated that he had worked with Vaclav Talich on one of this composer’s concerted pieces. Bortkiewicz had studied with Liadov and Karel van Ark at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, but also with Liszt pupil Alfred Reisenauer. A life of almost perpetual migration for Bortkiewicz followed the events after the Russian Revolution, the rise of Nazism, and the outbreak of WW II. Finally, in 1945 Bortkiewicz received from Vienna a pension that could supplement his teaching at the Vienna City Conservatory. A self-admitted Romantic composer, Bortkiewicz held melody in esteem, sporting a distinct aversion to developments in atonal, serial, aleatory, and cacophonous music. His tonal syntax takes its diverse cues from Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, and Medtner. From the groups assembled by pianist […]
“Klavierabend” – Piano works of HAYDN, SCHUMANN & SCRIABIN – Arakawa, p. – MSR Classics
Pianist Arakawa delivers three keyboard works, each of which owes its passionate urgency to a feminine muse. “Klavierabend” – HAYDN: Piano Sonata No. 52 in E-flat Major; SCHUMANN: Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17; SCRIABIN: Piano Sonata No. 3 in f-sharp minor, Op. 23 – Jasmin Arakawa, piano – MSR Classics MS 1619, 68:22 (8/17/16) [Distr. by Albany] ****: Assuming a romantic’s approach to the three diverse musical styles – the three compositions having been directly motivated by the composer’s relationship to a significant woman – Ms. Arakawa displays many colorful moments in her intense survey of Haydn, Schumann, and Scriabin. Each of the works means to express an experimental, improvisational spirit. Haydn’s 1794 Sonata in E-flat certainly explores the forte-piano’s capacity for sudden contrasts in dynamics and texture. Much of the first movement’s chromatics look forward to Beethoven, although the secondary theme suggests light-hearted Mozart with its music-box figures. The development opens in C Major, and then proceeds further afield when the secondary tune makes an appearance in E Major. The playing from Ms. Arakawa remains pert, crisp, and direct. The Neapolitan key of E Major will provide the home for the second movement, Adagio. This lovely movement offers […]
Cyprien Katsaris – Die Wahlverwandtschten = Works of BEETHOVEN, MENDELSSOHN, LOEILLET, RAVEL, WANG, Etc. – Piano 21
Cyprien Katsaris shows off his new Bechstein in a series of works that gravitate to each other. Cyprien Katsaris – Die Wahlverwandtschten = BEETHOVEN: Egmont Overture, Op. 84; MENDELSSOHN: Suleika, Op. 34, No. 4; SCHUMANN: Novellette No. 1 in F Major, Op. 21, No. 1; POULENC: Noveltte, No. 3; LOEILLET: Courante; GODOWSKY: Renaissance: No. 10: Courante; RAVEL: Laideronnette from Ma Mere L’Oye; WANG: Liuyang River; J. STRAUSS II: Wiener Blut, Op. 354; LISZT: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in a minor; FONTANA: Mazurka, OP. 21, No. 2; CHOPIN: Mazurka, Op. 63, No. 3; SCHUMANN: Carnaval, Op. 9: Chopin; VLADIGEROV: Passion from Impressions, Op. 9; GERSHWIN: The Man I Love; CHASINS: Prelude, Op. 12, No. 3; RACHMANINOV: Prelude Op. 23, No. 2; KATSARIS: Goodbyr, Mr. Rachmaninov – Cyprien Katsaris, piano – Piano 21 P21 055-N, 78:37 (10/7/16)[www.cyprienkatsaris.net] ****: Drawing his inspiration from the 1809 novel by Wolfgang von Goethe, Die Wahlverwandtschten (“The Elective Affinities”), piano virtuoso Cyprien Katsaris (b. 1951) brings together those compositions – all of which have been arranged for piano, two hands – which resonate with kindred spirits, despite their variegated eras and cultural backgrounds. An admitted purpose of having selected “paired” or multifarious constellations of musically related pieces […]
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2 in c; 5 Morceaux for Piano; Vocalise; Romance in A and Valse in A – soloists/Royal Liverpool Phil./ Alexander Vedurnikov – Erato
Rachmaninov large and intimate provides a fine hour for Alexander Tharaud and his associate Alexanders. RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2 in c, Op. 18; 5 Morceaux for Piano, Op. 3; Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14; Romance in A Major and Valse in A Major (for 6 hands) – Sabine Devieilhe, sop./ Alexander Tharaud, p./ Alexander Melnikov and Aleksander Madzar, p./ Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orch./ Alexander Vedernikov – Erato 019029595469, 66:41 (10/21/16) [Distr. by Warner Classics] ****: Alexander Tharaud comments on his recent (rec. 5-7 January 2016) Rachmaninov recording: “I was still quite young when I first played this concerto,” explains Tharaud. “I adored it … Rachmaninov’s virtuosity really appeals to young pianists. Today, of course, I’m still enthralled by the concerto’s virtuosity, but now I’m more interested in its dark shadows: the sense of despair, of staring into the abyss. My interpretation of Rachmaninov has changed a lot over the years.” I cannot attest to any prior recording of the ubiquitous 1900 c minor Concerto by Tharaud, but this performance proves exemplary, with perhaps the finest exposition of the opening Russian-bells sequence in F, crescendo, since the Kapell collaboration with William Steinberg. Lovely flute and clarinet work complements Tharaud at […]
Mordecai Shehori, p.: Learning by Example Series, Vol. 4 = Pieces by BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN, DUSSEK, DIABELLI, MASSENET & Others – Mordecai Shehori, p. – Cembal d’amour
Listen and learn’ serves as the satisfying rubric for this diverse excursion into the music of many styles. Mordecai Shehori: Learning by Example Series, Vol. 4 = DUSSEK: Allegro in G Major; DIABELLI: Bagatelle in C Major; HAYDN: “Gypsy” Rondo; BEETHOVEN: Gertrude’s Dream Waltz; “Rage Over a Lost Penny,” Op. 129; SCHUMANN: Traeumerei, Op. 15, No. 7; The Prophet Bird; GRIEG: Papillon; WALDTEUFEL: The Skaters Waltz; FIELD: Nocturne in B-flat Major; FAURE: Romance sans Paroles; MASSENET: Melodie; DEBUSSY: Clair de Lune; Deux Arabesques; Reverie; A. RUBINSTEIN: Romance in E-flat Major; ALBENIZ: Malaguena; SCRIABIN: Album Leaf; KABALEVSKY: Having Fun; JOPLIN: The Cascades – Mordecai Shehori, piano – Cembal d’amour 184, 70:33 (8/1/16) *****: The first piece I sought out on Mordecai Shehori’s latest “Learning by Example” disc (rec. 6/16) was Beethoven’s 1795 “gypsy” rondo in G Major, his “Rage over a Lost Penny.” Ever deceptive in its innocent lightness and charm, this work establishes a pattern – 56 measures long – of repeats in the left hand with an ascent in the right that move from G Major to e minor and then back to g minor. Beethoven exploits this “ternary” pattern throughout, with modulations to A-flat Major and E Major […]
To Keep the Dark Away = Piano music of SCHULMAN, PROKOFIEV, WANGER, SHATIN – Gayle Martin – Ravello
In the course of documenting her friendship with composer Shatin, Gayle Martin drafts several Romantics. “To Keep the Dark Away” = SCHUMANN (arr. Liszt): Widmung; SHATIN: To Keep the Dark Away – Suite of 5 Pieces; Fantasy on St. Cecilia; PROKOFIEV: 5 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75; WAGNER (arr. Liszt): Ballade of the Flying Dutchman; Isolde’s Liebestod – Gayle Martin, piano – Ravello RR 7937, 64:38 (7/8/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ***: Pianist Gayle Martin and composer Judith Shatin (b. 1949) have had a creative relationship as far back as 1997, when Ms. Martin performed Ms. Shatin’s Fantasy on Saint Cecilia at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. This disc features that work, along with Ms. Shatin’s piano suite To Keep the Dark Away Dr. Shatin teaches at the University of Virginia, where she heads the Center for Computer Music. Pianist Gayle Martin wishes to impart (rec. 10-11 September 2015 and 5 December 2015) her vision of luminous and numinous experience, and so she seeks out those composers and literary artists who exult in a “secret song” of “emotional fervor.” To be sure, Martin’s rendition of Schumann’s Widmung in the Liszt arrangement proves lyrical and dramatic in its “dedication” […]
SCRIABIN: Preludes, Impromptus, Poeme and Etude – Klara Min, p. – Steinway & Sons
Klara Min reveals a natural affinity for the erotic early music of Alexander Scriabin. SCRIABIN: Prelude in B Major; Impromptus, Op. 14; 3 Pieces, Op. 45; 24 Preludes, Op. 11; Poeme in F-sharp Major, Op. 32, No. 1; Etude in c-sharp minor, Op. 2, No. 1 – Klara Min, piano – Steinway & Sons 30045, 62:38 (1/8/16) [Distr. by Naxos] ****: South Korean pianist Klara Min studied with James Tocco in Lubeck, and she had a strong New York presence, having founded New York Concert Artists & Associates in 2008. A Schumann acolyte, Min advocates a kind of Davids-League, an artistic union to combat cultural arrogance and ignorance. The music of mystic Alexander Scriabin (rec. 13-14 July 2015) obviously appeals to her decidedly Romantic sensibility, here concentrated on the relatively early works of the Russian composer. The Op. 45, No. 1 Scriabin designates as an Album Leaf, and its subtle colors seem to appeal to the composer’s legendary pianissimo effects. Its emotion remains rather elusive. The “Poeme fantastique” No. 2 proffers a nervous scherzando which enjoys the occasional crisp mezzo-forte. The mercurial “Prelude” projects a sad, moody meditation, close to a Russian blues. Min’s pedal effects make the Op. 45 […]
![SCRIABIN: Nuances = Two dozen works [TrackList below] – Valentina Listisa, piano – Decca](https://www.audaud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/LisitsaScriabin.jpg)
SCRIABIN: Nuances = Two dozen works [TrackList below] – Valentina Listisa, piano – Decca
With her emphasis on early and rare Scriabin, Valentina Lisitsa provides an alternative universe.
James Brawn in Recital, Vol. 2 – “The Time Traveller and His Muse” = Works of SCARLATTI, BACH,MOZART, BEETHOVEN, SCHUBERT, CHOPIN, LISZT, GRIEG, BRAHMS, SCRIABIN, RACHMANINOFF, PROKOFIEV & GERSHWIN – MSR Classics (2 CDs)
Volume 2 continues the fine pianism found in Brawn’s first go round.
Stereotypes Audio
Cembal d’amour
Pure Pleasure / Speakers Corner
Cedille
