A small collection of piano pieces from Russian composers. It’d been a while since we gave some attention to the piano, and this series comes one year after the three-month long Russian Symphony series began in 2015.
Yes, yes, yes, it’s only a smattering. My apologies to: Mosolov Ustvolskaya Anatoly Lyadov Lyapunov A. Tcherepnin Myaskovsky Kabalevsky Gubaidulina Catoire And more. As you may have seen, we spent significant time in the first decade of the 20th century, … Continue reading Russian Piano in review
performed by Matti Raekallio, or below by Boris Berman It’s like a big, organized cadenza. In contrast with the second sonata, dedicated to Prokofiev’s friend who committed suicide, the third sonata interestingly seems to have less humor or sarcasm than its predecessor. Both … Continue reading Prokofiev Piano Sonata no. 3 in Am, op. 28
performed by an unknown pianist from some recording I acquired somehow, or below by Irina Emeliantseva Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets was born on January 4 1881 (23 December, 1880 in the Julian Calendar) (possibly) in the Chernigov Governorate (a day less than … Continue reading Nikolai Roslavets: Piano Sonata no. 1
performed by Matti Raekaillo, or below by Boris Berman The second sonata of Sergei Prokofiev was first performed on February 5, 1914 by the composer in Moscow. It is dedicated to Maximilian Schmidthof, to whom the composer’s second piano concerto (which … Continue reading Prokofiev Piano Sonata no. 2 in Dm, op. 14
performed by Santiago Rodriguez I’m quite glad we were able to discuss the Medtner sonata earlier this week, because today we’re discussing a work of equally epic pianistic and musical proportions, similarly Russian in nature, but also in many ways entirely … Continue reading Rachmaninoff Piano Sonata in Dm, op. 28
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy, or below by Nikolai Lugansky Rachmaninoff! Also been a while since we’ve seen this guy. I actually had no intentions of duplicating so many of the composers from last year’s Russian Symphony series in this piano … Continue reading Rachmaninoff: Variations on a theme of Chopin, op. 22
performed by Geoffrey Tozer In case you haven’t ever heard of Nikolai Medtner, I’d like to make the case that this, one of his earliest compositions, is undeniably one of the greatest things ever composed in the history of history. … Continue reading Nikolai Medtner: Piano sonata in f minor, op. 5
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy (or for those of you to whom the above video is unavailable, another one here by Richter) Life is fearfully expensive, and the climate is rotten. The air in the areas where we could find an apartment … Continue reading Scriabin Piano Sonata no. 5, op. 53
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy Oh, let’s not talk about this! This is a ghastly piece! […] I was in an appalling situation back then. This Prelude, and also the Marche funebre in the First Sonata formed in moments disheartenment… But … Continue reading Scriabin: Four Pieces, op. 51
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy or below by Ivo Pogorelich Two little things today, sketches from Scriabin, as if he’s working out ideas in preparation for something truly monumental. The ‘two poems’ date from 1903, and are as follows: No. 1 … Continue reading Scriabin: Deux Poèmes, op. 32
performed by Vladimir Ashkenazy Well, it hasn’t been as long since we’ve visited Scriabin. He was part of the the Russian Symphony Series and the Symphonic Poem series, but aside from his multiple symphonies and other orchestral work, he arguably made his … Continue reading Scriabin Piano Sonata no. 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30
performed by Sviatoslav Richter History does funny things to music. In the more famous cases (as we shall shortly see why), the world nearly forgot about something, or ignored it, or derided it, and it was only later generations or geniuses who … Continue reading Tchaikovsky Grand Piano Sonata in G, op. 37
performed by Đặng Thái Sơn or below by Vladimir Ashkenazy And here he is! Like I mentioned in the article on his first quartet over the weekend, it’s been nearly a whole year since we’ve touched on anything of one of the most … Continue reading Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, op. 37a
performed by Nicolas Economou or below by Mikhail Pletnev (much more on recordings below) Here we are in October, and with the first piano piece of the month’s piano-focused series, with a small tip of the hat to what we’ll … Continue reading Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition
It has been a good long while since we’ve done any piano stuff, but it’s actually been longer since last year’s Russian Symphony 2015 series that lasted three whole months. Granted, in those three months, we covered 20 symphonies, but at … Continue reading Russian Piano 2016: a series
Fugue for Thought 