LEGENDARY
RUSSIAN PIANISTS
Brilliant Classics 9014 (25 CDs)
Despite the globalisation of piano playing in the 21st century, the hallowed Russian piano school is invariably referred to with a sense of awe and an aura of mystery. Its great tradition began with the Rubinstein brothers, Anton and Nicholas, who founded conservatories in Moscow and St Petersburg, where musical instruction founded on strong foundations, interpretive rigour and technical prowess held sway. The rest is history.
This impressive box-set of Russian pianism, expertly curated by Anglo-Turkish writer, critic and record producer Ates Orga for Brilliant Classics, encompasses 29 pianists with recordings – famous and obscure – which represent a mere tip of the iceberg. Arranged in chronological order from Konstantin Igumnov to Nikolai Lugansky, there will be many Russian / Ukrainian / Soviet era pianists whose names who could have been included and one thinks of Sergei Rachmaninov, Nikolai Medtner, Alexander Goldenweiser, Vladimir Krainev, Grigory Sokolov, Elizo Virsaladze, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Dmitri Alexeev, Nikolai Petrov, Yuri Egorov and more like them. However, this collection was never meant to be exhaustive, but merely a sampling which will hopefully whet the appetite for more.
The oldest recording dates from 1935, with Konstatin Igumnov (1873-1948) performing Chopin and Scriabin. He was an exact contemporary of Rachmaninov and premiered his First Sonata and later the Paganini Rhapsody in the Soviet Union. His virtuosity is evident in the 1941 recording of Schumann’s Kreisleriana, and his Russianness displayed in all twelve of Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, recorded in 1947.
Despite deserving at least a disc each, Grigori Ginzburg (1904-1961), Samuil Feinberg (1894-1962) and Heinrich Neuhaus (1888-1964) are cramped into one single album, performing concertante works. Ginzburg draws the short straw with Liszt’s brilliantly inconsequential Fantasia on Beethoven’s The Ruins of Athens. Feinberg gives an idiomatic performance of Scriabin’s only Piano Concerto (Op.20) while Neuhaus is excellent in a thankfully uncut performance of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto. Neuhaus’ son Stanislav and grandson Stanislav Bunin are not represented in this set.
Lev Oborin (1907-1974) is often remembered as piano partner of David Oistrakh, and also the very first winner of the 1st Chopin International Piano Competition in 1928. His solid musicianship is on show in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor (K.466) and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, where virtuosity is allied to musical ends. Much less well-known is Rudolf Kerer (1923-1913) whose view of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1, with the March from The Love for Three Oranges as tag-on, has much to recommend.
Maria Yudina (1899-1970) is now much better recognised, thanks to the movie The Death of Stalin, where she is portrayed (by Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko) as the Soviet dictator’s fatal adversary. Known as an authority on Bach, she is represented by the Bach-Busoni Prelude & Fugue in A minor (BWV.543), Liszt’s Variations on Bach’s Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, and two Beethoven C minor sonatas, the early Op.10 No.1 and the final Op.111. One will not find more redoubtable performances than these.
Although he had a wide repertoire, Vladimir Sofronitzky (1901-1961) is limited to two discs of Scriabin in this box. He was Scriabin’s son-in-law, having married his daughter Elena in 1920, five years after the composer’s death. Nobody plays better Scriabin than Sofronitzky and here is the evidence: over two hours of Preludes, Etudes, Poemes, various short pieces and several extended works such as the Polonaise (Op.21), Waltz (Op.38) and four Sonatas (Nos.2, 3, 9 and 10), all randomly assorted in no particular order. Still an absorbing listen.
Continued in Part 2:
