LEGENDARY RUSSIAN PIANISTS
Brilliant Classics 9014 (25 CDs)
Continued from Part 1:
Vladimir Horowitz (1904-1989) gets just one disc, comprising Chopin and Liszt in 1930s recordings, but what great offerings these are. Horowitz was at his sharpest in Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata (Op.35) and Liszt’s Sonata in B minor, in volcanic performances that better his later takes. Also enjoy a selection of Chopin Etudes and Mazurkas topped by his mercurial and unsurpassed Scherzo No.4, and Liszt’s Funerailles. No Rach, no Scriabin, but no worries.
Two further women who make it in the set are Maria Grinberg (1908-1978), whose Beethoven Emperor Concerto (Op.73) is commanding and imperious. Much-recorded in the West during her later years, Tatiana Nikolayeva (1924-1993) is in perfect form for J.S.Bach’s Concerto in D minor (BWV.1052). Forget about period instrument practice, this is how Bach should sound, so persuasive yet authoritative is the performance.
The two Jewish Jacobs, Yakov Flier (1912-1977) and Yakov Zak (1913-1976), are better remembered as teachers at the Moscow Conservatory, whose students included Davidovich, Postnikova, Pletnev (Flier), Petrov, Egorov and Virsaladze (Zak). From Flier, one gets Chopin’s Funeral March Sonata, two most popular Rachmaninov Preludes and Dmitri Kabalevsky’s 24 Preludes (Op.38), which are rarely heard. These are quite interesting despite the poor sound. Zak is heard in Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, very idiomatic and in more than acceptable sound. The coupling is Bella Davidovich (born 1928, still living) in Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No.2, which she later recorded on Philips with Neeme Jarvi.
To complete the picture, Igor Zhukov (1936-2018) who also doubled as a sound engineer is the dependable and unflashy soloist in Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto. As its coupling, Dmitri Bashkirov (1931-2021), very well-known as a pedagogue in Madrid during his last decades, brings out a very musical Mozart Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor (K.491). Combining vigour and elegance, it has a very interesting 1st movement cadenza (his own?) to boot.
Viktor Merzhanov (1919-2012) is heard in an excellent Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini which lacks nothing in spirit and digital dexterity. Alexander Iokheles (1912-1978) is virtually unknown, and the unusual repertoire he presents includes an evocative Manuel de Falla Nights in the Gardens of Spain, easily comparable with the best of Alicia de Larrocha. The true find is Arthur Honegger’s Concertino (1924), 10 minutes of neoclassicism meets jazz, composed in the same year as Rhapsody in Blue, and predates both of Ravel’s piano concertos. The conductor is the ever-adventurous Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
Fun fact: There is one Singaporean pianist who was a student of both Nikolayeva and Merzhanov in Moscow during the late 1980s, and that is Victor Khor.
The two giants born in the Ukraine, Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) and Emil Gilels (1996-1986), both students of Heinrich Neuhaus, get three discs each, having been extensively recorded during their lifetimes. Richter has two discs of mostly Beethoven, the late Sonatas (Op.101, 109-111), the early C major (Op.2 No.3), topped up with a live performance of Liszt’s B minor Sonata, warts and all. His view of Schubert’s final Sonata in B flat major (D.960) is distinguished by its heavenly length and deliberate pacing. The first movement alone with exposition repeat takes 24 minutes, but nobody stretches it out better. He also throws in the less-often programmed Sonata in E major (D.575).
Gilels is represented by Chopin (the Second and Third Sonatas, a Nocturne, a Polonaise and an Impromptu), an all-Prokofiev disc (Sonatas No.2, 3 and 8, short pieces including a selection of Visions Fugitives) and Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata (Op.106) dating from 1984. His take on Deutsche Grammophon would soon win the coveted Gramophone Award, a crowning achievement before his premature demise.
Continued in Part 3:
No comments:
Post a Comment