GRAND PIANO: THE AGE OF THE RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE: FUTURISTS AND TRADITIONALISTS

CD 1

STANCHINSKY, A.V.: Piano Works (Complete), Vol. 1

GP766

Alexey Stanchinsky (1888–1914) was considered an outstanding student by his teacher Taneyev, his work anticipating Stravinsky, Prokofiev and others, paving the way towards many aspects of 20th-century style. His tragic early death and publishing difficulties meant that his music was hidden for decades. Volume 1 of this complete edition contains his entire output until 1910, including several world première recordings and revealing his early melodic gift and sophisticated virtuosity.

‘Beautifully articulated by Olga Solovieva… She makes a warm and convincing musical case for the composer and everyone with a liking for Russian late romanticism will hear something harmoniously bold and beautiful that is worthwhile to listen to.’

– Musicalifeiten

Listen to an excerpt Piano Sonata in E-flat minor

CDs 2 & 3

GP743-44 • 2 CDs

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Stravinsky described Nikolay Roslavets (1881–1944) as ‘the most interesting Russian composer of the 20th century,’ but after decades of suppression in the former Soviet Union his significance is still being assessed even today through newly discovered and reconstructed works. Although Scriabin’s influence can be heard in earlier works, Roslavets’ constant exprimentation with original and complex compositional techniques resulted in his ‘new system of tone organization’ and ‘synthetic chords’. Olga Andryushchenko describes Roslavets’ daunting piano music as ‘fire and ice!’

‘Andryushchenko is insightful and has technique to burn. Recommended.’

– Fanfare

★★★★

★★★★★

Listen to an excerpt Three Etudes: III. Burlando

CD 4

MEDTNER, N.: Piano Sonatas (Complete), Vol. 2

GP618

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Nikolay Medtner’s (1880–1951) 14 piano sonatas are considered among the most significant achievement in this genre by any composer since Beethoven. After the success of his First Piano Sonata (GP617) he turned to Goethe for inspiration, and the life and love-affirming Sonata-Triad Op. 11 translates the poet’s words of passion, suffering and redemption into sound. The capricious, mysterious and beautiful Sonata-Skazka is a masterpiece in miniature and was once Medtner’s most performed work. Dating from his years of exile, the Sonata-Idyll, Medtner’s fourteenth and final Sonata, is notable for its eloquent themes that linger long in the memory.

‘Paul Stewart has a poetic sensibility that seems perfect for these works.’

– Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review

Listen to an excerpt Sonata-Skazka in C minor, Op. 25, No. 1

CD 5

LOURIÉ, A.: Piano Works (Complete), Vol. 1

GP737

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This first volume devoted to Arthur Vincent Lourié’s (1891–1966) piano music traces his journey from the Debussian Impressionism of his youthful Cinq Préludes fragiles, Op. 1 through absorption of Scriabin’s chromaticism in the eerie Masques (Tentations) of 1913 to the near-Cubism of Formes en l’air. Although Lourié was lauded – or derided – as a pioneering Futurist, his post-Revolutionary writing in France embraced a nostalgic Neo-Classicism represented by the Petite Suite en Fa.

‘I am so much enamoured of these pieces, and their performances, that I find it difficult to write about them in an objective manner... This is a wonderful album and one highly recommended for its unusual content, splendidly played and recorded.’

– The Art Music Lounge

★★★★★

Listen to an excerpt Upmann – a Smoking Sketch

CD 6

LOURIÉ, A.: Piano Works (Complete), Vol. 2

GP750

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The second volume in Giorgio Koukl’s complete survey of Arthur Vincent Lourié’s piano music spans the years 1912 to 1938. In that time the Belarus-born composer embraced extended tonality in Deux Poèmes, Op. 8, huge Scriabinesque chords in Synthèses, Op. 16 and forward-looking harmonic astringency in the Sonatina No. 3. His post-Revolutionary Paris years are represented by a sequence of characterful miniatures.

‘Giorgio Koukl is nothing if not a consistently impressive advocate of whichever composer’s music he takes it upon himself to focus on and I thoroughly recommend this disc to all lovers of solo piano music.’

– MusicWeb International

Listen to an excerpt Phoenix Park Nocturne

CDs 7 & 8

GP703-04 • 2 CDs

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Alexander Vasilyevich Mosolov (1900–1973) was one of the most prominent Soviet experimentalist composers of the 1920s. Famed for his futurist orchestral piece The Iron Foundry, this ‘constructivist’ began to forge new directions through his use of motor rhythms, percussive attacks, and melodic angularity. Imprisoned for eight months in 1937, he later sank into undeserved obscurity. In the four surviving Piano Sonatas, Mosolov shows himself to be one of the boldest and most complex Russian composers of his time.

‘We should all be grateful to a brilliant pianist like Andryushchenko for making the huge effort to learn these brutally difficult works and giving them a chance to be heard.’

– American Record Guide

★★★★

Listen to an excerpt Piano Sonata No. 2 in B minor, Op. 4 "From Old Notebooks"

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