"In this volume is the heart of "Russian" Tcherepnin: the Rondo à la Russe and Slavic Transcriptions Op. 27, both works that for me are among the finest examples of the Russian music of all centuries, now presented for the first time on a CD." – Giorgio Koukl

Listen to an excerpt from
Rondo à la Russe

Selected from particularly fertile periods of Tcherepnin’s career, these works include a remarkable version of the Volga Boatman’s Song in the bravura Slavic Transcriptions, and the vividly imaginative Le monde en vitrine influenced by Stravinsky. Song and Refrain experiments with beautiful melody and rhythmic freedom, while mystery surrounds the three–minute gem Rondo a la Russe and the unpublished Prayer.

SONGS WITHOUT WORDS, OP. 82 (10:12)
1 No. 1. Elegy (02:00)
2 No. 2. Rondel (01:51)
3 No. 3. Enigma (02:34)
4 No. 4. The Juggler (01:05)
5 No. 5. Hymn to Our Lady (02:42)

CHANT ET REFRAIN, OP. 66 (04:43)
6 Chant (02:11)
7 Refrain (02:32)

LE MONDE EN VITRINE, OP. 75 (11:00)
8 I. The Greyhounds and the Cow (01:56)
9 II. Crabs (02:11)
10 III. The Frog (01:48)
11 IV. The Weasel (02:03)
12 V. The Deer (03:02)

13 LA QUATRIÈME (03:01)

2 NOVELETTES, OP. 19 * (09:01)
14 Novelette No. 1 (04:20)
15 Novelette No. 2 (04:41)

16 PRAYER * (02:34)

17 RONDO À LA RUSSE (03:04)

SLAVIC TRANSCRIPTIONS, OP. 27 * (15:59)
18 No. 1. Les Bateliers du Volga (05:34)
19 No. 2. Chanson pour la Chèrie (03:39)
20 No. 3. Chanson Grandrussienne (02:03)
21 No. 4. Le Long du Volga (02:25)
22 No. 5. Chanson Tchèque (02:18)

TOTAL TIME: 59:43

Giorgio Koukl is a pianist/harpsichordist and composer who lives in Lugano, in the Italian–speaking canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. He was born in Prague in 1953, and studied there at the State Music School and Conservatory. In 1968 he moved to Switzerland and continued his studies at both the Conservatories of Zürich and Milan. While studying there he took part in the master–classes of N. Magalov, J. Février, and S. Neuhaus, and with Rudolf Firkušný, friend and advocate of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů. Through Firkušný, Koukl first encountered Martinů’s music, prompting him to search out his compatriot’s solo piano works. Since then he has developed these into an important part of his concert repertoire and is now considered as one of the world’s leading interpreters of Martinů’s piano music, having recorded that composer’s complete solo piano music, together with a disc of Martinů’s vocal music and two discs of his piano concertos. As a logical continuation of this work, and a nod to his own maternal Russian ancestry, Koukl has now tackled the complete solo piano works of Alexander Tcherepnin, a Russian composer who belonged to the same Parisian group of composers as Martinů, along with with Honegger, Harsanyi, Beck and Mihalovici, a group which Albert Roussel referred to as "Les Constructeurs."