Rachmaninov: Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 2 in A minor

Many European countries have vied with one another in claiming the largest number of piano virtuosos. No one would dispute, though, that Russia has generated more than its share. The so-called ‘Russian piano school’, which originated in the 1800s with brilliant performers such as Alexander Siloti and brothers Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, continues to produce first-class pianists, and to influence performance styles and keyboard virtuosity all around the world.

Given Russia’s richness in superstar pianists, it is not surprising that Russian composers have composed extensively for the piano. Some of the composers represented in this collection were impressive pianists in their own right, and they composed music designed to display their own technique and artistry. Others were more modestly gifted as performers, but still composed idiomatically for the piano.

This collection brings together recordings by Vladimir Ashkenazy spanning some 40 years, from November 1963 (the three Rachmaninov Études-Tableaux) to March 2004 (the Kocsis transcription of Vocalise). Some of them appeared as fillers for bigger works – for instance, the Études-Tableaux were coupled with the 1964 recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Kyril Kondrashin, one of Ashkenazy’s earliest recording for Decca, and his first solo recording for the label. Tchaikovsky’s Dumka and the pieces by Taneyev, Liadov and Borodin were recorded in January 1983 and issued on LP as a coupling for his digital recording of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The two pieces from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet were taped in 1968 as couplings for the composer’s Eighth Piano Sonata.

Heifetz’s series of arrangements and transcriptions for violin and piano reveal just how tasteful and refined a musician he was. Crafted with precision, and played with passion, they are alive with his stylistic awareness. Whether in his Rachmaninov transcriptions or in Robert Russell Bennett’s A Song Sonata, Heifetz lavished equal care on these gems and they enriched his concert programmes. They also proved hugely popular on disc – thirteen pieces come from a 1960 LP famously called ‘Heifetz’ – and their variety, virtuosity and sheer beauty remain imperishable examples of the art of the violin.

Mark Obert-Thorn, reissue producer and audio restoration engineer

For his fourth album for Sony BMG Russian pianist Denis Matsuev has chosen to record an album of Rachmaninoff’s most virtuosic and dynamic works for piano. The album also contains the world premiere recording of two hitherto unknown pieces by Rachmaninoff, recently rediscovered by the Rachmaninoff Foundation: the Fugue in D minor and the Suite for Orchestra in D minor in a version Rachmaninoff created for piano. The recording itself was made in Rachmaninoff’s summer residence in Switzerland, where he composed many of his major works, using the composer’s own piano. The project was initiated and supported by the Rachmaninoff Foundation and Alexander Rachmaninoff in particular.

This CD includes Rachmaninov’s Études-Tableaux Op.33 and Op.39, as well as many of Tchaikovsky’s piano works; Four Pieces from the cycle “The Seasons” Op.37, Nocturne in F major Op.10, Valse- Scherzo in A major Op.40, Humoresque Op.10, Capriccio Op.19 etc. The performances were recorded at the grand opening of the Rachmaninov Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, June 1983.