Rachmaninov: Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 No. 1 in C minor

To celebrate 10 years of recording activity with Lise de la Salle, aged only 24 years-old, with 6 discs under her belt, Naive are delighted to offer this 'best of' that collects an impressive series of outstanding performances in diverse repertoire.

The bonus DVD includes a 93' recital recorded in one of Paris' most beautiful concert places: Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord. The programme includes works by Schumann, which Lise de la Salle has recording here for the first time. She continues to develop an impressive international concert schedule, in recital and in concerto.

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.

This CD is the third release from Challenge Classics to showcase the talents of the Russian pianist Alexei Volodin. It features a wide ranging selection of pieces by his compatriot Sergei Rachmaninov, including the “Variations on a theme of Corelli”, 5 of his Preludes, the 2nd Sonata (second version), and four of his Etudes-Tableaux.

Alexei Volodin was born in St. Petersburg in 1977, and began taking piano lessons there at the age of nine. A year later he moved to Moscow, and in 1994 he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatoire. During 2001 and 2002 he studied at the Theo Lieven International Piano Foundation in Como. He has won several prizes at different international competitions, including First Prize at the Concours Géza Anda in Zurich in 2003. Alexei Volodin’s debut recording for Challenge Classics (CC72354), released in March 2010, was devoted to the music Chopin, and his second CD which was issued in May 2011 (CC72508) brought together works by Schumann, Ravel, and Scriabin.

Producer: Jonathan Summers Audio Restoration Engineer: Ward Marston

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.

Rachmaninov’s piano music is a world in itself but is also an open window onto the rest of his music. One of the greatest pianists of his time, who had to rely on that talent for a living after several failures as a composer, he poured all his soul into his keyboard music with passion and dignity.

The next on Cyprien’s own label, Piano 21, this time featuring his performances from the International Piano Competition in Moscow from 1970.