Prokofiev: Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75

Composers have always relied on piano transcriptions as a means of bringing selected extracts from large-scale dramatic works to the attention of a wider audience than would otherwise be possible, and Prokofiev was no exception. Although he craved success as a composer of the stage and published a total of seventeen operas and ballets, he almost invariably encountered difficulties in his attempts to get these works performed. Never one to let good music go to waste, Prokofiev diligently composed piano arrangements of excerpts from a number of his stage works, thereby encouraging his public to become familiar with the highlights until such time as an opportunity might arise to see the work in its entirety.

Musorgsky’s musical tribute to the painter and architect Viktor Hartmann has become his most familiar work, and this recording presents the original piano version of Pictures at an Exhibition. It is an extraordinary work, combining intense demands for virtuoso technique with an inexorable momentum which keeps what is fundamentally an impressionistic work in many movements moving towards its grand climax with the ‘Great Gate of Kiev’ finale.

Prokofiev is one of those composers who would constantly reuse material from one work in another. However, although the Ten Pieces from Romeo and Juliet may seem at first glance to be merely a medley gleaned from the more famous ballet, it should not be forgotten that Prokofiev published the set independently and that it was first performed the year before the finished ballet, perhaps by way of an advertisement for the more challenging (financially, at least) work to follow. Also included here is Prokofiev’s Toccata, written in 1912 while he was at the St Petersburg Conservatoire. The work was possibly conceived as a movement of the Second Piano Sonata, but Prokofiev evidently decided the work was worthy of publication in its own right.

An exclusive artist for EMI Classics Japan since 2003, whose career is now growing with extraordinary momentum, this release sees Ayako Uehara continue her exploration of Russian music from the nineteenth century: 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet Op.75; the Piano Sonata No.7 in B flat major Op. 83 and Vision Fugitives Op. 22 - a rare combination on disc.

This repertoire is close to Ayako's heart - her passion for Russian music dating back to early studies in Japan with a visiting teacher from the Moscow Conservatory. Her understanding of this repertoire was clear when she became the youngest ever semi-finalist at the 1998 Tchaikovsky Competition, performing Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.Ayako soon became the focus of international attention, winning the first prize in the 12th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, 2002, aged just 22. Significantly, she was the first woman and the first Japanese pianist to do so. Her debut album followed - a live recording from the competition - which was released in Japan and sold over 30,000 copies.

Born in 1980 in Takamatsu, Japan, Ayako Uehara studied music at the Yamaha Music School from the age of three, taking lessons in piano, composition and general musicianship. In 1990, she graduated to the Yamaha Master Class studying piano under Fumiko Eguchi, Shinji Urakabe and Vera Gornostaeva. She is now sponsored exclusively by Yamaha. Based in Paris since 2002, Ayako now performs regularly with such renowned conductors as Valery Gergiev and Lorin Maazel.

In order to produce the necessary depth and volume of sound, Uehara has to place her body-weight effectively on the keyboard, at times almost lifting herself off the piano stool. This adds to the special intensity that characterises her performances.

Roman Rabinovich fuses art and music on his debut Ballets Russes-inspired recording. An accomplished artist, Rabinovich regularly displays his iPad-created sketches alongside concert performances, and has created original artwork for this new release

The disc features composer-arrangements for solo piano: Stravinsky’s Three movements from Petrushka and Prokofiev’s Ten Pieces from Romeo & Juliet Op.75. Rabinovich has also transcribed Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe to complete the disc

Roman Rabinovich won the top prize at the 2008 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition. At the age of 10 he made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta, and he has performed at venues including the Leipzig Gerwandhaus, Wigmore Hall, Metropolitan Museum NYC and Paris’ Salle Cortot

Pictures at an Exhibition is perhaps the best known composition by Mussorgsky. He wrote this suite of piano miniatures in 1874, following the sudden death of his close friend, the architect Victor Hartmann. This CD also features a transcription of melodies from the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev. In 1937 he arranged, for piano solo, excerpts from the ballet as a suite in ten movements. Beata Bilińska is one of Poland’s leading pianists and has recorded a number of CDs, from Chopin to Penderecki, with the DUX label.

Prokofiev is regarded by many as one of the most complex and progressive composers of the early twentieth century. His catalogue of music numbers some 135 works in such varied genres as symphony, sonata, ballet, opera, art-song, string quartet and film music. He was one of the last in a long tradition of pianist-composers and the nine piano sonatas are all testament to the quality and fertility of the composer’s mind. Prokofiev’s output within the piano sonata genre represents the most important and influential in the Twentieth Century.

His melodic, rhythmic and harmonic material encompasses a new world, far removed from the conventional romantic ideals of the time. The structure of this sonata is conventional but the unusual sonorities, juxtaposition of harmonies and syncopated rhythmic patterns all come together to produce a radical style of composition.

However, despite all of these new ideas, tonality as a structural base is essential for Prokofiev in all his works.

Sergei Dukachev was born in Magnitogorsk, a city in the Ural Mountains on the border between Europe and Asia, where he began to learn the piano at the age of six. In 1989, he distinguished himself by being a prize winner in the International Beethoven Competition in Vienna.

Sergei developed close artistic links with Britain during his years at the Moscow Conservatoire, and in the late 1990s, began a series of annual visits to give concerts in England. Now a sought-after performer in England, Sergei’s appearances have included illustrated talks and masterclasses at many venues – in particular the Chetham’s Summer School in Manchester.

Acclaimed by The Guardian and described by International Piano Magazine as “an armour-clad player of complete technique…”, Chen burst onto the scene in 1996 with a sensational season of concerts having been awarded 8 coveted awards at the Royal Academy of Music including ‘Best Final Recital’.