This is the first volume in the first-ever recording of the complete piano music of Anatoly Lyadov (1855–1914), better-known for his orchestral miniatures such as Baba Yaga and The Enchanted Lake.
His substantial output for piano reveals a composer with an energetic keyboard manner reminiscent of Schumann, often coloured with a hint of Russian folk-music. Its infectious enthusiasm and high-spirited vigour are instantly communicative.
Lyadov was a friend of the most famous Russian composers of his day, from Rimsky Korsakov, who was his teacher at the St Petersburg Conservatory, to ‘The Mighty Handful’ that included Mussorgsky, Borodin and Balakirev, and his piano music was to be influential in the development of Russian piano music as a whole.
This CD contains several first recordings and a number of first digital recordings, and six of the ten opus numbers here are receiving their first complete recording.
