Prokofiev: Piano Sonata No. 8 in B flat major, Op. 84

Richter’s genius was identifiable over a wide variety of styles and this Regis disc attempts to convey his artistic diversity. The programme features Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy and Prokofiev taken form a series of recitals in Carnegie Hall and Wembley Town Hall in the early 1960s. Super-budget price.

"Dynamite, explosive and volatile, phenomenal… performance of such rare quality" - these are just some of the superlatives used to describe Denis Kozhukhin’s Prokofiev interpretations. His is a name to watch out for.

The debut recording from a young Russian pianist who wowed the public and critics with his recent Prokofiev piano concerto cycle with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, he embarks upon a recital tour to Japan in January, playing repertoire that includes the complete Prokofiev piano sonatas.

In May 2013 Denis Kozhukhin will perform Sonatas 6–8 at the South Bank Centre’s The Rest is Noise festival. He won the coveted first prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium in 2010 and is now in demand with many leading orchestras.

Boris Giltburg was selected by the great Zubin Mehta as the winner of the first Pnina Salzman Prize in Israel 2011 and has won many other prestigious prizes, including the top prize and Audience Prize in the Santander International Piano Competition, and second prize and Best Classical Concerto in the Artur Rubinstein Competition.

An exceptionally busy and versatile performer, he recently replaced Denis Matsuev at one day’s notice performing Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 on tour in Germany.

This CD is the culmination of many months of constant performance and study of Prokofiev’s War Sonatas, and the highly detailed and insightful booklet notes have also been written by Boris.

Prokofiev’s sonatas nos. 7 and 8 are the so called 'War' Sonatas, as they were composed in one of the darkest periods of history, the 2nd World War. Though there are no direct programmatic hints to the war, the atmosphere is brooding, menacing, even sinister in places. Episodes of quasi-innocent lyricism alternate with outbursts of threatening violence.

The young Russian pianist Amir Tebenikhin presents gripping and compelling interpretations of these works. Eschewing obvious and 'sportive' virtuosity, he delves deep into hidden layers of emotions, seeking the inner power and truth of these masterworks.

Amir Tebenikhin enjoys a worldwide career, giving concerts in Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Salle Pleyel and others. He is prize winner of International Competitions (Vianna da Motta, Queen Elisabeth, Anton Rubinstein Competition), and was in 2011 awarded the Deutscher Pianistenpreis.

German pianist Gesa Lucker made her concert debut aged 12. She has been a prize winner in national and international competitions and has performed at leading venues including the Carnegie Hall and the Wigmore Hall. This is her debut disc on Genuin Classics.

Since winning the Arthur Rubinstein Competition and the Sidney Piano Competition, Alexander Korsantia’s career has taken him to many of the world’s major concert halls, collaborating with renowned conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph Eschenbach, Yuri Bashmet and Paavo Jarvi and orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, the Kirov, Israel Philharmonic and Oslo Philharmonic. He has also given many recitals with renowned violinist Vadim Repin. Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Korsantia has lived in the United States since 1992. He now resides in Boston where he is Professor of Piano at the New England Conservatory. Enjoying great popularity in his country of birth, he performed at the inauguration of Georgian President Saakashvili in 2004.

Korsantia’s live recordings, on two discs, present an attractive programme carefully chosen from recitals he has given since 1995 in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Toulouse, Boston and New York. The first CD features arrangements of Bach by Busoni, Egon Petri and Myra Hess’s famous version of the chorale Jesu, Joy of Men's Desiring, two Piano Sonatas by Haydn and Mozart’s Sonata in C major, KV330 and 20th century Russian and Georgian music. Korsantia has rearranged Gwido Agosti’s magnificent 1934 piano transcription of the last three pieces from The Firebird Suite to reflect more of Stravinsky's original orchestral sound. Stravinsky’s Tango is followed by Giya Kancheli’s Instead of Tango originally written in 1996 for violin, piano, bandoneon and double bass. Kancheli’s own piano arrangement is dedicated to three Georgian pianists, one of them Alexander Korsantia. The second disc is devoted to Sergei Prokofiev: his Pastoral Sonatina and Vision Fugitive, No 11, Op 22 bookend the Piano Sonata No 7 in B flat major and the substantial Piano Sonata No 8.