Evgeni Koroliov has barely returned from the International Classical Music Award ceremony in Ankara and already there is more news from him to announce! On the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the composer's piano arrangement appears, once again on the TACET label, alongside smaller works, mainly for piano-four-hands, played by Koriolov with his partner, Ljupka Hadzigeorgiewa. After Koroliov received the ICMA for his recording of Schubert Sonatas, he and his wife were finally able to lose the label of "Bach player", which has clung to him ever since György Ligeti made his "Desert Island Disc" comment. This piano version of the Rite exposes aspects of the work that can communicate something new to even the most dyed-in-the-wool fans of the orchestral version. Structures that are absorbed into the dominant tone colours of the orchestral instruments display a quite different balance, and compositional details that, until now have not been apparent, are opened up. The rhythmic drive takes on a new note through the percussive character of the piano's sound and, in the subtle phrasing of the Koroliov's, the lyrical elements take on a surprising colouring.
