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Four Pieces - Four Pianos: Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Stravinsky

£15.42

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Label: Harmonia Mundi

Cat No: HMM902299

Barcode: 3149020229927

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Instrumental

Release Date: 26th January 2018

Works

Chopin, Frederic

Etudes (12), op.10

Liszt, Franz

Reminiscences de Don Juan (Mozart), S418

Schubert, Franz

Fantasie in C major, D760 'Wanderer'

Stravinsky, Igor

Petrushka: 3 Movements for piano

Artists

Alexander Melnikov (piano)

Works

Chopin, Frederic

Etudes (12), op.10

Liszt, Franz

Reminiscences de Don Juan (Mozart), S418

Schubert, Franz

Fantasie in C major, D760 'Wanderer'

Stravinsky, Igor

Petrushka: 3 Movements for piano

Artists

Alexander Melnikov (piano)

About

Alexander Melnikov imagined this programme where four monuments from the piano repertoire are interpreted in their original instrumental environment. The four pianos chosen have characteristics corresponding to those of the instruments on which these virtuoso pieces were first performed. A journey where the horizons of sounds expand to dizzying new heights.

Schubert - Wanderer-Fantasie, D760, op.15
- Alois Graff piano, Vienna ca. 1835

Chopin - 12 Études, op.10
- Érard piano, Paris 1837

Liszt - Grande Fantaisie (Réminiscences) de Don Juan, S418
- Bösendorfer piano, Vienna ca. 1875

Stravinsky - 3 Mouvements de Pétrouchka
- Steinway piano, 2014

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Schubert - Fantasie in C Major, D. 760: I. Allegro con fuoco ma non troppo
2

Schubert - Fantasie in C Major, D. 760: II. Adagio
3

Schubert - Fantasie in C Major, D. 760: III. Presto
4

Schubert - Fantasie in C Major, D. 760: IV. Allegro
5

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 1. Etude in C Major
6

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 2. Etude in A Minor
7

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 3. Etude in E Major
8

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 4. Etude in C Sharp Minor
9

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 5. Etude in G-Flat Major
10

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 6. Etude in E-Flat Minor
11

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 7. Etude in C Major
12

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 8. Etude in F Major
13

Etudes, Op. 10: 9. Etude in F Minor
14

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 10. Etude in A-Flat major
15

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 11. Etude in E-Flat Major
16

Chopin - Etudes, Op. 10: 12. Etude in C Minor
17

Liszt - Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418: I. Grave
18

Liszt - Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418: II. Duetto. Andantino
19

Liszt - Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418: III. Variazione 1
20

Liszt - Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418: IV. Variazione 2. Tempo giusto
21

Liszt - Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418: V. Quasi Presto. Tempo deciso
22

Stravinsky - Trois mouvements de Petrouchka: I. Danse russe
23

Stravinsky - Trois mouvements de Petrouchka: II. Chez Pétrouchka
24

Stravinsky - Trois mouvements de Petrouchka: III. La Semaine grasse

Europadisc Review

Best known to record collectors for his chamber partnerships with Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Andreas Staier, pianist Alexander Melnikov is also a fine soloist in his own right, as proved by excellent recordings of, among much else, Shostakovich Concertos, and Prokofiev and Brahms Sonatas. He has made a specialism of performance on period pianos, and that expertise comes dazzlingly to the fore on this latest disc of virtuoso masterpieces by Schubert, Chopin, Liszt and Stravinsky. Using a different piano for each of the four works (hence the title), this is a stunning display of the advantages brought by historically appropriate instruments working in harness with outstanding musicianship. Indeed, after the initial delight of savouring the distinctive timbre of each piano, what stays with the listener is the essential rightness of both sound and performance to the music itself.

Presenting the works in chronological order, so that the listener is intelligently guided through 100 years of technical development (in both instrument building and playing technique), Melnikov starts with a magical performance of Schubert’s great ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy, D560. For this he uses an instrument by the Viennese maker Alois Graff (not to be confused with the better known Conrad Graf) of around 1835. It has distinctively leather-covered hammers, but the real attraction is the range of colour offered by a variety of modifying pedals, heard to best effect in a transcendently beautiful performance of the Adagio second section, whose use of Schubert’s song Der Wanderer, D489, gives the Fantasy its popular nickname as well as its unifying basic motif. In the Adagio in particular, Melnikov draws the listener into an unspoken (unsung) narrative through playing and registral choices of acute sensitivity, and his pacing and shading of the Fantasy as a whole places this among the great performances of this music, regardless of instrument.

Much the same could be said of his absorbing account of Chopin’s op.10 Études, played on an Érard instrument of 1837 whose double escapement action and underdamping make it an ideal instrument for the cantabile style so essential in Chopin. Melnikov’s accounts of these exquisite jewels are totally absorbing, whether in the fireworks of nos. 4 (the ‘Torrent’) and 12 (the ‘Revolutionary’), the coruscating brilliance of nos. 1 and 5 (‘Waterfall’ and ’Black Keys’) , or the rapt inwardness of nos. 3 and 6 (‘Tristesse’ and ‘Lament’). With a tangible sense of forward drive and expertly judged tempi, Melnikov’s performance rivals that of Pollini in terms of sheer technique, and arguably outdoes him in basic musicality, making this one of the standout accounts of this genre-defining collection.

Melnikov has huge fun with Liszt’s staggeringly virtuosic Reminiscences on Mozart’s Don Giovanni, but never at the expense of the underlying lyrical-narrative inspiration of Mozart’s music. Here the instrument is an 1875 Bösendorfer - an ideal if potentially temperamental choice which Melnikov has mastered to perfection, with superb control of textures and dynamics as if the instrument posed no challenges at all. As in all the other performances on the disc, there is remarkable clarity and dexterity allied to profound musical insight, raising the music from virtuoso showpiece to a masterwork of transformation.

The choice of a modern (2014) Steinway for Stravinsky’s glitteringly vivid and phenomenally challenging Three Movements from Petrushka of 1921 might raise some eyebrows, but Melnikov’s astonishing performance (which again rivals the famous Pollini on DG), completely committed and urgently propulsive, really does silence all criticism. Piano construction has changed remarkably little over the last 100 years compared with the previous century, and the present Steinway makes for an enlightening and instructive contrast with the other three instruments used here, as well as an ideal vehicle for Stravinsky’s exceptional demands.

Melnikov’s detailed, thoroughly researched and elegantly written booklet notes (on both the music and the instruments) are an education in themselves, and the recordings made in Berlin’s Teldex Studio are exceptionally fine in bringing out the character of the different pianos. Ultimately, however, it is Melnikov’s superbly judged, technically outstanding and expressively committed musicianship that really sets the seal on this disc, making it surely one of the most compelling piano recital discs of recent years.

Reviews

[Melnikov] makes good use of the tonal differences between registers on the Graff in the Wanderer Fantasy and exploits the light touch of the Érard to brilliant effect in the more bravura Chopin studies, while the Bösendorfer ... produces a leaner sound than the maker’s later instruments. ... a really rewarding disc that’s well worth investigating. Andrew Clements

The Guardian 25 January 2018

Melnikov’s prevalent richness of detail, unforced but precise rhetoric and exquisite sense of colour are skilfully captured by the engineers. His interpretations warrant the attention of professionals, even as they promise enduring pleasure for lovers of the best piano-playing. Patrick Rucker

Gramophone April 2018