Alfred Schnittke - Complete Piano Music - Simon Smith, piano

ID: DCD34131 (EAN: 801918341311)  | 2 CD | DDD
Publi: 2014

LABEL:

DELPHIAN RECORDS

Subcollection:

Piano

Compositeurs:

SCHNITTKE, Alfred

Interprètes:

SMITH, Simon (piano)

Pour plus amples dtails:

Track listing

Disc One
1-4. Piano Sonata No 1
5-7. Piano Sonata No 2
8-11. Piano Sonata No 3
12. Variations

Disc Two
1. Prelude and Fugue
2. Improvisation and Fugue
3. Variations on a Chord
4-11. Little Piano Pieces
12. Homage to Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich*†
13-17. Five Aphorisms
18. Sonatina for piano (four hands)*
19-24. Cadenzas to Mozart's Piano Concertos K39, K467, K491 and K503

Total playing time [2:26:29]

[with *Richard Beauchamp and †John Cameron additional pianists]

In 2002 Simon Smith made his recording debut on Delphian in a disc of James MacMillan’s complete piano music, paired with Stuart MacRae’s Piano Sonata. Recordings of music by Hafliði Hallgrímsson and Thomas Wilson have followed. In this new, substantial outing Smith turns from music-making in Scotland to another of his lifelong loves, the music of Alfred Schnittke.

This two-disc set comprises Schnittke’s entire published output for solo piano (including one piece for piano duet and another for six hands at one keyboard). The Russian composer’s music often makes gargantuan demands of the player. Smith’s technical prowess, astonishing dynamic palette and heartfelt musicality make him its ideal exponent.

'an outstanding player with a huge expressive range'
- International Record Review

'Smith proves an admirable guide to this often engrossing music, his playing enhanced by the close but never airless sound'
- MusicWeb International