Performer: Marc-André Hamelin
Composer: Nikolay Andreyevich Roslavets
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Size: 189 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Three Compositions: Adagio (Nobilissimo)
02. Three Compositions: Agitato con passione
03. Three Compositions: Allegretto grazioso
04. Three Etudes: Affetamente
05. Three Etudes: (‘Pianissimo’) Con dolce maniera
06. Three Etudes: Burlando
07. Piano Sonata No. 1
08. Prelude: Largo
09. Two Compositions: Quasi Prelude: Tres modere
10. Two Compositions: Quasi Poeme: Lent
11. Piano Sonata No. 2
12. Two Poems: Allegretto – Fervido
13. Two Poems: Moderato – Sempre poco rubato
14. Five Preludes: Andante affetuoso
15. Five Preludes: Allegretto con moto
16. Five Preludes: Lento
17. Five Preludes: Lento
18. Five Preludes: Lento – Rubato
19. Piano Sonata No. 5
a hidden revolutionary of piano music,Hamelin is superb
Nikolay Roslavets(1881-1944), is a forgotten master who was part of the progressive artistic community that welcomed the 1917 Revolution.It seems this generation of composers (Mosolov,Wyshnegradsky) with the darkness of what became of Russia are only now being discovered .Roslavets significant works are for the piano, for which Hamelin, an untiring instigator of the pianos neglected repertoire always performs. If you never heard Roslavets you will see how relatively homogenized and one-dimensional the music of Prokofiev and Shostakovich can be by comparison. “Three Compositions” proclaims a strong structural durability in sculpting three contrasting ideas always in a state of hightened virtuosity where the brilliance and brightness of sound, encrusted in low and high piano registers are projected.The middle piece here takes on a the structural challenge of miniature form”Agitato con passione” a mere 41 seconds. Also the “Three Etudes” are overwhelming at times bursting their classical frames it seems in ongoing ostinati-like ideas with piercing cascades of high register moments.But you always sense taut control,in that Roslavets had his own theories on atonality quite independent of The Schoenberg School. As much as you try Roslavets does not fit neatly into other creative influence,perhaps Debussy or Scriabin,but not really,Roslavets has his own voice. Again Hamelin ignites anything he plays ,reflecting gently wherever necessary,and bringing a sense of each works uniqueness. Over the course of this CD,Hamelin renders the full emotive scope of Roslavets. Even though all the works are for piano solo, you sense different creative dimensions,no repetition of creative thinking.