Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer: Artur Pizarro
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Odradek
Release: 2014
Size: 2.24 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42
01. I. Theme (Andante)
02. II. Variation 1 (Poco piu? mosso)
03. III. Variation 2 (L’istesso tempo)
04. IV. Variation 3 (Tempo di Menuetto)
05. V. Variation 4 (Andante)
06. VI. Variation 5 (Allegro)
07. VII. Variation 6 (L’istesso tempo)
08. VIII. Variation 7 (Vivace)
09. IX. Variation 8 (Adagio misterioso)
10. X. Variation 9 (Un poco piu mosso)
11. XI. Variation 10 (Allegro scherzando)
12. XII. Variation 11 (Allegro vivace)
13. XIII. Variation 12 (L’Istesso Tempo)
14. XIV. Variation 13 (Agitato)
15. XV. Intermezzo (A tempo rubato)
16. XVI. Variation 14 (Andante)
17. XVII. Variation 15 (L’Istesso Tempo)
18. XVIII. Variation 16 (Allegro Vivace)
19. XIX. Variation 17 (Meno mosso)
20. XX. Variation 18 (Allegro con brio)
21. XXI. Variation 19 (Piu mosso. Agitato)
22. XXII. Variation 20 (Piu Mosso)
23. XXIII. Coda (Andante)
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36
24. I. Allegro agitato
25. II. Non allegro
26. III. Allegro molto
6 Moments musicaux, Op. 16
27. I. Andantino (B flat minor)
28. II. Allegretto (E flat minor) (1940 version)
29. III. Andante cantabile (B minor)
30. IV. Presto (E minor)
31. V. Adagio sostenuto (D flat major)
32. VI. Maestoso (C major)
7 Morceaux de Salon, Op. 10
33. I. Nocturne
34. II. Valse
35. III. Barcarolle (as recorded by composer)
36 IV. Melodie
37 V. Humoresque (1940 version)
38 VI. Romance
39. VII. Mazurka
9 Etudes-tableaux, Op. 39
40. I. Allegro agitato (C minor)
41. II. Lento assai (A minor)
42. III. Allegro molto (F-sharp minor)
43. IV. Allegro assai (B minor)
44. V. Appassionato (E-flat minor)
45. VI. Allegro (A minor)
46. VII. Lento lugubre (C minor)
47. VIII. Allegro Moderato (D Minor)
48. IX. Tempo di marcia (D major)
Described as a “poet amongst pianists”, the renowned Portuguese artist Artur Pizarro makes his debut for Odradek Records with the first of three 2-CD sets presenting the complete solo piano works of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
A former winner of the Leeds Piano Competition – which brought him to international acclaim in1990 – Pizarro offers his listeners a lifetime of love for, and experience with, this music which speaks, as he says, “of the endless variety of the human condition”. Tracing Rachmaninoff’s development as a composer from the early Nocturnes and his encounters with Tchaikovsky as a teenage student of Nikolai Zverev in the 1880s, to the so-called ‘Corelli Variations’ of the 1930s, this landmark release shines a new light on every aspect of this remarkable oeuvre.
“The sheer inventiveness and beauty of the music is really amazing,” Artur Pizarro told Pianist magazine. “The rhythmic and harmonic language is so rich, and very few composers wrote so well for the piano.” On this first volume, from the monumental passion of the Piano Sonata No 2, via the Études-tableaux, Op.39, to the tender lyricism of many of the lesser-known miniatures, Pizarro imbues every page of this music with the fire and feeling for melodic contour for which his playing has become so admired.