Composer: Abram Chasins
Performer: Margarita Glebov
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0678
Release: 2023
Size: 1.42 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
6 Piano Preludes, Op. 10
01. No. 1 in C Major
02. No. 2 in A Minor
03. No. 3 in E Minor
04. No. 4 in G Major “Lullaby”
05. No. 5 in D Major
06. No. 6 in B Minor
6 Piano Preludes, Op. 11
07. No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor
08. No. 2 in A Major
09. No. 3 in E Major
10. No. 4 in C-Sharp Minor
11. No. 5 in G-Sharp Minor
12. No. 6 in B Major
6 Piano Preludes, Op. 12
13. No. 1 in G-Flat Major
14. No. 2 in E-Flat Minor
15. No. 3 in B-Flat Minor
16. No. 4 in D-Flat Major “Pastorale”
17. No. 5 in A-Flat Major
18. No. 6 in F Minor
6 Piano Preludes, Op. 13
19. No. 1 in C Minor
20. No. 2 in E-Flat Major
21. No. 3 in B-Flat Major “Chorale”
22. No. 4 in G Minor
23. No. 5 in D Minor
24. No. 6 in F Major
CD 02
Piano Playtime
01. I. Waltz of the Rainbow
02. II. Banjo Boy
03. III. Holiday Bells
04. IV. By the Brook
05. V. Dancing Bagpipes
06. VI. Tricky Trumpet
07. VII. The Airplane
The Master Class, Op. 4
08. I. Precocity
09. II. Dualism
10. III. Passionate Austerity (Procession)
11. IV. Gradus ad palais royale
3 Chinese Pieces
12. No. 1, A Shanghai Tragedy
13. No. 2, Flirtation in a Chinese Garden
14. No. 3, Rush Hour in Hong Kong
Keyboard Karikatures, Op. 6
15. I. Rachmaninoff
16. II. Godowsky
17. III. Bachaus
18. Fairy Tale, Op. 16 No. 1
19. Remembrance of Things Past, Op. 36
20. Etude Appassionato (1925)
21. Gluck-Chasins Melody
22. Schwanda Fantasy
Abram Chasins (1903–87) began his career as a pianist and composer but as broadcaster and writer soon became one of the best-known cultural commentators in the USA. His output of music for solo piano – recorded here complete for the first time – dates from his first years in the public eye, and although he made little attempt to promote it himself, one sees instantly why it was so well received at the time: sweeping keyboard textures and grand Romantic gestures expressed in a style somewhere between Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, sometimes with echoes of Chopin and Gershwin. The works here range from witty character pieces, some intended for children, and affectionate tributes to other pianists to more serious abstract essays – and Chasins, too, was a member of the club of composers who wrote 24 preludes in all the major and minor keys.