Composer: Mily Balakirev, Sergey Rachmaninov, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Performer: Alexandre Kantorow
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: BIS
Catalogue: BIS2150
Release: 2017
Size: 1.08 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28
01. I. Allegro moderato
02. II. Lento
03. III. Allegro molto
Tchaikovsky: Morceaux, Op. 72
04. No. 5. Méditation
05. No. 17. Passé lointain
Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite
06. II. Dance infernal du roi Kastchei
07. VI. Berceuse (Lullaby)
08. VII. Finale
Tchaikovsky: Pieces for piano, Op. 1
09. 2 Pieces, Op. 1: No. 1. Scherzo à la russe
10. Balakirev: Islamey – Oriental Fantasy
Alexandre Kantorow released his first disc for BIS in 2016, performing Liszt’s piano concertos to critical acclaim: ‘I’m here to tell you that Alexandre Kantorow is Liszt reincarnated’ wrote one impressed reviewer, in Fanfare Magazine. Not yet 20 years old, the French pianist and son of violinist and conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow now explores his Russian roots, in a recital that opens with Rachmaninov’s weighty First Piano Sonata, inspired by Goethe’s play Faust, and its three main characters, the scholar Faust, his beloved Gretchen and Mephistopheles, the Devil’s emissary. The nostalgic intimacy of Méditation and Passé lointain, from Tchaikovsky’s Op. 72 collection, offers respite from the drama, but tension returns with Guido Agosti’s virtuosic piano arrangement of three extracts from Stravinsky’s Firebird.
Kantorow closes his Russian recital with Mily Balakirev’s ‘oriental fantasy’ Islamey, one of the iconic works of the piano literature. Fiendishly difficult, the piece famously inspired Ravel to write something that would be even harder to play (his Gaspard de la nuit). A committed Russian nationalist, Balakirev himself found the inspiration for Islamey during a journey to the Caucasus when he was introduced to the local music tradition.
All kinds of hype have attended the rise of French pianist Alexandre Kantorow (son of violinist-conductor Jean-Jacques Kantorow), not yet 21 when this album was recorded in 2016 and released the following year, with one critic going so far as to call him Liszt reincarnated. One of the less splashy, but more significant developments was his signing at 17 to Sweden’s BIS, not a label given to phenomena of the moment. The label does Kantorow proud with the wide dynamic range of its production at the absurdly named 4’33” Studio in suburban Paris. You get warhorses here, with the Guido Agosti transcription of three pieces from Stravinsky’s The Firebird the only pieces that could be considered remotely unusual. And you get an idea of how these pieces became warhorses in the first place. Sample the final Islamey, Op. 18, of Balakirev, of which Ravel said that his goal in composing Gaspard de la Nuit was to exceed it in difficulty. Perhaps he did, but Kantorow gets the feeling of the work’s being at the edge of playability without losing its roots in the folk music of Central Asia. The Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28, has breadth and power, and the two Tchaikovsky pieces from 18 Morceax, Op. 72, breathe and rock. It would appear from this recital of Russian music that Kantorow is doing just fine apart from the baton of his famous father, and that he is indeed one to watch.