Composer: Anatoly Alexandrov
Performer: Kyung-Ah Noh
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Toccata
Catalogue: TOCC0216
Release: 2014
Size: 685 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
2 Pieces, Op. 3
01. No. 1. Nocturne
02. No. 2. Waltz
Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 12
03. Allegro agitato
2 Passages, Op. 16a
04. No. 1. Amethysts: Andante poetico
05. No. 2. The Enchanted Castle: Volando
Piano Sonata No. 4 Op. 19
06. I. Agitato mosso, con slancio vigoroso e gran’ passione
07. II. Andante meditativo
08. III. Invocando, un poco sostenuto
09. Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 4, “Sonata Skazka”
Piano Sonata No. 6 in G major, Op. 26
10. I. Allegretto grazioso
11. II. Adagio non troppo
12. III Intrada, alla improvisata – Alla marcia stravaganta
Little Suite No. 1, Op. 33
13. I. Fairy Lullaby: Tranquillo ma non troppo lento
14. II. Etude: Allegro assai
15. III Melodie: Lento, cantabile, espresso, dolce
16. IV. A Joke: Allegro con brio
Anatoly Alexander (1888–1982) is one of the forgotten figures of the Russian school of pianism that embraced Taneyev, Rachmaninov, Skryabin, Shostakovich, Gilels and so many other composers and pianists. Alexandrov composed fourteen sonatas and much else for piano in an attractive late-Romantic style that owes much to Nikolai Medtner, his teacher and friend.
The reviewer for MusicWeb International called Vol. 1 of this series a ‘superb debut-disc’ and commented that Kyung-ah Noh ‘plays with immense power when called for, but is equally able to command the subtlest “pianissimo”’. Of the recorded sound, he wrote: ‘The piano affords all the necessary depth of tone at the bass end, with glittering clarity in the treble register, while the recording itself has faithfully captured every nuance and dynamic to perfection’.
Kyung-ah Noh was born in 1982 in Seoul, South Korea. At home she won a number of piano competitions including those held by The Korea Daily News, the National Filial Piety Music Contest and the Korean Piano Academics Association in South Korea. Further afield, she won first prize in the International Piano Workshop Competition in Varna, Bulgaria, in 2010. She holds the Peggy Boston Duggan piano scholarship at the University of North Texas, where in August 2014 she was awarded a doctoral degree.