Composer: Anton Rubinstein
Performer: Han Chen
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Release: 2020
Size: 1.16 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Piano Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 12
01. I. Allegro appassionato
02. II. Andante largamente
03. III. Moderato
04. IV. Moderato con fuoco
3 Serenades, Op. 22
05. No. 1, Andante con moto
06. No. 2, Moderato
07. No. 3, Allegretto con moto
Piano Sonata No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 20
08. I. Allegro con moto
09. II. Theme & Variations
10. III. Vivace
Anton Rubinstein was the equal of Liszt as a pianist and a technically gifted composer but, in his own words, he was perceived by his contemporaries as too German to be Russian and too Russian to be German, and his music was frequently disparaged. Although occasionally derivative, the first two sonatas are impressively bravura and passionate works which pianist Han Chen approaches as if reading a 19th-century Russian novel, digging down to the very essence of the human soul. It is perhaps an irony of the history of taste that Rubinstein’s very real achievements are beginning to be valued only some 125 years after his death.