Anton Rubinstein: Piano Sonatas No 1 in E minor,op12 & Piano Sonata No 3,op 41 in F major Leslie Howard (piano) Hyperion
Well,after lisztening to Liszt (gedditt?! ::)) the piano music of the next greatest pianist "and first great Russian teacher",obviously,makes intriguing listening! Albeit,I find it,somewhat,shocking to read (in the accompanying booklet) that the recording's on this cd were the first recording's of any of his major works for solo piano!! How the mighty fall,eh?! According to the booklet notes by Leslie Howard,his "methods and administration are still echoed in the Russian musical institutions". Referring again to the booklet notes,again! The First Sonata (dating from 1847-48) " is probably the first Piano Sonata to be composed by a Russian"!
As to the music itself! (I have also been listening to the cd of Piano Sonatas 2 & 4,as well!) I need to listen a bit more;but it all sounds very enjoyable to my ears! Although,after listening to Années De Pèlerinage (see previous post) it's pretty obvious that Rubinstein isn't an innovator like Liszt! Rubinstein's muse is a more conservative one! I'll need to listen a bit more and to the 2 cd set of solo piano pieces (still in the post!) before I can really make my mind up about what's on offer here! The good news is I didn't once get an urge to turn it off or look at the track timing's to see how much more I had to endure? Which is usually a good sign! :)
The painting on the front of both cd's is 'Anton Rubinstein playing for Count Tolstoy" by Leonid Pasternak. Yep! He does look like Beethoven! And who do I look like? Well,I've got a date with a girl called Esmeralda tonight! But,I might have to delay it
until I've seen my GP about the ringing in my ears!! :o
