Boris Berezovsky - Russian Piano Works

Information

Composer: Modest Mussorgsky; Sergei Rachmaninov; Anatoly Lyadov; Nikolai Medtner; Mily Balakirev

1. Mussorgsky - Night on Bald Mountain (transcr. Konstantin Tchernov)
2. Rachmaninov - Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39: No. 3 in F sharp minor (Allegro molto)
3. Rachmaninov - Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39: No. 4 in B minor (Allegro assai)
4. Rachmaninov - Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39: No. 7 in C minor (Lento)
5. Rachmaninov - Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39: No. 9 in D major (Allegro moderato. Tempo di marcia)
6. Lyadov - 3 Morceaux, Op. 57: 1. Prélude (Moderato)
7. Lyadov - 4 Morceaux, Op. 40: 2. Prélude (Allegretto)
8. Lyadov - 4 Prélude, Op. 39: 4. Allegro impetuoso
9. Medtner - 4 Fairy Tales, Op. 34: 2. Allegro cantabile e leggiero
10. Medtner - 2 Fairy Tales, Op. 20: 1. Allegro con espressione
11. Medtner - 4 Fairy Tales, Op. 34: 3. Allegretto tenebroso
12. Medtner - Romantic Sketches for the Young II, Op. 54: 2. Scherzo "Tale" (Allegro vivace)
13. Medtner - 6 Fairy Tales, Op. 51: 1. Allegro molto vivace al rigore di tempo e sempre leggierissimo
14. Balakirev - Islamey, oriental fantasy (Presto con fuoco)

Boris Berezovsky, piano
Date: 1995
Label: Teldec

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Review

Following his recent dazzling but provocative – even cavalier – Ravel recital (Teldec, 3/95), Boris Berezovsky makes a formidable return to home territory. And in this most imaginative programme he displays a superabundance of technique in the most comprehensive sense of the term, and, for the greater part, the sort of emotional commitment that is second nature to the greatest Russian pianists.

His selection from the Op. 39 Etudes continues the legend commenced by his two previous Teldec Rachmaninov recitals (9/92 and 7/94) and confirms that he is among this composer’s most powerful and eloquent interpreters. In No. 3 in F sharp minor Berezovsky’s romantic freedom and richness of expression are several removes from other more conventional approaches. His rubato is pained and ecstatic and the music seems to move across an immense emotional and dynamic spectrum within its brief but intricate space. What drama he achieves too, in the great funeral elegy of No. 7 (lugubre and lamentoso), complementing a hair-raising advance to the dissonant and audacious climax with a rare finesse in the central triple piano and legatissimo reminder of the Russian liturgy. And it is this finesse which makes every bar of the Liadov Preludes memorable, whether in the ultra-Russian memory of Chopin in No. 1, or the octave storms of No. 3 (where the parallel with Scriabin’s Etude, Op. 8 No. 9 is remarkably close).

Medtner’s dark-hued Fairy Tales, too, find a potent and ideal interpreter both in malignant antics (the “Wood goblin”, Op. 34 No. 3) and subtle and elusive attributes (the Romantic Sketch: the perfect encore to keep an audience guessing). The recital is framed by two towering feats of virtuoso pianism. Mussorgsky’s Night on the Bare Mountain, arranged by Konstantin Tchernov, is as pulverizing an experience as is was at Berezovsky’s Wigmore Hall recital – allegro feroce, indeed! And Balakirev’s Islamey is tossed off at breakneck speed, its sadistic, madcap difficulties resolved like so much child’s play. I have to admit an occasional longing for a complementary glamour and character here, but in its stunningly imperious way this performance is unrivalled.

The recordings are close and airless, the accompanying notes inadequate, but there are excellent photographs of all five composers, and no piano buff should miss an awe-inspiring addition to this 27-year-old artist’s rapidly expanding discography.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Boris-Berezovsky-Mussorgsky/dp/B000000SP2
http://www.amazon.com/Plays-Mussorgsky-Rachmaninoff-Liadov-Medtner/dp/B000000SP2

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Boris Berezovsky (born January 4, 1969, in Moscow) is a Russian virtuoso pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Eliso Virsaladze and privately with Alexander Satz. Berezovsky won the Gold Medal at the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Since then, he works regularly as a soloist with famous orchestras, conductors and chamber partners. He has championed Medtner since the early 1990s and has been one of the foremost recent interpreters of the composer's music. Berezovsky has made a considerable number of records for Teldec, and now records for Mirare.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Berezovsky_(pianist)

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