Felix Blumenfeld; Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Sonatas (Daniel Grimwood)

Information

Composer: Felix Blumenfeld; Sergei Rachmaninov

• (01) Blumenfeld - Sonata-Fantasia, Op. 46
• (04) Blumenfeld - Six Morceaux, Op. 38
• (10) Rachmaninov - Sonata No. 1 in D minor

Daniel Grimwood, piano
Date: 2009
Label: SFZ Music
http://www.sfzmusic.co.uk/cd-danielgrimwoa.html

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Review

PERFORMANCE: *** / SOUND: ***

Primarily remembered these days as the teacher of Horowitz and Simon Barere, Felix Blumenfeld cuts a particularly interesting figure among Russian composers born a generation or so after Tchaikovsky.

The Sonata-Fantasia first published in 1913 ranks as one of the most ambitious of his works, making predictably fearsome technical demands of the pianist. Its musical language owes much to Chopin and Liszt, though some ambitiously daring harmonies in the central slow movement also suggest an awareness of the more exploratory chromaticism of Scriabin.

Daniel Grimwood marshals the torrent of notes that characterise the frenzied writing of the opening movement and the Finale with impressive bravura, although the recording is rather shallow and serves to emphasise his limited tonal colouring.

The Op. 38 set of miniatures appears far more convincing in this respect, the limpid quasi-impressionist writing of ‘Près de l’eau’ and ‘La Fontaine’ delivered with great sensitivity. Unfortunately the reservations that I have about Grimwood’s account of the Sonata-Fantasia are replicated in his performance of the Rachmaninov.

Again, the formidable technical demands of the writing hold no terrors for him, but in a work of such extended length, there needs to be more subtlety of nuance to fully engage the listener.

-- Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine

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Felix Blumenfeld (19 April 1863 [O.S. 7 April] – 21 January 1931) was a Russian composer, conductor, pianist, and teacher. Blumenfeld studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Fedor Stein. From 1918 to 1922, he was the director of the Music-drama school of Mykola Lysenko in Kiev, where Vladimir Horowitz was a pupil in his masterclasses. Other famous pupils include Simon Barere and Maria Yudina. His compositions showed the influence of Chopin and Tchaikovsky. Blumenfeld's virtuoso pieces for piano are enjoying a renaissance in recent years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Blumenfeld

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Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered as one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Some of his works are among the most popular in the romantic repertoire. His style is notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral colors. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff

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British pianist Daniel Grimwood enjoys a solo and chamber career, which has taken him across the globe, performing on the most prestigious concert platforms. Grimwood studied with Graham Fitch at the Purcell School, and later with Vladimir Ovchinnikov and Peter Feuchtwanger. As a solo recording artist, his growing discography ranges from Scriabin on Somm Recordings to Algernon Ashton, a world premiere recording on Toccata Classics. Grimwood regularly performs on live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, and has been featured in BBC Four’s TV documentary series "Revolution and Romance".
http://www.danielgrimwood.co.uk/

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