Valentin Silvestrov - Piano Works (Jenny Lin)

Information

Composer: Valentin Silvestrov

• (01) Nostalghia
• (02) Two Pieces
• (04) Two Dialogs with an Epilogue
• (07) Three Postludes (for Jenny Lin)
• (10) Three Pieces
• (13) Two Pieces
• (15) Three Waltzes
• (18) Sonata No. 1
• (20) The Messenger - 1996

Jenny Lin, piano
Date: 2006
Label: Hänssler Classic
https://haensslerprofil.de/shop/musik-fuer-soloinstrumente/klavierwerke-5/

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Review

Silvestrov is a piano master, too, as this beautifully arranged programme shows

The impressive series of orchestral works that Valentin Silvestrov wrote between his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies should not obscure the virtues of his piano miniatures. Jenny Lin’s advocacy is reflected by her care in sequencing them into a viable recital that begins with the pensive melancholy of Nostalghia, then continues with the fervent simplicity of the Two Pieces, Benedictus and Sanctus. Two Dialogues with an Epilogue makes serene excursions into the domains of Schubert and Wagner before subsuming them into the composer’s own world, while Three Postludes is a more animated token of appreciation to this pianist.

Three Pieces demonstrates a stylistic continuity between Silvestrov’s distant past in the Debussian “Bagatelle” from 1958, and his recent present in the limpid “Hymn 2001” and “Melody”, before the “Moments” pair recreates a mid-Romantic piano music in wonderfully subtle terms. Three Waltzes is a likewise unfettered tribute to the Second Viennese triumvirate, its “lyrical dodecaphony” one that Silvestrov had explored extensively in his First Piano Sonata (1960/72). This two-movement piece works its way intently through a harmonic angularity and a contrapuntal intricacy to a repose such as makes The Messenger 1996 a natural “finale” as well as to the overall programme.

Lin is an ideal exponent of music whose superfine dynamic and textural contrasts create their own expressive intensity, and she has been well served by Hänssler’s clear yet spacious recording. Alexei Lubimov’s authoritative Erato disc of all three piano sonatas urgently warrants reissue, but as an overall Silvestrov conspectus this could hardly be bettered.

-- Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone

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Valentyn Sylvestrov (born 30 September 1937 in Kiev) is a Ukrainian composer and pianist of contemporary classical music. He studied composition under Borys Lyatoshynsky, harmony and counterpoint under Levko Revutsky. Sylvestrov is perhaps best known for his post-modern musical style. His principal and published works include nine symphonies, poems for piano and orchestra, three string quartets, a piano quintet, three piano sonatas, piano pieces, chamber music, and vocal music. Sylvestrov's Symphony No. 5 (1980–1982) is considered by some to be his masterpiece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentyn_Sylvestrov

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Jenny Lin (born 1973) is a Taiwanese-born American pianist. She studied music at Vienna's Hochschule für Musik with Noel Flores and later on at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore with Julian Martin. She also studied with Richard Goode, Dmitri Bashkirov, and Andreas Staier. Lin is one of those adventurous pianists unafraid to tackle contemporary repertory or to explore the works of lesser-known composers of generations past. She has been serving on the faculty at the 92nd Street Y (92Y) cultural institution in New York, and has made recordings for Steinway & Sons, Hänssler Classics, BIS, and Koch International.

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jenny-lin-mn0001518455/biography

http://jennylin.net

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