Dmitri Kabalevsky - Complete Preludes (Michael Korstick)

Information

Composer: Dmitri Kabalevsky

• (01) 24 Préludes, Op. 38
• (25) 6 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 61
• (31) 3 Preludes, Op. 1
• (34) 4 Preludes, Op. 5

Michael Korstick, piano

Date: 2020

Label: cpo

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/dimitri-kabalewsky-klavierwerke/hnum/8992771

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

ARTISTIC  QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

Say what you will about Dmitri Kabalevsky’s limited creative range; the fact is that he wrote imaginative and effective piano music that deserves more attention than it usually gets. Those who know Michael Korstick’s CPO recordings of this composer’s piano concertos will find the pianist’s survey of the complete Kabalevsky piano preludes just as virtuosic, idiomatic, and colorful.

Granted, Korstick may not match Alexandre Dossin’s tenderness and warmth in lyrical selections, where his sonority tends to turn brittle in loud moments; the ugly, hammered-out Op. 38 No. 24 Prelude is particularly rough going. Yet Korstick compensates by way of rhythmic vivacity and precise fingerwork. Even gnarly bass-register clusters such as those in Op. 24 No. 16 are presented with clarity and transparency. Notice, too, Korstick’s hair-trigger lilt in Op. 5 No. 2’s descending right-hand double notes. His forthright pacing of the Op. 61 “Story of a Hero” Prelude and Fugue contrasts to Dossin’s heavier and arguably more dignified deliberation.

Importantly, Dossin’s “complete” Kabalevsky Preludes survey lacks the composer’s confident and well-crafted Op. 1 group of three, where Korstick’s incisive performances have the edge over Kirsten Johnson on Nimbus. For a modern-day Kabalevsky Preludes collection, get both Korstick and Dossin.

-- Jed Distler, ClassicsToday

More reviews:
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/kabalevsky-complete-preludes-michael-korstick

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/May/Kabalevsky_preludes_5552722.htm

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Preludes-Michael-Korstick/dp/B084DH5J2L

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dmitri Kabalevsky (30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1904 – 14 February 1987) was a Russian composer. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Nikolai Myaskovsky (composition) and Alexander Goldenweiser (piano). Kabalevsky was a prolific composer in many ways; he wrote symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, chamber works, songs, theatre, film scores, pieces for children and some pieces for the proletariat. In Russia, he is most noted for his vocal songs, cantatas, and operas, while overseas he is known for his orchestral music, especially the "Comedians' Galop" from his Comedians Suite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Kabalevsky

***

Michael Korstick (born April 30, 1955 in Cologne, Germany) is a German pianist. Korstick received his first piano lessons at the age of 9, and subsequently studied with Jürgen Tröster, Hans Leygraf, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Sascha Gorodnitzki and Jeaneane Dowis. His repertoire consists of more than 120 works for piano and orchestra and a large number of solo works from all periods, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven. Korstick has made more than 50 CD recordings so far, winning several prizes. He lives and works in Linz, Austria, where he is a full professor at Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Korstick

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!