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Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Mily Balakirev - Piano Works Vol. 6 (Nicholas Walker)


Information

Composer: Mily Balakirev
  1. La fileuse
  2. Au jardin – Idyll-Étude
  3. Kamarinskaya (Mikhail Glinka, arr. M. Balakirev)
  4. Tamara (arr. N. Walker)
  5. Polka in F sharp minor
  6. Elegy on the Death of a Mosquito (completed by N. Walker)
  7. La danse de sorcières (completed by N. Walker)
  8. Ne govori: Lyubov’ proydyot (Mikhail Glinka, arr. M. Balakirev)
  9. Tyrolienne
  10. Rêverie (Platon Vasil'evich Zapol'sky, arr. M. Balakirev)
  11. Toccata in C sharp minor
  12. A Farewell to St. Petersburg: No. 10, Zhavoronok (Mikhail Glinka, arr. M. Balakirev)
  13. Islamey (Fantasie orientale)

Nicholas Walker, piano
Date: 2020
Label: Grand Piano

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Review

So the journey ends. A project that began back in 1994 has finally reached its conclusion with this sixth volume. Indeed, the opening number, the virtuoso ‘La fileuse’, was also the first item on Vol 1 of the projected complete works for ASV, a series that was curtailed by the label’s demise.

Nicholas Walker’s dedication to the cause and determination to see it through demands both our admiration and respect. It is a tremendous achievement – and the final tranche is no less full of pianistic goodies than its predecessors. Three premiere recordings are included: the comical Elegy on the Death of a Mosquito (1855) and La danse de sorcières (1856), both completed by Walker, and his own mammoth (21'10") transcription of Tamara, Balakirev’s great orchestral tone poem, a tour de force prompted by Walker’s discovery that the composer often used to play it to his friends. ‘I have set out to recreate it’, writes Walker, ‘in pianistic textures redolent of Balakirev’s own piano style.’

Elsewhere we have the ‘idyll-étude’ Au jardin, dedicated to Adolf von Henselt, which Walker feels is ‘one of the most beautiful pieces ever written for piano, revealing Balakirev at his best’. It’s hard to disagree. There’s the Polka in F sharp major (Balakirev’s first published work from 1859), transcriptions of Glinka songs, the exhilarating Toccata in C sharp minor and, mischievously placed last, what is the composer’s best-known work by far. Islamey is as much a musical as a technical challenge, a masterpiece that is rather more than a mere virtuoso finger-fest. The way in which Walker maintains its structure while observing all Balakirev’s myriad agogic and dynamic markings, with rits, ralls and a tempos in almost every bar, is the result of many years’ familiarity. Tiny details like playing the low D flats at the start of the 6/8 Andantino espressivo section as strict quavers is a case in point (most pianists ignore the succeeding two quaver rests). Walker storms home in the grandest manner, providing a fitting and exhilarating end to his odyssey.

-- Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone


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Mily Balakirev (2 January 1837 [O.S. 21 December 1836] – 29 May [O.S. 16 May] 1910) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor known today primarily for his work promoting musical nationalism and his encouragement of more famous Russian composers, notably Tchaikovsky. Balakirev is also the one who brought together the group of five Russian composers now known as The Mighty Handful (a.k.a. The Five). As a composer, however, Balakirev's slow pace in completing works deprived him of credit for his inventiveness. His oriental fantasy Islamey for solo piano remains popular among virtuosos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mily_Balakirev

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British pianist Nicholas Walker studied at the Royal Academy of Music and subsequently at the Moscow Conservatoire. He is known for his championing of the neglected leader of 'The Mighty Handful', Mili Balakirev As well as performing in all the major London concert halls with many British orchestras, he has played in North and South America, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Scandinavia, Australia and Russia. Walker has recorded for BBC Radio 3, Cirrus, ASV, BMG Arte Nova, Chandos, Toccata Classics and Naxos Grand Piano. He teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
http://www.nicholaswalkerpiano.com/

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