Alexander Mosolov - Iron Foundry; Piano Concerto No. 1 (Johannes Kalitzke; Steffen Schleiermacher)

Information

Composer: Alexander Mosolov

1. Iron Foundry, Op. 19
2. Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 14: I. Andante lugubre (lento)
3. Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 14: II. Tema con Concertini (Lento sostenuto)
4. Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 14: III. Allegro. Molto marcato
5. Tractor's arrival at the Kolkhoz
6. Legend for cello & piano, Op. 5
7. Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 3
8. Four Newspaper Announcements, Op. 21

Steffen Schleiermacher, piano

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Johannes Kalitzke, conductor

Date: 2015

Label: Capriccio

http://capriccio.at/alexander-mosolov-1900-1973

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

Review

No aficionado of Soviet music can afford to be without at least one disc of Alexander Mosolov, the composer who achieved double notoriety thanks to some brutalist-modernist scores in the 1920s and to falling foul of the authorities in the high-Stalin era – not for musical reasons but initially for ‘hooliganism’ and then for alleged ‘counter-revolutionary activity’. In fact he was far less of a musical innovator than his reputation might suggest: for instance, his signature piece, ‘The Iron Foundry’, comes straight out of the ‘Procession of the Sage’ from The Rite of Spring, while the Newspaper Announcements follow hard on the heels of Eisler’s Zeitungsabschnitte.

But that’s not to take away from his historical importance. The trenchant assertiveness of his First Piano Sonata clearly left its mark on Shostakovich’s; and many years on, the latter’s Romances on Words from Krokodil added to the debt. While the Piano Concerto might have been better balanced with its short scherzo placed in the middle rather than at the end, it is still an imaginative piece in its own crash-bang-wallop way, not to mention being a rare representative of the Soviet piano concerto genre prior to Shostakovich’s First.

The new Capriccio release closely shadows the 1998 Melodiya/BMG disc listed below. But that and various accounts of the Piano Sonata are rarities, only obtainable at premium prices. In any case, Steffen Schleiermacher has form with Mosolov, as he does with other Soviet repertoire of the time, and he brings an edgy intensity as well as energy to all the pieces involving him. The performance of ‘The Iron Foundry’ may be rather tame compared to some of its competitors, but otherwise the playing on this disc does full justice to the music.

-- David Fanning, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Sep/Mosolov_foundry_C5241.htm

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Oct/Mosolov_foundry_C5241.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/alexander-mosolov-iron-foundry-piano-concerto-no-1-mw0002856505

https://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Mosolov-Foundry-Piano-Concerto/dp/B00XZKQBFU

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

Alexander Mosolov (11 August [O.S. 29 July] 1900 – 11 July 1973) was a composer of the early Soviet era, known best for his early futurist piano sonatas, orchestral episodes, and vocal music. Mosolov studied at the Moscow Conservatory and achieved his greatest fame in the Soviet Union and around the world for his 1926 composition, Iron Foundry. Later conflicts with Soviet authorities led to his expulsion from the Composers' Union in 1936 and imprisonment in the Gulag in 1937. His later music conformed to the Soviet aesthetic to a much greater degree, but he never regained the success of his early career.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mosolov

***

Johannes Kalitzke (born 12 February 1959 in Cologne) is a German composer and conductor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kalitzke

https://www.johanneskalitzke.com/

***

Steffen Schleiermacher (born 3 May 1960 in Halle) is a German composer, pianist, and conductor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steffen_Schleiermacher

http://www.schleiermacher-leipzig.de/

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

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!