Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. After Rachmaninoff’s Preludes, Nikolai Lugansky wanted to present a finely nuanced portrait of this composer so fond of travelling! Whether it ranges over time (Hommage à Haydn) or the most vividly imagined open spaces, this freely composed programme is concerned above all with light and colour, in works we can never tire of.

A native of the Kursk province of a former Great Empire, a de scendant of an ancient Russian noble family, Nikolai Borisovich Obouhov (1892 — 1954) left an immense artistic legacy for his successors. His vivid life permeated with legends, his innovation and doubtless mark of outstanding individuality has aroused a great deal of interest in the present day. It is known that among his ardent admirers were Maurice Ravel, Olivier Messiaen, Arthur Honneger, Ivan Wyschnegradsky and Edison Denisov.

Rachmaninoff took the genre of the prelude to its highest degree of perfection with his boundless musical invention and fearsome technical demands. In his first recording for harmonia mundi, Nikolai Lugansky brilliantly meets the challenge, offering a programme of the finest gems in his repertory of choice. A summit of pianistic wizardry!

The opera Otello by Giuseppe Verdi and Arrigo Boito not only represents the outstanding result of an intensely fruitful creative collaboration between composer and librettist, but also one of the most important core works ever in the opera repertoire. An outstandingly crafted literary foundation and a dramatic story, in which three extremely different people - with characters ranging from profoundly evil, madly jealous and distrustful, to enamoured of death - take an emotional roller-coaster ride. A ride ending in death for all three. This drama is supported by music that, despite its magic of its refined tones, never brushes aside the greatest priority of the Italian opera: the human voice.

Of the 14 piano sonatas composed by the Russian composer Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), Canadian pianist Benjamin Bertin has selected the last three sonatas for his ATMA Classique debut album. These sonatas represent a contrasting and fascinating portrait of the mature composer at the peak of his powers. In terms of ingenuity of form, diversity of mood and character, and overall mastery of craft, these final works are akin to those of Beethoven, who inspired Medtner throughout his life.

The Russian composer Nikolai Kapustin (1937-2020), who died at the beginning of the pandemic-related cultural hiatus which has been unique with regard to world history, was able to experience considerable appreciation in his last two decades, which recently gained more and more momentum.