Melodiya

Although Schumann was one of the composers Sviatoslav Richter played best, this is not the most essential disc of this series. This Moscow recording of the six pieces from Op. 12 (Richter always played the same six, leaving out two of the set) is no better or worse than the Prague recordings made at the same time and now available from Deutsche Grammophon. In either case, you do want to hear Richter play these pieces, especially the miraculous speed and clarity of Traumes-Wirren. Richter gave the most convincing performance of the radical Humoreske ever, but his concert recording is even more exciting than this fine studio version.

These early recordings (1950-52) were made while Sviatoslav Richter was still playing this kind of virtuoso Russian music, an area he largely abandoned later in his life. If you enjoy the trivial Rimsky and Glazunov concertos, you'll get a real kick out of the colorful virtuosity of these performances, pretty well conveyed by the recordings although they don't really do justice to Richter's tone. But Richter did make another recording of the Prokofiev, with Karel Ancerl, which is currently available on Supraphon and has a much better orchestra. In either case, the pianist gives this insouciant music all the juice it needs.

Sviatoslav Richter commands legendary status in the keyboard world with almost superhuman technique and a level of intensity never exceeded in my memory. On this Melodiya album, the pianist performs the Tchaikovsky Piano Sonata No. 3 and Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition. Pictures was recorded in 1958. The Tchaikovsky Piano Sonata No. 3 is rarely heard in the recital hall. It sounds more like a piano transcription of an orchestral work than one written for piano, and the chord-oriented work cumbersome on the keyboard. With full orchestra, I'm sure the effect would be quite beautiful.

Melodiya presents recordings by Alexander Korneyev, (1930-2010) was an outstanding flutist, People's Artist of the RSFSR and laureate of the State Prize of Russia. A world famous soloist, Korneyev won recognition primarily as a concert musician. He has performed with well-known Russian musicians such as Lev Oborin, Ivan Kozlovsky, Sviatoslav Richter, Emil Gilels, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Beethoven Quartet.

Ludmila Berlinskaya has an impeccable pedigree. Daughter of Valentin Berlinsky, leader of the Borodin Quartet, she grew up in the company of some of the greatest Russian musicians of modern times, such as Richter (whose page-turner she was), Oistrakh, and Rostropovich. A fine chamber musician and an impressive soloist, she offers four major works for the piano by a quartet of great composers. Medtner’s sonata, which gives the album its title, is beautifully judged, while she invests the Schumann with real poetry, and charms with Ravel-playing of great flair.

Melodiya presents recordings of chamber music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Alfred Schnittke performed by the trio led by the outstanding musician Mark Lubotsky. Despite a 200-year gap between them, the music of these composers has much in common. It is the versatility of the genre palette, the combination of daring and bold innovation and the sense of continuity, an acute awareness of the tragedy of earthly existence while maintaining an objective attitude to the art.

Given that there are so many discs of the Rachmaninov Piano Concertos available to buy, you have to ask what makes this set different or better than the rest? It's quite refreshing for a start, that all the works are played by different pianists. My main incentive to buy it was Nikolai Petrov's fantastic performance of the 4th Concerto in G minor, its first release on CD from vinyl.