Otal

The Études-Tableaux op. 39 are perhaps Rachmaninov's most modern and sombre compositions. Composed in 1917, just before he fled to the USA, the nine picture etudes are a challenge for any pianist. Nikolai Obukhov, who was 20 years younger, wrote his Six Tableaux psychologiques in 1915 before emigrating to France in 1918 and being sponsored by Ravel. The influence of Scriabin is unmistakable. The French pianist Josquin Otal, a student of Anne Queffélec and Denis Pascal, has recorded these works together with one piece each by Granados and Crumb on the new luxurious Yamaha CFX grand piano.

After studies in Lyon and Marseille, the pianist Josquin Otal (b. 1992), nominated Révélation classique de l’ADAMI (2015), went on to work with master musicians in Paris and Brussels. Intense and masterful, his mercurial playing takes wing when he performs Romantic repertoire. For his first solo album, he has chosen to present two monuments of 19th century piano music: Liszt’s Grande Sonate in B minor, completed in 1853, and the Sonata of his pupil Julius Reubke (1834-1858), written in 1857. Josquin Otal presents the two works magnificently, bringing out the features shared by the master and his disciple as well as the profound differences that distinguish them.