The Russian Piano Tradition - ALEXANDER GOLDENWEISER

APR5661
TCHAIKOVSKY Album for the Young, Op.39 [23.03]
1. Morning prayer  2. Winter morning  3. Little horseman  4. Mother  5. The toy soldiers' march 6. The sick doll  7. The doll's funeral  8 Waltz  9. The new doll 10. Mazurka 11. Russian song 12. The peasant plays the accordion 13. Kamarinskaya 14. Polka 15. Italian song 16. Old French song 17. German song 18. Neapolitan song 19. Nyanya's tale 20. The witch 21. Sweet dreams 22. Song of the skylark 23. The organ-grinder's song 24. At church 
recorded in Moscow c1952 
GRIEG
Lyric Pieces Book VII, Op.62 [15.01]
I Sylphe II Gratitude III French serenade IV Brooklet V Phantom VI Homeward 
recorded in Moscow c1953
from Lyric Pieces Book VIII, Op.65 [16.28]
I From days of youth II Peasants' song V In ballad style VI Wedding-day at Troldhaugen   
recorded in Moscow c1953
Lyric Pieces Book IX, Op.68 [16.47]
I Sailor's song II Grandmother's Minuet III At your feet IV Evening in the mountains V Lullaby VI Valse mélancholique 
recorded in Moscow c1954

These three titles inaugurate the Goldenweiser School, the last of the three great teaching traditions to be covered in this comprehensive survey of the many great pianists who worked in Russia in the Soviet era. Along with Goldenweiser himself we start with Nikolayeva and Ginzburg. The bulk of the issues in THE RUSSIAN PIANO TRADITION will be divided into 'schools' which represent the three main teachers of this period - Neuhaus, Goldenweiser and Igumnov, - and their pupils.

Alexander Goldenweiser was born in 1875 and studied at the Moscow Conservatoire with the great generation that included Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Medtner. Though a fine pianist, he quickly gravitated towards teaching and had an astonishing 55 year reign at his alma mater until his death in 1961. During this period he twice acted as the Conservatoire’s Director – from 1922-24 (as the first post-revolution director) and between 1939 and1942. Goldenweiser was to exert a profound influence upon more than 200 pianists among whom the most celebrated are Grigory Ginzburg, Samuil Feinberg, Rosa Tamarkina and Tatiana Nikolayeva (all of whom will be represented in this series) as well as Lazar Berman, Dmitri Bashkirov, Isabella Vengerova, Oxana Yablonskaya and Dmitri Paperno.

During the last 15 years of his life Goldenweiser recorded quite prolifically but most of this work was for the radio and only released subsequent to his death. For LP he recorded all Rachmaninov’s two-piano music with his pupil Ginzburg, a fair bit of Russian chamber music and, as a solo player, amongst other things, the first complete recording of Grieg’s Lyric Pieces, some of which are included here.

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