Rutsein Plays Russian Piano Music
Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein (piano)
The nine sonatas for solo piano by Boris Ivanovich Tishchenko (composed between 1957 and 1992) have attracted particular praise. "In the sonata genre, it may be that Tishchenko is well on his way to composing the most important body of works in Russia since Prokofiev," wrote Maurice Hinson in his Guide to the Pianist's Repertoire. He completed his Ninth Piano Sonata in 1992. The sonata exhibits the complexity characteristic of the last years of the 20th century. Internal links between the three movements, rather than any observance of Classical sonata form, bind the three movements together. Sergei Mikhailovich Slonimsky is the nephew of the famous Russian-American composer and lexicographer, Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1994). For the entry on his nephew Sergei in Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Nicholas Slonimsky wrote: "(Sergei Slonimsky's) style of composition is in the tradition of Soviet modernism, evolving towards considerable complexity of texture and boldness of idiom."
Track Listing
| Title | Composer | Performer |
|---|---|---|
| Four Preludes, Op. 22 | Alexander Scriabin | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
| Two Dances, Op. 73 | Alexander Scriabin | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
| Sonata in F Sharp Major, Op. 30 | Alexander Scriabin | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
| Passing Beauty | Sergei Slonimsky | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
| Nocturne | Peter Tchaikovsky | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
| Waltz | Peter Tchaikovsky | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
| Piano Sonata No. 9 | Boris Tishchenko | Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, piano |
Reviews
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"...Enigma is a major element of Tishchenko's style, and it's a style that I continue to find totally engrossing. It's also a style that obviously speaks to both the fingers and the soul of Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein. Throughout the Ninth Sonata, which runs over 25 minutes, she maintains an absolute clarity of texture that is essential to the composer's style. She also manages to sustain the listener's interest even while the music continues to turn in on itself with frequently repeated patterns, many of them rhythmic. And when ultra-prestissimo passagework or big statements dimly reminding us of a Romantic tradition that may have existed pup up, Rutstein more than rises to the occasion, and with such bravura that it is easy to forgive some very minor slips. Albany's sound brings the piano right into your listening room."
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