Hi Monica,

Thanks for making the corrections. It all looks good. Super!

I think anyone could have been fooled by the Muzyka Edition on the IMSLP. I noticed a quirk in there whereby when you click on that opus, it scrolls down and parks at No. 3 rather than No. 1 up at the top. Strange! I've never encountered that before at the site.

David

After my comments about transliteration I have listened and can now pass judgement

I was of course aware of Lyadov's small (in the sense that almost he wrote were miniatures) talents but these are by in large enjoyable. Perhaps I know best his orchestral words were in happier moments he might remind one of the Stravinsky of the Firebird, so there might have been some truth in the story that Dyagilev had approached him at first. I believe his most substatial work to be a collection of Russian folk-songs for orchestra that actually lasts for more than 15 minutes.

You bring these pieces off the page very well and, while I have enjoyed some better than others, they go very nicely, thank you. I especially enjoyed the non-Pastoral and the Prelude in c.

I beg to differ on the subject of transliteration, David: there is one, internationally recognised, but the only ones who seem to use it are the Italians (Maybe the Czech do also: I need to check), mainly because they have no way to write the final ch sound. Russian words are written as if they were Czech. If you look any Russian up on Wikipedia and the go to the Italian version you will see what I mean:

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolij_K ... %8D_Ljadov
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%ABtr_ ... Cajkovskij

As I mentioned earlier in Russian final v sounds like f, so our composer in question is called Lyadof while his wife was Lyadova.

Geep on the good work, David!

Nice pieces, well played, and they make an attractive collection. I too hear hints of Chopin, but I wouldn't mind betting there is some Russian folksong in there also, though I'm not sufficiently au fait with the idiom to know for sure.

Hi Richard,

Thanks for those links to the Italian sites. It was interesting to see their spelling variations.

I wish that Liadoff had left more of an orchestral legacy. One listen to "The Enchanted Lake" leaves no doubt that had he applied that aspect of his talent and ability far more than he did, the music would would have benefitted. He had two enemies: First, despite being an established composer and professor of composition, he was very leery of working in large forms. And second, he was a well known procrastinator. We are fortunate though that he left us an ample and wonderful piano literature.

When you said this: Was that an intentional pun?

David

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for listening to all of the pieces. Indeed in the first one, the Op. 33, No 1, in parentheses underneath the title Prelude is written: "on a Russian theme". It's possible that the theme was from a folk song. They are certainly lovely pieces. I've decided to do a few more before moving on to another composer. I appreciate the compliment on my playing too.

David

Jeepers, as my elderly cousin would have said! It was not!

Actually I did check right after and found out they do not, but I forgot to edit the post!

I made the comment partially in light of the knowledge that Liadov, Liapunov and Balakirev were commissioned to collect folksongs in the early 1890s, so it would make sense if some influences crossed over (they certainly did with Liapunov). I am however a little surprised that someone so notoriously indolent got the commission in the first place!

Hi Andrew,

There's no question that if Liadoff where with us today, he would definitely not be effective as a project manager.

David

Hi David,

I had a listen to your recordings of Liadoff's Preludes. It serves as my introduction to him as a composer, and through phrasing and tempo in these short pieces I think you bring out his talents well.

For criticism, I would consider contrast in dynamics between phrases. Like accenting the downbeat at the intersect of the first two phrases of no. 1.

These pieces sound great, thanks for these recordings,

~Riley

Hi Riley,

In the first recording, had the two phrases been mirror phrases, I probably would have made the second one softer than the first for the sake of variety. But the notation between them is different, so I didn't feel as much license to stray from Liadoff's dynamic marking there. But it would be interesting to experiment with it.

This was also my own introduction to Liadoff's music. So I'm glad I could share it here. I'm planning on doing more of these pieces over the next few weeks. Playing "new" music like this is always an adventure.

Thanks for listening.

David

Hi David, thank you for posting Liadov's works, cause I love them!!! It has been a while since I posted here (I'm struggling with my double fuction as a mom and a PhD student ), and as I browsed the list on AR, your post caught my eyes immediatly! I enjoyed your beautiful recordings a lot! What a genius was that composer! His pieces are certainly small but he says something larger than that length through them.
I already knew those three pieces except op.33-1, since I watched Berezovsky's recital of Rach and Liadov im Louvre on the web-broadcast, where he played them. If you are interested, someone posted that whole recital on YT. The Loadov sections are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9RgaGoqbs&feature=related(from 3:20)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkyCCmjhK7A&feature=related
On the second video he plays the three pieces together op.39-4 (which I really want to learn and play) and the Barcarolle (which I had already posted on AR).

And may I ask you and Chris, if you guys know the opus numbers of two pieces, that I like very much but couldn't identify so far? They are two pieces on the first video, one of which starts at 3:25 and the other at 7:00.

I may have said this before, but just in case I didn't: you have my greatest respect for being a student, a mom, as well as a splendid pianist ! As well as living in a foreign country and being in command of at least two European languages. So much talent in one person is quite rare.


These are respectively

Prelude Op.57 No.1
Prelude Op.10 No.1

I'm not such a fan of Berezovsky (can't precisely say why not) but I have to hand it to him, he plays these most beautifully. Shame about the leather jacket... He only needs a dangling cigarette to look like a Russian mafia capo or a dodgy business tycoon. There's always something about this guy's presentation that makes him look slightly unsavory.

Hi Hye-Jin,

I'm so glad you enjoyed those Liadoff pieces I posted. At first I didn't know quite what to expect from this composer, had never heard the preludes before, but was quickly drawn into them. These pieces are true jewels. I usually make it a point not to listen to other pianists' recordings of pieces I prepare, as I don't want to be influenced. That is, I want to put my own stamp on a piece. I really enjoyed doing these recordings. I was about to move onto to another composer, but was persuaded to do more Liadoff, so I have four more of these preludes in the works now. But I'm not giving out any hints on which ones.

Regarding Berezovsky: When I played the Rachmaninoff revised "Melodie" (posted here), I had heard the Rachmaninoff recording years ago as I have it on CD. Later on I heard the Volodos performance as well. So that was a case where I was already familiar with other recordings, but was still able to do some things differently to make the performance my own--although it could stand some improvements. After I did that recording, I later came across the Berezovsky live recording. I do truly respect him as a pianist. Anyway, he was playing in a large hall in the video, possibly the Salle Pleyel. He came out on stage to play an encore, the revised "Melodie" as it happened. He then spread out the music on the music desk. I wasn't put off by that, as Hamelin sometimes uses sheet music in recital too. And with my inability to memorize anymore, who am I to criticize that?! Well, he was playing and I was keenly interested to see how he would handle the difficult cadenza at the coda. He didn't play it at all!!! He finished the preceding measure, skipped the whole cadenza, and played the final chords in the closing measure. It was like it had been excised. I must say, my jaw dropped open! I thought to myself I certainly couldn't match Volodos' execution of it, but at least I PLAYED the cadenza. Now my jury is out on Berezovsky. Thanks for leaving those two links--I'll check them out. Hopefully he'll redeem himself there.

Best of luck, Hye-Jin in your doctoral program. I'm sure you'll do very well in it. I'm hoping you can still post a recording for us now and then.

David

Hi,

I just listened to Berezovsky at the two given links. The first video at the start has most of the Rachmaninoff Prelude 23/10, which I've recorded. I was curious to see what he'd do with the second half of page 2. There are huge rolls in there that are difficult for even large hands. Some pianists take a huge liberty and slow the tempo to accommodate them more leisurely while dwelling on the romantic nuances. But Rachmaninoff didn't want that. And one can only practice that section for short time intervals, as it's dangerous to the hands. I give Berezovsky credit for maintaining tempo throughout. But... he has a couple of klinkers in there. I have to say that from personal experience, playing that section at tempo with correct notes is a super high. But luck wasn't with him.

I liked Berezovsky's Liadoff pieces, although as for the two that he played that I had posted here, I actually prefer my own interpretations. But that is subjective, of course. He did an excellent job in particular with the Barcarolle I thought.

His "Rachmaninoff Recital" if of interest, so I'll watch all of it tonight.

David