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Anna Malikova – Scriabin: The Piano Sonatas (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:15:22 minutes | 2,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACOUSENCE Classics
In 2015, we celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Alexander Scriabin’s death. To commemorate this occasion, Russian pianist Anna Malikova and the ACOUSENCE label is issuing a new complete recording of the composer’s ten piano sonatas, which will surely be regarded as definitive.
Scriabin completed his piano studies at what is today the Tchaikovsky Conservatory and, starting in Moscow, went on to have an international career. He himself was the first champion of his music, followed by Vladimir Sofronitsky, Heinrich Neuhaus and his pupil Lev Naumov. Naumov in turn was Anna Malikova’s mentor for a period of 15 years, so with this background, she brings a high level of authenticity to these works.
Anna Malikova masters these sonatas, which test the very limits of piano technique, with impressive technical prowess and exceptional virtuosity. Not only does she display her deep understanding for the composer’s mystical world, but also presents the incredible development of Scriabin’s unique compositional style in a fascinating way. In his early years, he was still interested in the romantic, virtuosic tradition of Chopin and Liszt, only to break almost every compositional rule over the course of his career and blaze new paths.
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Anna Malikova, WDR-Sinfonieorchester Köln, Thomas Sanderling – Camille Saint-Saëns – Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 (2007)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,75 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 941 MB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Audite # aud 10.012 | Country/Year: Germany 2007 | Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic
The five piano concertos of St.-Saens are not frequently heard and that is a shame in view of the endless repeats of the Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Schumann warhorses. They are all well-composed examples of the best of French instrumental music of the later 19th century and full of lovely melodies that would appeal greatly to concert audiences. I hadn’t enjoyed any of them for some time and it was a pleasure to have these two concertos in enveloping hi-res surround. I don’t know how we missed out on Vol. I but plan to check into that.
Brian Bloom talks in his Denon receiver review this issue about the people who often prefer the stereo mix on SACDs to the multichannel. I admit I seldom check either the CD or stereo options anymore because I always hear about the same thing in comparison. I really can’t imagine why anyone with five properly matched and located speakers would prefer the stereo mix to the multichannel mix! On these concertos the two-channel option is excellent and there is little one would miss. However, when switching to the multichannel option the soundstage takes on a depth and breadth it didn’t have, and the piano is better separated from the sound of the orchestra. There’s much more “air” around everything. The piano still sounds too wide but that’s a given.
The first movement of the Third Concerto is so bombastic one might almost think the composer was humorously depicting a lion or elephant from his Carnival of the Animals. It’s slow movement is rather brooding, but the finale is a colorful showpiece for the soloist. The Fifth Concerto is sometimes subtitled “Egyptian Concerto” because that is where it was composed. St.-Saens frequently spent time in North Africa, which had started when he was a child with a medical problems. He indicated the middle movement was a sort of tour of the Orient. One theme in it is a Nubian love song which the composer had heard boatmen on the Nile sing. The opening and closing movements are however thoroughly French. Orchestration is very colorful, with solos originating in the winds and strings. 4/5 ~audiophile-audition
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