Alexander Goldenweiser

Contrapuntal Sketches, Op. 12
Skazka (Folk Tale), Op. 39
Sonata-fantaziya, Op. 37

Jonathan Powell, piano

Toccata Classics TOCC 0044 [TT: 78 mins]

Alexander Goldenweiser (1875-1961) was an important Russian pianist/composer of the turn of the century, who taught over a long period, his pupils including eminences such as Bashkirov, Berman, Kabalevsky, Nikolayeva and Jonathan Powell's London-based teacher Sulamita Aronovsky, founder of the London International Piano Competition.

The Skaza (after Medtner's) and Sonata-fantaziya are substantial, characterful works, the latter in memory of Goedicke appropriately 'sombre and stark' - [Powell, whose PhD was on early 20 C. Russian music].

The contrapuntal sketches are more overly didactic, some of the later ones very difficult to play. A disc for specialists, maybe, but of considerable general interest and presented with thorough background information prepared by the pianist, who is well recorded in a Kent studio, 2006. Powell plays all this music convincingly, helped by his choice of a Bosendorfer Phoenix piano for these recordings.

Peter Grahame Woolf