NIKOLAY MYASKOVSKY

Piano Sonatas Complete Vol. 3

 

Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor Op. 6

Piano Sonata No. 4 in C minor Op. 27

 

Endre Hegedüs - piano

 

Recorded in the Assembly Hall, Italian Cultural Institute, Budapest, 3-11 Aug, 27-28 Dec 1990, 7 Aug 1991

 

The Hungarian Endre Hegedus here completes his Miaskovsky cycle; Murray McLachlan has meanwhile completed his for Olympia with the last three sonatas (Nos. 7–9) plus an assortment of miniatures ((CD) OCD252). The contrast of their approaches to the relatively academic First Sonata of 1907–10 and the relatively modernist Fourth of 1924 is again as I outlined it in my review of Hegedus's two previous discs (10/90). That is to say, the Hungarian supplies the forcefulness and command the Scotsman lacks while the latter conveys the greater sense of urgency. Neither abandons himself to the musical drama in such a way as to make a truly compelling case for Miaskovsky. Yes, there are numerous echoes of Glazunov, Scriabin and early Prokofiev in his piano writing, but there is also a sense of struggle and a wistfulness to his search for individuality, and these can be far more movingly expounded than they are here. So gratitude for the chance to hear this by no means negligible music is tempered by frustration that it is made to sound so comparatively earthbound.

Gramophone, November 1993

 

Marco Polo 8223469