Chicago Underground Duo - Hyperglyph - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The incomparable, soul-searching playing of the veteran Russian pianist Nelly Akopian-Tamarina is captured in a rare studio recording for PENTATONE with a luminous performance of Brahms's towering Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, Op. 24 and the introspective Four Ballades, Op. 10. In a distinguished tradition of playing stretching back to the great Russian school of Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Medtner through her teacher, the acclaimed virtuoso Alexander Goldenweiser, Nelly Akopian-Tamarina is an exemplar of an exquisitely crafted and poetical style of playing which is subtle, probing, deeply lyrical and utterly spellbinding. Winner of the 1963 Robert Schumann International Competition for Pianists and Singers and recipient of the coveted Robert Schumann Prize in 1974, her career was nevertheless blocked by official censorship in the Soviet Union during the 1970s such that she made her London debut only in 1983 with a programme of Schumann and Brahms. For this new , Akopian-Tamarina approaches the programme with her customary sensitivity and poetic insights to give performances of rare subtlety and perfection. InchClassically framed romantic miniature fantasies, intricate, entwining studies in embroidery, decoration and voicingInch, she writes of the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, Inchthe twenty-five variations navigate the theme to a coronation of fugal triumph, immeasurable and immortalInch.

Some of Tchaikovsky's most famous works came from his ballets. This recording features performances of his most popular ballet works including Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty by the brilliant Evegeni Svetlanov conducting the USSR State Symphony Orchestra.

Using the looped-and-screwed methodology of (his previous Drag City ) Both, Nace takes a seismic step, building the process into a larger compositional process, employing guitar plus tapes, hurdy gurdy, doughnut pipe, quelle est belle and the nu Nace ax of choice, taishOgoto. Phrases talk to and obliterate each other, expanding and emerging into brave new unheard vistas.