Tod Machover - But Not Simpler - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Telemann / Magnin / Eichenberger - 4 Concerti for Transverse Flut [COMPACT DISCS] date 01/01/2012

When the Siberian-born 'Arctic Circle Pianist' Ekaterina Litvintseva heard InchBlumenlebenInch ('Life of Flowers') for the first time, she immediately resolved to find out more about the life and music of Dora Pejacevic (1885-1923). This resolution prompted her to investigate an extraordinary corpus of music, remarkable not least for it's sheer diversity, which she has attempted to convey in this selection of Pejacevic's piano output. Among 57 extant works, 24 are scored for solo piano; there would surely have been many more in both categories had she not died of kidney failure on 5 March 1923, aged 37, having suffered complications in giving birth to her first child. This newly recorded recital marks Ekaterina Litvinseva's debut on Piano Classics, and should attract the attention of pianophiles everywhere.

Around the same time that Michael Korstick caused a sensation with the first and, to date, only recording of all Beethoven piano concertos (555 447-2), these recordings were also made. They shed light on the life of the InchTitanInch from the opposing perspectives of fashionable accessories and clever miniatures. These two aspects interweave in reverse chronological order the Variations in C Minor from 1806 serve as the prelude, while the 24 variations on Righini's Venni Amore from 1791 conclude the portrait. In between, musical snapshots of the Bagatelles Op. 33 (1802) and Op. 119 (1822) frame the variations on an original theme, Op. 76 (1809), which would later become the Turkish March. In every piece, from the smallest vignette to the most intricate keyboard trick, the boundless imagination of one who set out to instill fear is at work.