Vassily Savenko - Russian Settings - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Pianist Floyd Cramer was one of the most influential musicians in country music during the late 1950s and early '60s, and is especially associated with his use of what was called the Inchslip noteInch technique, where he slid from an out-of-key note to the correct note, which was a feature of many country hits of this era. With this style, and working as a Nashville session man with producers like Chet Atlins, he was one of the architects of the Nashville Sound that brought country music into the pop mainstream. This enabled him to have his own high-profile instrumental hits with records like InchLast DateInch, a US No. 2, InchOn The ReboundInch, a US No. 4 and UK No. 1, and InchSan Antonio RoseInch, a US No. 8. This great-value 62-track 2-CD set comprises the A & B sides of his singles for the Abbott, MGM and RCA labels during these years, plus selected titles from his albums InchHello BluesInch, InchLast DateInch, InchAmerica's Biggest-Selling PianistInch, InchOn The ReboundInch and InchI Remember Hank WilliamsInch, and features all his thirteen pop and country hits during these years. It provides a comprehensive showcase for highly distinctive and equally highly skilled the piano styling of a musician who had a significant influence on country music.

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's piano works have made many a pianist into a renowned virtuoso, yet the composer himself could never have played them with anything like such brilliance. As the son of a mining engineer, described by his nurse as a Inchporcelain childInch on account of his sensitive nature, he was never expected to make his living from music. His parents foresaw a career in the civil service, as befitted the son of a good bourgeois family. InchHe was undoubtedly very talented, had a fine sense of hearing and a good memory,Inch wrote Rudolf Kündinger, Tchaikovsky's piano teacher from childhood, in his diary, nevertheless noting InchOne could not yet conclude, however, that he was one day to be a great pianist, let alone a famous composer.Inch

A mournful, melancholic influence became characteristic of the Russian piano trio. Alexander Alyabyev had displayed considerable musical talent as a young man. While still a serving officer in the Hussars, he began composing chamber music, writing string quartets, piano trios and many other chamber works, and soon turned his hand to music for orchestra (symphonies, overtures) and vocal works (operas, sacred and secular choral works and some 150 songs). He occupied much of his time in exile by collecting folk melodies. Sergey Rakhmaninov a truly phenomenal Russian piano virtuoso, composer and conductor (notably at the Bolshoi Theatre), was pre-eminently a composer for piano, whether in solo piano compositions, piano works for four hands or six hands, or pieces for two pianos. His chamber music too is dominated by works featuring the piano (piano trios and duo compositions). He also wrote major works for piano and orchestra his Piano Concertos nos. 1-4 and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Arno Babadjanyan's compositional output, showing the clear influence of Khachaturian, extended to an impressive variety of genres. Apart from works for solo piano and two pianos, he composed chamber music, music for orchestra, ballet music, film music, a nocturne for piano and symphonic jazz ensemble, and over 200 songs. His oeuvre upholds the tradition of the greatest composers of his day Khachaturian, Rakhmaninov, Shostakovich and Prokofiev.