Multi-keyboardist Olga Pashchenko writes for The Classic Review about three classical music albums she couldn’t live without.
Medtner: Piano Concertos 2 & 3 – Nikolay Medtner, Philharmonia Orchestra, Issay Dobrowen
A gem in the history of recording, this CD presents Medtner performing his own works: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3 and two solo pieces, Arabesque in A minor and Tale in F minor. This recording is the most convincing proof why one should love Medtner’s music. His music seldom gets played in a way that allows the profound message beneath to shine so brilliantly.
Medtner’s Second Piano Concerto has been haunting me since childhood and without fail leaves me in tears. Dedicated to his close friend Rachmaninoff, this is a most passionate piece of music, in the overwhelming late romantic tradition, with incredible challenges in its textures for both piano and orchestra. Ever the intellectual, Medtner makes the piece highly polyphonic, which one forgets immediately due to the beauty of the melodies and the heartbreaking dramaturgy.
The composer – a terrific pianist – and the orchestra alike play with striking clarity, an infinite color palette and a contagious driving force. Both parties still exhibit the feel for “bending the time” from the 19th century, allowing freedom of independent expression in the lines. The impeccable piano performance, coupled with authentic bel canto singing, is only momentarily disrupted by the stark verticality of the tragedy.
Thomas Adès Conducts Adès – Kirill Gerstein, BSO, Composer
A smashing performance by Kirill Gerstein of a not-less smashing new piano concerto composed and conducted by Thomas Adès. If one asks oneself what contemporary music should sound like – this is the answer. The concerto takes us on a rollercoaster of a journey in which, thanks to Ades’ brilliant writing and Kirill’s virtuosity, we rediscover why we are so excited about the piano as an instrument and its collaboration and juxtaposition with an orchestra. The power, the brilliance, the tenderness, the richness of colours and structures makes one listen, think, admire and listen again.
Read The Classic Review’s original review on this album
Pied Piper of Hamelin & Other Melodramas – Jed Wentz (Flute), Artem Belogurov (Piano)
Melodrama – an undeservedly forgotten genre, from which great composers such as Schubert or Liszt didn’t shy away – is brought to life by flutist Jed Wentz and historical keyboardist Artem Belogurov on period piano. Wentz’ voice balances between speaking and singing, just as it was at the dawn of the 20th century. It allows us to hear the stories in the most heartfelt and enchanting way, taking the listener’s breath away by the rhetorics and soul-felt affects; Making us rejoice, cry, laugh and suffer together, followed closely by the pianist with the most intriguing sound shades.
Multi-keyboardist Olga Pashchenko was born in 1986 and started her musical career aged just 6, making her debut in New York aged 9. She has performed and studied extensively, notably with Alexei Lubimov and Richard Egarr. Olga now lives in the Netherlands where she is Professor of Fortepiano at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2021, and in recognition of her work in promoting historically informed performance, she was REMA’s Ambassador for Early Music Day.
Olga Pashchenko continues her cycle of Mozart Piano Concertos with Il Gardellino (and without a conductor) in a new series on Alpha Classics. Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 17 are included on the first album release in the series. Piano Concertos Nos. 20 & 23 will be released in July 2024, followed by Nos. 6, 8 & 18 in 2025 on the Alpha / Outhere label.
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Image: ©️ Yat Ho Tsang
