Abram Chasins: Complete Music for Piano Solo

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Catalogue No: TOCC0678
EAN/UPC: 5060113446787
Release Date: 2023-02-03
Composer: Abram Chasins
Artists: Margarita Glebov

Download the Booklet

Abram Chasins (1903–87) began his career as a pianist and composer but as broadcaster and writer soon became one of the best-known cultural commentators in the USA. His output of music for solo piano – recorded here complete for the first time – dates from his first years in the public eye, and although he made little attempt to promote it himself, one sees instantly why it was so well received at the time: sweeping keyboard textures and grand Romantic gestures expressed in a style somewhere between Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, sometimes with echoes of Chopin and Gershwin. The works here range from witty character pieces, some intended for children, and affectionate tributes to other pianists to more serious abstract essays – and Chasins, too, was a member of the club of composers who wrote 24 preludes in all the major and minor keys.

Margarita Glebov, piano

Listen To This Recording:

    CD1: Complete Preludes*

    Six Preludes, Op. 10 (1928)

  1. No. 1 in C major
  2. No. 2 in A minor
  3. No. 3 in E minor
  4. No. 4 in G major, ‘Lullaby’
  5. No. 5 in D major
  6. No. 6 in B minor

    7. Six Preludes, Op. 11 (1928)

  7. No. 7 in F sharp minor
  8. No. 8 in A major
  9. No. 9 in E major
  10. No. 10 in C sharp minor
  11. No. 11 in G sharp minor
  12. No. 12 in B major

    13. Six Preludes, Op. 12 (1928)

  13. No. 13 in G flat major
  14. No. 14 in E flat minor
  15. No. 15 in B flat minor
  16. No. 16 in D flat major, ’Pastorale’
  17. No. 17 in A flat major
  18. No. 18 in F minor

    19. Six Preludes, Op. 13 (1928)

  19. No. 19 in C minor
  20. No. 20 in E flat major
  21. No. 21 in B flat major, ‘Chorale’
  22. No. 22 in G minor
  23. No. 23 in D minor
  24. No. 24 in F major

    25. CD2: Other Works

    Piano Playtime (1951)

  25. I Waltz of the Rainbow
  26. II Banjo Boy
  27. III Holiday Bells
  28. IV By the Brook
  29. V Dancing Bagpipes
  30. VI Tricky Trumpet
  31. VII The Airplane

    32. The Master Class, Op. 4 (1925)*

  32. I Precocity
  33. II Dualism
  34. III Passionate Austerity (Procession)
  35. IV Gradus ad Palais Royale

    36. Three Chinese Pieces (publ. 1925)

  36. No. 1 A Shanghai Tragedy
  37. No. 2 Flirtation in a Chinese Garden
  38. No. 3 Rush Hour in Hong Kong

    39. Keyboard Karikatures, Op. 6 (1925)*

  39. I Rachmaninoff
  40. II Godowsky
  41. III Bachaus
  42. Fairy Tale, Op. 16 No. 1 (1931)
  43. Narrative: Remembrance of Things Past, Op. 36 (1942)
  44. Etude Appassionato (1925)*
  45. Gluck-Chasins Melody (1938)
  46. Schwanda Fantasy (publ. 1940)
 

*FIRST RECORDINGS

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4 reviews for Abram Chasins: Complete Music for Piano Solo

  1. :

    ‘ […]Technical flair, refinement, expressive projection, and romanticism inform most of the Preludes. […]

    There are excellent notes from Donald Manildi, the recording quality is similarly top-notch and Glebov is full of technical fitness and subtle expressive ardour.’

    —Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

  2. :

    ‘[…] 24 Preludes in all of the major and minor keys stand out for their harmonic sophistication and pianistic ingenuity. […] Each Prelude is brief, and says what it needs to say. […]

    I risk insulting [Joseph Smith’s] memory by stating my preference for Margarita Glebov’s rhythmic thrust, tonal solidity, and forceful octaves in the final pages. In fact, Glebov’s naturally “big” pianism and authoritative projection are exactly what the scope and style of Chasins’ keyboard writing demands, and consistently receives throughout her excellent interpretations.’

    Jed Distler, Classics Today

    Donald Manildi’s annotations insightfully discuss the music while providing extensive and detailed information about Chasins’ life and times. Piano connoisseurs surely will want to investigate this fascinating release.

    Jed Distler, Classics Today

  3. :

    ‘If there appears to be a hint of a smile on Abram Chasins’ boyish, almost cherubic face on the cover of this Toccata Classics release, there’s good reason: the set presents his entire corpus of solo piano music, all of it performed exquisitely by Margarita Glebov. It would be hard to imagine a more satisfying realization of his piano music than that delivered by the Russian-American pianist, making the release as close to definitive as it gets. […]

    Fanfare wrote of Glebov’s earlier recordings that she “takes in everything with tremendous commitment, understanding, and sensitivity” and “lives and breathes the style of this music with an ease that is a delight.” Such words as easily apply to the Chasins set when she shows herself to be so sympathetic an interpreter. One presumes that were he still with us he would be thrilled by this sterling presentation of his solo piano music.’

    —Textura

  4. :

    ‘[The Preludes are] economical and full of character […].

    Glebov is a terrific pianist, able to charm and thunder as required or happy to dazzle with nimble-fingered joie de vivre. She has, in short, a natural affinity with this pianist-composer corner of the repertoire to which Chasins proves to be such an unexpectedly effective contributor.’

    —Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone

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