Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev: Piano Concerto, Music for solo Piano
The piano music of Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915) is one of Russian’s hidden secrets. Student and friend of Tchaikovsky, Taneyev – a formidable pianist and composer of the front rank – has never had the attention he deserves. The CD couples a first-ever recording of the only two movements he recorded of his youthful piano concerto with more premiere recordings of music for solo piano from across his career. The Four Improvisations, composed jointly by Taneyev, Rachmaninov, Arensky and Glazunov, bring a composite first recording for all four composers. And The Composer’s Birthday, for narrator and piano, four hands, was written as a light-hearted birthday present for Tchaikovsky.
Joseph Banowetz, piano
Russian Philharmonic of Moscow, orchestra
Thomas Sanderling, conductor
Vladimir Ashkenazy, narrator
Joseph Banowetz and Adam Wodnicki, piano duet
Listen To This Recording:
-
Piano Concerto in E flat (1876)
- I. Allegro
- II. Andante funebre
- Prelude in F major (1876)
- Lullaby in B flat major (1876)
- Theme
- Variation I, [Un poco più mosso]
- Variation II, Allegretto alla quartetto di P. Tschaikovsky
- Variation III, [Allegro]
- Variation IV, [Allegretto]
- Variation V, Andante espressivo
- Variation VI, Allegro
- Variation VII, Andante
- Variation VIII, Allegro vivace
- Variation IX, Allegro
- Variation X, [Con moto]
- Variation XI, Andante
- Variation XII, Andante [non troppo lento]
- Allegro in E flat major (1876)
- Andantino semplice in B minor (1876)
- Repose (Elegy) in E major (1876)
- March in D minor (1876)
- No. 1, [Moderato], E minor
- No. 2, Allegretto, C major
- No. 3, [Allegro scherzando], B flat minor
- No. 4, Largo, F minor
- The Composer’s Birthday, for narrator and piano, four hands (1876)
- The Composer’s Birthday, for piano, four hands (1876)
Theme and Variations in C minor (1876) [tempo indications in square brackets are Pavel Lamm’s editorial suggestions]
Four Improvisations (with Arensky, Glazunov and Rachmaninov) (1876) [tempo indications in square brackets are Pavel Lamm’s editorial suggestions]
Dallas Morning News :
‘The prize here is a sampling of Taneyev’s piano music, which sounds like a cross between Schumann and Tchaikovsky. Mr. Banowetz plays gorgeously, with a warm, unforced tone and natural expressivity. He’s joined by faculty colleague Adam Wodnicki in Taneyev’s short, four-hands birthday tribute to Tchaikovsky, performed both with and without narration (spoken in Russian by Vladimir Ashkenazy)…’
—Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News
International Piano :
‘This is an extremely worthwhile disc to explore, and hopefully it will be the first of many to bring Taneyev back into the spotlight.’
—John Kersey, International Piano
MusicWeb Inernational :
‘The thorough notes – with the luxurious addition of music examples – are by Anastasia Belina whose research on Taneyev is displayed to grand effect.
This is the first appearance on disc of the surviving head and trunk of the Taneyev concerto – a work in a tradition both grand and florid. It is coupled with some attractive music for solo piano. The playing time is generous and Toccata uphold an admirable and quickly established tradition for excellence in recording and in sumptuous annotation.’
—Rob Barnett, MusicWeb Inernational
AllMusic :
‘ In many ways, Banowetz’s reputation as an educator and scholar, as well as a performer respected around the world for his intrepretations of Romantic literature, makes him the perfect interpreter of Taneyev’s piano music. He finds the lyricism, heroicism, melancholy, and yearning typical of Romantic piano music in Taneyev’s, but this music is in every sense of its composition — even emotionally — orderly. […]
Taneyev’s melodies […] can still be moving and quite affective.’
—Patsy Morita, AllMusic