Russian portraits
Jorge Nava
Russian portraits: Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev
Jorge Nava - piano (OR 6493 - 3492)
Category: Piano - Romantic music and XXth century - CD
Russian Portraits
Bar code: 8 436564 933492
CD Tracks
Pictures at an Exhibition....................................... Mussorgsky 1. Promenade. Gnomus - 03:59
2. Promenade. Il Vecchio Castello - 05:17
3. Promenade. Tuileries - 01:24
4. Bydlo - 02:36
5. Promenade. Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks - 02:03
6. Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle - 02:28
7. Promenade. Limoges, le marché - 02:49
8. Catacombae. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua - 04:00
9. The Hut on Fowl's Legs (Baba-Yagá) - 03:17
10. The Great Gate of Kiev - 04:48
Morceaux de Fantaisie Op. 3 .............................. Rachmaninov
11. Elégie - 06:21
12. Prélude - 04:28
13. Mélodie - 04:52
14. Polichinelle - 03:36
15. Sérénade - 03:27
Piano Sonata Op. 83 No. 7 .......................................... Prokofiev 16. I: Allegro Inquieto - 09:18
17. II: Andante Caluroso - 06:56
18. III: Precipitato - 03:47
The approval of specialized critics and the audience’s response confirm Jorge Nava as one of the most promising Spanish pianists. The artist selects in this album three capital works of the Russian school for piano:
Pictures at an exhibition:
Being totally in agreement with these aesthetic criteria, Mussorgsky wrote his “Pictures at an exhibition” in 1874, a large Suite for piano inspired by the work of his great friend, the architect and painter Viktor Hartmann (1834-1873). Hartmann’s works were assembled and exhibited, after his untimely death, at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, where he had studied; the composer himself donated several of Hartmann’s paintings – which he had in his personal collection – to the exhibition. Just as Mussorgsky was in the field of in music, Hartmann was a pioneer with regards to the introduction of Russian elements into his architectural painting, imaginary materials which included oriental or folkloric elements.
Mussorgsky wanted to pay tribute to his friend – a faithful colleague in the reinvention of national art – with a suite which he envisioned as a tour across the posthumous exhibition of Hartmann’s works, unified by a theme which reappears in the cycle and seems to describe with sounds the walk between the paintings.
Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op. 3:
Rachmaninov wrote a series of five pieces in 1982, when he was just 19 years old and was starting to promote himself as a concert pianist. Although it was an early work in this artist’s catalogue – Rachmaninov’s life spanned 70 years – this series already presented all the characteristic elements of its author, such as a dense and pronounced Romantic expressivity, a certain poignancy and, of course, the pianistic virtuosity that would define his later works.
These pieces were intimately born from the keyboard, and they undoubtedly epitomize the piano in its purest state. Despite the overall title of the suite, they do not describe any Fantasy, and they all have a title that provides information about the author’s intentions.
Piano Sonata No. 7 in Bb major, Op. 83:
Sonata No. 7 is probably the most performed and well-known piece by the Maestro, and was premiered by Sviatoslav Richter on 18th June 1943, in Moscow. Richter himself later recalled that he received the score in early 1943, and was so immediately fascinated that he obsessively learnt the work in just four days. The Sonata, structured into three movements, is intense and even dreadful, very unified in its expressivity and musical material, and constitutes one of the most dissonant and chromatic works by Prokofiev. The first movement, “Allegro inquieto”, presents a Sonata form, whose classical balance is blown up by the power of boundless expressivity. After the nervous and discordant first theme, the meditative second section takes place, leading little by little to an exasperated development segment. Only in the end, in a fleeting and surprising manner, do we find the chord of the main tonality, which appears all of the sudden in the lower register, as if the harmonious pause were almost a sarcastic comment on a world destroyed by war and dictatorship.
ESPAÑOL
Categoría: Piano, música romántica y siglo XX - CD
Russian Portraits
La admiración de la crítica especializada y la estima del público reafirman a Jorge Nava como una de las mayores promesas del panorama pianístico español.
La admiración de la crítica especializada y la estima del público reafirman a Jorge Nava como una de las mayores promesas del panorama pianístico español. El artista selecciona en este disco tres obras capitales de la escuela pianística rusa:
CUADROS DE UNA EXPOSICIÓN:
Mussorgsky escribe en 1874 sus “Cuadros de una exposición”, una amplia suite para piano inspirada en la obra de su gran amigo el arquitecto y pintor Viktor Hartmann (1834-1873), cuyos trabajo se recopilaron y exhibieron, tras su temprana muerte, en la Academia Imperial de las Artes de San Petersburgo, donde había estudiado. El propio compositor cedió para la exposición las obras de Hartmann que poseía en su colección particular. Como Mussorgsky en música, Hartmann fue un artista pionero en la introducción de elementos rusos en su pintura arquitectónica, materiales imaginarios que incluían elementos orientalizantes o basados en el folklore. Mussorgsky quiere homenajear a su amigo - y fiel compañero en esta concepción nacionalista del arte - con una suite concebida como un recorrido por la exposición póstuma de Hartmann, unificado por un motivo que reaparece cíclicamente y pinta en sonidos el caminar entre los cuadros.
MORCEAUX DE FANTAISIE, OP.3:
Rachmaninoff escribió esta serie de cinco piezas en 1892, cuando contaba 19 años de edad e iniciaba asimismo su carrera como pianista de concierto. La obra, pese a ser temprana en el catálogo de un artista que vivió 70 años, presenta ya todas las características de su autor por la densa y exacerbada expresividad romántica, el patetismo y, desde luego, el virtuosismo pianístico, que caracterizarían su producción posterior.
Piezas íntimamente nacidas del teclado, son ni más ni menos que piano en estado puro. Pese al título general de la suite, ninguna de ellas es propiamente una fantasía, y todas portan un título que nos añade información sobre las intenciones del autor.
SONATA PARA PIANO Nº7 EN SI BEMOL MAYOR, OP. 83:
La séptima sonata es seguramente la obra para piano más interpretada y conocida del maestro, y fue estrenada por Sviatoslav Richter el 18 de junio de 1943 en Moscú. El propio Richter recuerda que recibió la partitura a principios de 1943 y le fascinó inmediatamente, hasta el punto de que montó la obra en cuatro días, trabajándola de forma obsesiva.
La sonata, estructurada en tres movimientos, es intensa hasta lo terrible, muy unitaria en su expresividad y material, y constituye una de las obras más disonantes y fieramente cromáticas de Prokofiev.