Scriabin / Mussorgsky by Alessio Bax

Modest Mussorgsky, Alexander Scriabin

Alessio Bax

Scriabin / Mussorgsky

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212042625
Catnr: SIGCD 426
Release date: 05 February 2016
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Label
Signum Classics

UPC
0635212042625

Catalogue number
SIGCD 426

Release date
05 February 2016

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

For his latest solo album in a growing catalog of increasingly critically praised recordings for Signum Classics, Alessio Bax returns with a program of rich and evocative works for piano by Modest Mussorgsky and Alexander Scriabin. The Italian-born, NYC-based pianist Alessio Bax creates “a ravishing listening experience” with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations, and dazzling facility. “His playing quivers with an almost hypnotic intensity,” says Gramophone magazine, leading to what Dallas Morning News calls “an out-of-body experience.” “…a pianist of refreshing depth.” (International Piano) Alessio Bax plays Beethoven, released in 2014, was a Gramophone Editor’s Choice: “'Even when compared to legendary performances of this sonata (Kempff, Richter, Gilels, Brendel, etc), this performance stands its ground in music to test the technique and intellect of even the greatest pianists.”

Sterpianist Bax speelt rijke en emotionele Russische werken
De vermaarde pianist Alessio Bax presenteert een programma van rijke en beeldende pianowerken van Modest Moessorgski en Aleksandr Skrjabin.

Bax schreef over het album: “De muziek op dit album beschrijft emoties in scherpe kleuren, op een hartstochtelijke en schaamteloze Russische manier. Het centrale werk, Moessorgski's Schilderijententoonstelling, behoeft geen introductie. Ravel maakte het werk beroemd met zijn ongelooflijke orkestratie, maar ik wilde teruggaan naar de originele versie, alsof ik mijn oren wilde zuiveren van de prachtige kleuren van Ravel en de typisch Russische kleuren die naar mijn mening in de pianopartij zijn ingebed wilde opgraven. (..) Ik heb besloten mijn eigen versie ervan op te nemen. Ik hield me grotendeels aan de originele compositie, ook al heb ik het werk op een paar plaatsen verdikt om het een rijker, breder en misschien wel dramatischer palet te geven.”

“Skrjabins Pianosonate No. 3 is een waar meesterwerk: zijn structuur is zeer klassiek, zijn ritmische elementen zijn haast obsessief en zijn thema’s zijn ongelooflijk prachtig. (…) Het is een emotionele achtbaan, die echter op meesterlijke wijze bij elkaar wordt gehouden door gemeenschappelijke elementen, klein en groot, en een geweldige structuur.”

Met zijn lyrische spel, inzichtelijke interpretaties en indrukwekkende talent creëert Alessio Bax volgens The Gramophone “a ravishing listening experience”. Hij heeft als solist al met meer dan honderd orkesten opgetreden.

Artist(s)

Alessio Bax (piano)

Combining exceptional lyricism and insight with consummate technique, Alessio Bax is without a doubt “among the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone). He catapulted to prominence with First Prize wins at both the Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competitions, and is now a familiar face on five continents, not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, but also as a concerto soloist who has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van...

on five continents, not only as a recitalist and chamber musician, but also as a concerto soloist who has appeared with more than 150 orchestras, including the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic and St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestras, the Boston, Dallas, Cincinnati, Sydney, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras, and the NHK Symphony in Japan, collaborating with such eminent conductors as Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Yuri Temirkanov, and Jaap van Zweden.

Since 2017, he has been the Artistic Director of the Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, a Summer Music Festival in the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. He appears regularly in festivals such as Seattle, Bravo Vail, Salon-de-Provence, Le Pont in Japan, Great Lakes, Verbier, Ravinia, and Music@Menlo.

Bax constantly explores many facets of his career. He released his eleventh Signum Classics album, Italian Inspirations, whose program was also the vehicle for his solo recital debut at New York’s 92nd Street Y as well as on tour. He has also toured Spain with violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis. Bax and his regular piano duo partner, Lucille Chung, gave recitals at New York’s Lincoln Center and were featured with the St. Louis Symphony and Stéphane Denève. He has also presented the complete works of Beethoven for cello and piano with cellist Paul Watkins in New York City. Further highlights of previous seasons were his debuts with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra Belfast, Polish Baltic Philharmonic Gdansk and his return for the fourth time for two recitals at the historic Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires festival as well as return appearances at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival with the Dallas Symphony and Fabio Luisi conducting.

Bax revisited Mozart’s K. 491 and K. 595 concertos, as heard on the recording Alessio Bax Plays Mozart, for debuts with the Boston and Melbourne Symphonies, both with Sir Andrew Davis, and with the Sydney Symphony, which he led from the keyboard. Other highlights include his Auckland Philharmonia debut, concerts in

Israel, a Japanese tour featuring dates with the Tokyo Symphony and a high-profile U.S. tour with Berlin Philharmonic principal flautist Emmanuel Pahud. Previous seasons also saw Bax make his solo recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall, which aired live on BBC Radio 3, and gave concerts at L.A.’s Disney Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, and New York’s Carnegie Hall.

He was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and four years later he received both the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award and the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.

Bax’s celebrated Signum Classics discography includes Beethoven’s Hammerklavier and Moonlight Sonatas (a Gramophone “Editor’s Choice”); Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto, Bax & Chung, a duo disc with Lucille Chung; Alessio Bax plays Mozart, recorded with London’s Southbank Sinfonia; Alessio Bax: Scriabin & Mussorgsky (named “Recording of the Month ... and quite possibly ... of the year” by MusicWeb International); Alessio Bax plays Brahms (a Gramophone “Critics’ Choice”); Bach Transcribed and Rachmaninov: Preludes & Melodies (an American Record Guide “Critics’ Choice 2011”). Recorded for Warner Classics, his Baroque Reflections album was also a Gramophone

“Editor’s Choice.” He performed Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata for Daniel Barenboim in the PBS-TV documentary Barenboim on Beethoven: Masterclass, available on DVD from EMI.

At age 14, Bax graduated with top honours from the conservatory of Bari, his hometown in Italy, and after further studies in Europe, he moved to the United States in 1994. A Steinway artist, he lives in New York City with pianist Lucille Chung and their daughter, Mila. He was invited to join the piano faculty of Boston’s New England Conservatory in 2019.

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Composer(s)

Alexander Scriabin

Alexander Scriabin was a Russian composer and pianist. He began playing the piano at the age of five, but received his first lessons only at the age of eleven. He could not play from sight, but studied the score and played the compositions by heart afterwards. He was also a gifted improviser.
During the rest of his live Scriabin made a living as a composer and concert pianist.He established contracts with publishers and also had a patron in his former student Margarita Morozova for some time. In addition, he annually won a money prize in the context of the Glinka-prize for new compositions that was set up by Beljajev.
Scriabin primarily wrote for solo piano and orchestra. His music progressively evolved over the course of his life, although the evolution was very rapid and especially brief when compared to most composers. His earliest piano pieces resemble those of Frédéric Chopin. The works from his middle and late period use very unusual harmonies and textures.
From 1904 till 1910 Scriabin lived in western Europe, primarily in Switzerland, but also in northern Italy, Paris and Brussels. After his return to Russia he found himself in the middle of a circle of admirers who were attracted to his exalted and mystic ideas. During the last years of his life he worked on a grandiose manifestation, a Gesamtkunstwerk, Mysterium, in which all arts and all people would have been united. He left only sketches of the prelude to this piece (L'action préalable) and large amounts of text.

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Modest Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music. Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition. For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores...

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five". He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music.
Many of his works were inspired by Russian history, Russian folklore, and other nationalist themes. Such works include the opera Boris Godunov, the orchestral tone poem Night on Bald Mountain and the piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition.
For many years Mussorgsky's works were mainly known in versions revised or completed by other composers. Many of his most important compositions have posthumously come into their own in their original forms, and some of the original scores are now also available.

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