SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 1 (Jouni Somero) (2021) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Selim Palmgren, a native of Finland and a student of Busoni, was one of the most prominent and prolific Nordic composer-pianists since Edvard Grieg, with works that were widely performed by some of the most notable concert pianists of his day. From early pieces influenced by Chopin via the tour de force of his only surviving Piano Sonata, to the darker Autumn Prologue – this is the first volume of a complete edition that includes première recordings of unpublished works, showcasing every side of Palmgren’s varied character.
This recording was made on a modern instrument: Steinway, Model D. grandpiano

SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 2 (Jouni Somero) (2021) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Selim Palmgren, a student of Busoni, was one of the most prominent Finnish composer-pianists of his time, and his pieces for pedagogical use such as Kevätauerta (‘Spring Haze’) are still popular today. This programme reveals Palmgren’s versatility to the full, with the Deux contrastes describing opposite poles of melancholy and joyous playfulness, and the dreamy Prelude-Nocturne a jazz-tinted reminiscence of 1920s America. Displaying a wide variety of technical and stylistic challenges, Palmgren’s 24 Preludes also features one of the first examples of Impressionism in Nordic piano literature.
This recording was made on a modern instrument: Steinway, Model D. grandpiano

SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 3 (Jouni Somero) (2021) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Selim Palmgren, a student of Busoni, was one of the leading Nordic composers during the first decades of the 20th century. His wide-ranging music for piano was performed and recorded by some of the greatest artists of the day. This third volume in the first complete cycle of Palmgren’s piano music on disc includes a varied cross-section of works written over a 50-year period. It includes the youthful Lyriskt intermezzo, Op. 8, romantic miniatures of great charm—as well as one of his greatest achievements, the atmospheric suite Kevät (‘Spring’), in which impressionist elements fuse with rich Finnish folk melody.This recording was made on a modern instrument: Steinway, Model D. grandpiano

SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 4 (Jouni Somero) (2022) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Selim Palmgren studied with Busoni and developed a formidable technique, later becoming one of the leading Nordic composer-pianists of his generation. This fourth volume of Palmgren’s complete piano works reveals yet more remarkable contributions to 20th-century piano literature including one of his masterpieces, the Nocturne in Three Scenes, a compound of Impressionist and Romantic elements. His fruitful years in America are reflected by the jazz-influenced Three Fantasies and throughout one can hear examples of the beautiful folk-based music that is so much a feature of his compositions. grandpiano

SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 5 (Jouni Somero) (2022) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

For many years the Busoni student Selim Palmgren was the most frequently performed Finnish composer after Sibelius. With a portfolio of nearly 400 piano works, his contribution to the prestige of the Nordic repertoire was significant both in scope and creative artistry. This fifth volume of Palmgren’s complete solo piano music explores oriental moods in Exotic March, Op. 46, and includes two of his best-known and most beautiful pieces, Aftonröster, Op. 47, No. 1 (‘Evening Whispers’) and the winter magic of Snöflingor, Op. 57, No. 2 (‘Snowflakes’). The Sonatine in F major, Op. 93 marked Palmgren’s return to composition after the death of his wife five years earlier and enshrines nostalgia whilst hinting at neo-Classicism. grandpiano

SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 6 (Jouni Somero) (2023) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Selim Palmgren’s piano miniatures were extremely popular during his lifetime and were played by the great virtuosos of the day. The sixth volume in this acclaimed series presents a panorama of Palmgren’s works and includes two of his greatest and most important solo pieces – the suite Ungdom, Op. 28 laced with Impressionist and Finnish folk elements, and the Three Piano Pieces, Op. 54 which includes Raindrops and Moonlight, two of his best-known and most atmospheric works. Also included are Lisztian virtuoso studies, Hungarian evocations, and a beautiful, moving Prélude funèbre that was played at Palmgren’s own funeral. Jouni Somero, Palmgren’s greatest modern exponent, continues his historic survey of piano music by one of Finland’s most respected and admired composers. grandpiano

SELIM PALMGREN : Complete Piano Works • 7 (Jouni Somero) (2023) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Selim Palmgren was one of the most prominent composer-pianists of his era, and is also noted as one of the earliest composers of Impressionist piano miniatures, beautifully represented in the nostalgic atmosphere of his Impromptu dans la solitude, Op. 63, No. 2. The autobiographical Päiväkirjan lehtisiä, Op. 109 (‘Diary Sheets’) belongs amongst Palmgren’s final works for the piano. This seventh volume in Jouni Somero’s acclaimed edition of Palmgren’s complete piano works includes many rarities and premiere recordings. grandpiano   

BALAKIREV : Complete Piano Works • 1 Sonata op.3, 5, in B flat minor (Nicholas Walker) (2013) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Sonata in B flat minor
1. Andantino
2. Mazurka
3. Intermezzo
4. Finale
Sonata in B flat minor, op.5 (Premiere Sonate)
5. Andante
6. Mazurka
7. Andante
Sonata in B flat minor, op.3 (Grande Sonate)
8. Allegro feroce
9. Mazurka
10. Andante
11. Finale
12. Epilogue

BALAKIREV : Complete Piano Works • 2 Waltzes, Nocturnes and Other Works (Nicholas Walker) (2016) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1. Waltz no.1 in G major (Valse di bravura)
2. Nocturne no.1 in B flat minor
3. Waltz no.2 in F minor (Valse melancholique)
4. Waltz no.3 in D major (Valse-Impromptu)
5. Nocturne no.2 in B minor
6. Waltz no.4 in B flat major (Valse de concert)
7. Nocturne no.3 in D minor
8. Waltz no.5 in D flat major
9. Nocturne in G sharp minor (early version of nocturne no.1)
10. Fantasiestück in D flat major
11. Waltz no.6 in F sharp minor
12. Chant du pecheur in B minor
13. Waltz no.7 in G sharp minor

BALAKIREV : Complete Piano Works • 3 Mazurkas and Other Works (Nicholas Walker) (2016) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1. Mazurka no.1 in A flat major
2. Mazurka no.2 in C sharp minor
Piano sonatina in G major "Esquisses"
3. I. Allegro moderato
4. II. L'Istesso tempo
5. III. Coda
6. Berceuse in D flat major
7. Mazurka no.3 in B minor
8. Mazurka no.4 in G flat major
9. Dumka in E flat minor "Complainte"
10. Mazurka no.5 in C sharp major
11. Reverie in F major
12. Humoresque in D major
13. Mazurka no.6 in A flat major
14. Piece in F sharp minor
15. Mazurka no.7 in E flat minor
16. Capriccio in D major

BALAKIREV : Complete Piano Works • 4 Scherzi and Other Works (Nicholas Walker) (2019) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist
1. Scherzo no.1 in B minor
2. Novelette in A major
3. 10 Songs - No.2 Пустыня
4. Scherzo no.2 in B flat minor
5. Fandango-Etude
6. Serenade Espagnole sur des themes donnes par M.Glinka
7. Caprice Brilliant en forme d'ouverture sur le theme de 'La Jota Aragonesa' de M.Glinka
8. La fuite en Egypte, ouverture de H.Berlioz
9. Scherzo no.3 in F sharp major
10. Melodie Espagnole
11. Valse-Caprice: No.1 in A flat major
12. Valse-Caprice: No.2 in D flat major

BALAKIREV : Complete Piano Works • 5 Original Works and Transcriptions (Nicholas Walker) (2019) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Mili Balakirev
1. Reminiscenses de l'opera 'La vie pour le Czar' (Glinka)
Mikhail Glinka
2. Ruslan and Lyudmila - Chernomor's March (arr. Balakirev)
Fryderyk Chopin
3. Piano concerto no.1 in E minor, op.11 - II. Romanza
Mili Balakirev
4. Imprompto (after Chopin's Preludes)
Fryderyk Chopin
5. Scherzo no.2 in B flat minor, op.31
Franz Liszt
6. Mazurka Brilliante, S221/R43 (original version)
7. Mazurka Brilliante, S221/R43 (coda by Balakirev)
Ludwig van Beethoven
8. String quartet no.8 in E minor, op.59, no.2 'Rasumovsky' - III. Allegretto (arr. Balakirev)
9. String quartet no.13 in B flat major, op.130 - V. Cavatina (arr. Balakirev)
Mili Balakirev
10. Gondellied in A minor
11. Tarantelle
12. Polonaise Brilliante

BALAKIREV : Complete Piano Works • 6 Islamey and beyond (Nicholas Walker) (2020) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1. La Fileuse (The spinner)
2. Au jardin (In the garden)
Mikhail Glinka, arr. Balakirev
3. Kamarinskaya
4. Tamara (arr. Nicholas Walker)
5. Polka in F sharp minor
6. Elegy on the death of a mosquito (completed by Nicholas Walker)
7. La danse de sercieres (Witches' dance) (completed by Nicholas Walker)
8. Не говори "Любовь пройдет" (arr. Balakirev)
9. Tyrolienne
Platon Zapolsky
10. Reverie (arr.Balakirev)
11. Toccata in C sharp minor
Mikhail Glinka
12. Жаворонок (arr. Balakirev)
13. Islamey (fantasie orientale)

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 1 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Polish-Russian composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, also known as Moises Vainberg, has received a flurry of attention in the new century for works that showed the influence of both Shostakovich and Prokofiev but aped neither one, developing a distinctive style rooted in the increasingly important music of the Soviet Union in the middle 20th century. Weinberg fled the Nazi invasion in Poland, only to find mistrust from both the Soviet government and dissidents who considered him insufficiently confrontational. Like Shostakovich he was a pianist. His piano music dates mostly from the first phases of his output (a bout with tuberculosis sidelined his concert career), and four of the five works here were composed while he was still in Poland or in Minsk, where he resumed his studies after fleeing and saw his relatives die in concentration camps. They are not the best samples of Weinberg's mature style, but all are worthwhile. The Two Mazurkas, Op. 10, and Lullaby, Op. 1, were Weinberg's earliest works, written during his teenage years, with all kinds of unexpected youthful complications arising from simple tonal material. The Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 8, is a pure essay in Prokofiev's style; it was premiered by Emil Gilels. A bit more interesting is the slightly earlier Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 5, with tough dissonances kept in check by contrapuntal passages. The mood, although not the specific language, recalls early Shostakovich. The final Piano Sonata, Op. 49bis, will also be of interest to Soviet music buffs. It had its origins in a work written during the repression of Stalin's culture czar Andrei Zhdanov, when composers retreated to a safe simplicity. But Weinberg returned to the work in the 1970s and expanded it, with intriguing results: it has the flavor of a reflection on those difficult days. American pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti has a basic feel for Russian music and a muscular style that projects these explosive youthful works well. This is the first in a projected series of Weinberg works from this performer, and it bodes well for the set. by James Manheim

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 2 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, who managed to survive persecution from both the Nazis and the Stalinists, has gained new attention with the continuing expansion of popularity of his mentor and sometime protector, Shostakovich. The structure of the ongoing series of his complete piano works by American pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti remains to be seen, but she does well with this grouping of works from around 1950: this was the period in which both Weinberg and Shostakovich suffered from Stalinist cultural repression and adjusted their styles in a conservative direction accordingly. (Weinberg was actually jailed and, despite Shostakovich's help, not released until after Stalin's death.) The three works here are clearly related to Shostakovich's piano works of his mid-career, but are entirely different in effect. The characteristic mordant quality in Shostakovich is missing, replaced by a sense of the Romantic legacy (explicit in a piece like the Etude, track 9, from the Partita, Op. 54) combined with an uncertain, dark quest into the future. Annotator David Fanning makes much of the contrast between "subdued and intimate" and "dramatic and virtuosic" in that Partita, but in fact all three works on the album are similarly structured. Weinberg begins almost diffidently, with conventional tonal material that seems to slip periodically into a dark, intense reverie. It's a powerful response to the situation Weinberg faced during this period, and Franzetti gives the music its deserved overall intensity. The slow movements of the Piano Sonatina, Op. 49, with its shifting bass ostinato, and the Piano Sonata No. 4 in B minor, Op. 56, with its genuinely tragic mood, are especially noteworthy, and the Partita would make an ideal program companion to Shostakovich's preludes and fugues. Recommended for collections of Russian music in the 20th century. by James Manheim 

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 3 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2012) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

MIECZYSLAW WEINBERG : Complete Piano Works • 4 (Allison Brewster Franzetti) (2013) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

ALEXANDER TCHEREPNIN : Complete Piano Music • 1 (Giorgio Koukl) (2012) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

ALEXANDER TCHEREPNIN : Complete Piano Music • 2 (Giorgio Koukl) (2014) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

ALEXANDER TCHEREPNIN : Complete Piano Works • 3 (Giorgio Koukl) (2013) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless