Moussorgski, Tchaïkovski & Rachmaninov Ilya Rashkovskiy

• 1 Doumka, Op. 59 08:34
• 2 Romance, Op. 5 06:17
• 3 I. Promenade [I] 01:18
• 4 II. Gnomus 02:20
• 5 III. Promenade [II] 00:49
• 6 IV. Le vieux château 04:01
• 7 V. Promenade [III] 00:26
• 8 VI. Le jardin des Tuileries 00:58
• 9 VII. Bydlo 02:46
• 10 VIII. Promenade [IV] 00:45
• 11 IX. Ballet des poussins dans leurs coques 01:09
• 12 X. Samuel Goldenberg et Schmuyle 02:23
• 13 XI. Promenade [V] 01:19
• 14 XII. Limoges, le marché 01:17
• 15 XIII. Catacombes 01:37
• 16 XIV. Cum mortuis in lingua mortua 01:43
• 17 XV. La Cabane sur des pattes de poule 02:55
• 18 XVI. La Grande Porte de Kiev 05:03
• 19 Élégie No. 1, Op. 3 05:13
• 20 I. Allegro agitato 08:04
• 21 II. Non allegro 05:18
• 22 III. Allegro molto 05:37
• Total Runtime 01:09:52

Info for Moussorgski, Tchaïkovski & Rachmaninov

Pictures at an Exhibition is the mainstay of this disc, the other pieces having been chosen with it in mind. I had started to play Rachmaninoff’s Sonata no. 2 in concert again before the decision to make the recording was taken, so it was under my fingers. It seemed logical to put the two works together because the influence of Mussorgsky is very much in evidence in the sonata. However, Rachmaninoff’s primary source of inspiration was clearly Tchaikovsky, who therefore, and quite naturally, also claimed a place in the programme. I have recently played Rachmaninoff’s Suite no. 1 for Two Pianos, dedicated to Tchaikovsky. The last movement, entitled Easter, explicitly evokes The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition, thus closing the circle.

I got to know all these works at different stages of my life. I played the Tchaikovsky pieces as a child, the Romance at the age of 8 and Dumka at 12 or 13, for the Vladimir Krainev International Competition for Young Pianist. The Rachmaninoff sonata came into my life during my adolescence and I immediately opted for the version revised by the composer himself. Despite my affection for the original edition, I feel more at home with the revised and ostensibly more effective version.

Pictures is the work I came to last, playing it for the first time in 2009, because I believe it requires a certain maturity. My reading of it could be said to be highly personal, since I have never studied the score with a teacher. With some music I feel the need to shut myself away, without trying to find out how other pianists approach it. That was the case with Pictures. Although the piece demands a vast input of energy, it generates a literally transformative positive energy in return. What I like most about Mussorgsky’s masterpiece is the construction, together with a very individual kind of transcendence. I am fascinated, for example, by the progression which leads us from the dark forces unleashed by Baba Yaga’s Hut to the luminous conclusion of the Great Gate of Kiev. As its gleaming bells ring out, I feel myself truly transported back to Russia.

Ilya Rashkovskiy, piano

Ilya Rashkovskiy
was born in Irkutsk, Russia, in 1984. He debuted with Irkutsk Chamber Orchestra at the age of eight. From 1993 to 2000 he received his musical education in Novosibirsk with Prof.M.Lebenzon from 2000 to 2009 at Musikhochschule Hannover with Prof.V.Krainev　and finally at Ecole Normale Supérieure A.Cortot in Paris with Prof.M.Rybicki. Before awarded the 1st Prize at the 8th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2012, he was among top prizewinners at International Piano Competitions such as M.Long-J.Thibaud in Paris, Queen Elisabeth in Brussels, A.Rubinstein in Tel Aviv and 1st Hong Kong International Piano Competition. Ilya Rashkovskiy has performed in several important concert venues throughout the world as well as in festivals such as La Roque d’Anthéron in France,the Duszniki Zdroj Chopin Festival in Poland and the "Joy of Music" Festival in Hong Kong. He has collaborated with the Russian State Symphony, the Kiev National Philarmonic, the Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony and the New Japan Symphony. He is also active as a chamber musician. His new CD of Chopin Complete Etudes was released in October 2013 by Victor Japan. He also recorded the Seasons and Sonata in c-sharp minor by Tchaikovsky on Naxos Label (2008) as well as Fantasies (Mozart, Chopin, Liszt and Scriabin) on Alpha Omega Hong Kong (2009).

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