Arensky: Piano Music

Featuring

Stephen Coombs
Anton Arensky

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Critical Reception

Despite a dismissive prediction from his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov that he would be "soon forgotten," Arensky's music is now being rediscovered and explored.

Composer Biography

Arensky graduated from the St Petersburg Conservatory in 1882 with a gold medal for composition and immediately became a professor of harmony and counterpoint at the Moscow Conservatory.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in March 1998 by recording engineer Tony Faulkner and producer Amanda Hurton, featuring Stephen Coombs on a Steinway & Sons piano.

Composer Biography

Anton Arensky was an important teacher whose pupils included famous composers like Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Glière, and Grechaninov.

Composer Biography

Anton Arensky, a Russian composer, was taught by his mother, a talented pianist, and encouraged by his father, a doctor and amateur cellist, before entering the St Petersburg Conservatory.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Arensky's music embodies a "song-like quality" best described by the Russian word "pesennost," which captures a distinctive and elusive "Russian-ness" rooted in folk-song and ancient chants.