Strauss, Grünfeld, Liszt, Schubert, Respighi, Chopin, Grieg & Rachmaninoff: Piano Works

Featuring

Gleb Ivanov
Alfred Grünfeld
Ottorino Respighi
Franz Liszt
Franz Schubert
Frédéric Chopin

Sergei Rachmaninoff
Edvard Grieg

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Composition History

The Schubert Sonata in A Major, D. 664, Op. 120, featured on this album, was commissioned by a friend of Sylvester Paumgartner, a wealthy iron miner who also commissioned Schubert's 'The Trout' Quintet.

Composer's Artistic Vision

To Gleb Ivanov, the piano is a vocal instrument, and he seeks to produce a human voice even when playing composers like Prokofiev, who believed the piano to be a percussion instrument.

Recording & Production

Tracks 1-9, 14, and 15 were recorded in September 2014 in St. Petersburg, Russia, while tracks 10-13, 16, and 17 were recorded in February 2011 in Red Hook, NJ.

Performer Biography

Gleb Ivanov, the pianist on this album, was recognized by The New York Times as a "young super-virtuoso, with musical sensitivity and an appreciation of style to go with the thunder and lightning."

Interpretation

Gleb Ivanov's playing is deeply sensitive to his musical ancestry, informing his choice of repertoire and stage presence, and recalling musicians like György Cziffra and Vladimir Horowitz.

Performer Biography

Pianist Gleb Ivanov comes from a musical family, with his father Vladimir Ivanov a baritone, his mother Zoya Slootskovskaya and sister Varvara Ivanova harpists, and his brother Danila Ivanov a cellist.

Composer Biography

Ottorino Respighi, the Italian composer of Notturno, studied composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov while serving as the principal violist of the Imperial Opera in St. Petersburg.