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Arensky's Tuneful and Exciting Piano Concerto, and More

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 06/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Anton Stepanovich Arensky (1861-1906) is undoubtedly a minor composer as late 19th and early 20th century Russian composers go. But he was a brilliantly talented musician whose Piano Concerto in F Minor was his Opus 2, a graduation piece from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, written at the age of twenty-one. He had been a student of Rimsky-Korsakoff. This concerto, written in 1882, is clearly influenced by the first two Tchaikovsky concertos. The piano writing also owes something to the melodic and figurational style of Chopin. The first movement bears the most influence of Tchaikovsky; one can almost hear Arensky modeling it on the first movement of Tchaikovsky's First, no bad model. The Andante is a lyrical, even melancholic, outpouring with luscious cantabile melodies succeeding each other in profusion. The sonata-form Finale is in 5/4 time. It admittedly never quite lives up to its promise but is exciting nonetheless. It is amusing to note that Tchaikovsky, when he saw the score, criticized Arensky's use of the 5/4 meter. Later, of course, Tchaikovsky had clearly changed his mind about the unusual time signature and used it to great effect in the second movement of his Pathétique Symphony! The distinguished Russian pianist, Konstantin Scherbakov, plays the virtuosic piano part with dash and more than a little Russian soul. He is supported admirably by the Russian-American conductor (and cellist) Dmitry Yablonsky at the head of the Russian Philharmonic.



The other concerted piece on the disc is the eight-minute Fantasia on Russian Folk Songs. Arensky did not often use specifically Russian melodies but here he uses two folksongs from the north Russian coast. The piece is sometimes known as 'Fantasia on Themes of Ryanin'; Ivan Trovimovich Ryanin was the musicologist in whose collection of folksongs Arensky found the work's themes. The piano writing is in a highly chordal and rhythmically alive style reminiscent of Grieg. The melodies themselves are drenched in Russian nostalgia and heroic determination.



The disc -- whose timing of 50 minutes is rather short -- concludes with two orchestral pieces: 'To the Memory of Suvorov' and 'Symphonic Scherzo'. Suvorov was a much lauded 18th-century Russian general and the five-minute commemorative piece is a march. In ABA form, the outer sections feature trumpet fanfares reminiscent of William Walton's 1937 Crown Imperial March, and the middle section is lyrical and folklike. The 'Scherzo', ten minutes in length, may have been intended as the first movement of a never-written symphony; it is not clear when it was written as it was found in manuscript in a music library with some indication it may have been a student work. Its rather awkward construction supports that inference. Nonetheless it has some memorable moments.



There is a previous recording of Arensky's Piano Concerto played by Stephen Coombs, part of Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series, but I have not heard it. Arensky: Piano Concerto in F Minor, Op. 2; Fantasia, Op. 48 / Bortkiewicz: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B Flat, Op. 16



Scott Morrison

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