Search - Anton Arensky, Stephen Coombs :: Arensky: Piano Music

Passionate performances of memorable piano works.

David A. Hollingsworth | Washington, DC USA | 05/30/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anton Stephanovich Arensky (1861-1906) was somewhat of an overlooked figure in Russian music. Throughout his career & at least eight decades after his death, there were very little credits bestowed upon him & his contributions to the development of Russian romantic music were ignored for the most part. To my great delight, however, by the mid 1980s & beyond, his music, especially his instrumental & chamber music, began to be recorded in earnest, first by Melodiya and then followed by other recording companies such as Hyperion, Marco Polo, Chandos, & so forth. The piano works on this disc has the charm of a Glazunov, the beauty of Rimsky-Korsakov, the demanding prowness (valiance) of a Balakirev & Rubinstein, and the passion of a Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninov. There's a certain poetry to these works which are highly memorable, especially the six caprices & the Etude (no. 13) from 24 Characteristic Pieces (which reminds me of Glazunov's Variations on a Finnish Theme also for piano). The third of the four etudes op. 41 reminds me of Robert Schumann. Stephan Coombs, who provided the music notes, states that Arensky's music may not be of the greatest originality, but it has a distinctive stamp. I agree. My only disappointment is that Stephan Coombs chose not to perform & record the entire Twenty-four Characteristic Pieces op. 36 & the entire Six Esquisses op. 52. Otherwise Stephan Coombs played with passion, warmth, and command & the Hyperion recording did more than allow the sound to be natural as well as atmospheric. Well done.Recommendable, with grace."