Rachmaninov: Transkripce - CD

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s piano transcriptions performed by Marek Kozák. Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos remain a test of the world’s leading pianists, while his transcriptions of works by other composers, along with two of his own songs, receive less attention despite offering equally fascinating insight into his artistry and life. Like Liszt and Busoni, Rachmaninoff treated transcription as both a tribute to the original and an independent creation with a new sound aesthetic. Most of these works date from 1921–1929, when he was frequently concertising and recording and could display his phenomenal technique on stage. Highlights include Mendelssohn’s popular Scherzo from the music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and three movements from Bach’s Violin Partita in E major, BWV 1006. Tchaikovsky’s Cradle Song from the Six Romances, recorded in 1941, symbolically concludes the composer’s output as a remembrance of his admired teacher and an exceptional man. Each transcription reflects Rachmaninoff’s humility and inner integrity, qualities that also characterise Marek Kozák’s performance. The programme includes Rachmaninoff’s Lilac and Daisies, and transcriptions of works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Modest Mussorgsky, Georges Bizet, Fritz Kreisler, Franz Behr, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Franz Liszt, including Bach’s Partita No. 3, Schubert’s Wohin?, Mendelssohn’s Scherzo, Mussorgsky’s Hopak, Bizet’s Minuet, Kreisler’s Liebesfreud and Liebesleid, Behr’s Polka de W. R., Tchaikovsky’s Cradle Song, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee and Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.