Alfred Schnittke: Complete Piano Music Simon Smith

• Alfred Schnittke (1934 - 1998): Piano Sonata No. 1:
• 1 Piano Sonata No. 1: I. Lento 08:33
• 2 Piano Sonata No. 1: II. Allegretto 04:58
• 3 Piano Sonata No. 1: III. Lento 08:06
• 4 Piano Sonata No. 1: IV. Allegro 08:44
• Piano Sonata No. 2:
• 5 Piano Sonata No. 2: I. Moderato 06:26
• 6 Piano Sonata No. 2: II. Lento 05:29
• 7 Piano Sonata No. 2: III. Allegro moderato 06:56
• Piano Sonata No. 3:
• 8 Piano Sonata No. 3: I. Lento 05:44
• 9 Piano Sonata No. 3: II. Allegro 02:03
• 10 Piano Sonata No. 3: III. Lento 05:14
• 11 Piano Sonata No. 3: IV. Allegro 03:17
• Alfred Schnittke:
• 12 Variations 11:11
• 13 Prelude and Fugue 08:15
• 14 Improvisation and Fugue 05:53
• 15 Variations on a Chord 06:56
• Little Piano Pieces:
• 16 Little Piano Pieces: I. Folk Song 00:29
• 17 Little Piano Pieces: II. In the Mountains 00:35
• 18 Little Piano Pieces: III. Cuckoo and Woodpecker 00:34
• 19 Little Piano Pieces: IV. Melody 01:23
• 20 Little Piano Pieces: V. Tale 01:51
• 21 Little Piano Pieces: VI. Play 00:38
• 22 Little Piano Pieces: VII. Children's Piece 03:13
• 23 Little Piano Pieces: VIII. March 01:19
• Alfred Schnittke:
• 24 Homage to Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich 06:49
• Five Aphorisms:
• 25 Five Aphorisms: I. Moderato assai 04:09
• 26 Five Aphorisms: II. Allegretto 01:53
• 27 Five Aphorisms: III. Lento 01:57
• 28 Five Aphorisms: IV. Senza tempo 02:36
• 29 Five Aphorisms: V. Grave 02:34
• Alfred Schnittke:
• 30 Sonatina for Piano (Four Hands) 03:02
• 31 Cadenza to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491: First Movement (1975) 04:56
• 32 Two Cadenzas to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: ... to first movement (1980) 04:03
• 33 Two Cadenzas to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467: ... to third movement (1980) 01:09
• 34 Cadenza to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503: First Movement (1983) 02:43
• 35 Two Cadenzas to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat Major, K. 39: ... to first movement (1990) 01:34
• 36 Two Cadenzas to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 2 in B flat major, K39: ... to third movement (1990) 00:58
• Total Runtime 02:26:10

Info for Alfred Schnittke: Complete Piano Music

Schnittke’s largest works for the piano are the three sonatas, which all date from the later part of his output. Piano Sonata No 1 (1987) is a substantial work by any standard, structured in four movements played without a break, and lasting upward of half an hour. The emotional journey of the piece is in many ways typical of the composer’s work in the years following his first stroke. Piano Sonata No 2 (1990–91), written for Schnittke’s wife Irina, follows a more traditional three-movement pattern. The opening is rather sensuous and overtly ‘Romantic’, wistful and bittersweet, its delicate counterpoint recalling Berg’s Op. 1 Sonata. Piano Sonata No 3 (1992), first performed by Boris Berman in 1996, is an example of what we might call Schnittke’s ‘late style’, pared down and without the extravagance of some of the works of the 1980s though of similar intensity. It was his last work for solo piano.

The shorter works included here, which along with the sonatas comprise Schnittke’s entire published output for solo piano (including one piece for piano duet and another for six hands at one instrument), are mostly earlier than the sonatas, and are presented here in chronological order, with the cadenzas for four of Mozart’s piano concertos as a sort of appendix.

Simon Smith studied piano with Richard Beauchamp [to whom these discs are dedicated] and composition with Tom David Wilson. As a pianist he has performed many of the landmarks of the 20th-century piano repertoire, most notably many of Stockhausen’s Klavierstücke and the Piano Concerto and complete Etudes of György Ligeti. Following a performance of which latter he was acclaimed as ‘a phenomenon – nothing daunts him, technically or musically’ The Scotsman. For Delphian Records he has recorded solo music by James MacMillan and Stuart MacRae (Delphian DCD34009), Hafliði Hallgrímsson (DCD34051) and Thomas Wilson (DCD34079).

"I remember vividly the first time I heard a piece of music by Schnittke... It is not an exaggeration to say that that moment changed my life and certainly turned on its head the way that I thought about music and its possibilities. Thereafter I avidly devoured as much of Schnittke’s music as I could get my hands on, and this recording is one of the results." Simon Smith

"Smith demonstrates complete empathy with Schnittke's distinctive sound-world. His playing has great dramatic immediacy...Altogether these are compelling and utterly persuasive accounts." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Simon Smith has the technical wherewithal and serious musicianship that enable him to convey seemingly intractable passages with narrative cogency...His thoroughly researched annotations add further value to an important release." (Gramophone Magazine)

Simon Smith, piano

Simon Smith
has performed as a soloist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Philharmonia, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square. Recitals throughout the UK have included the Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room in London. In 2014 he completed an extensive tour of recitals and concertos in Russia, including his Moscow debut. This year performances include concerto performances in Beijing and Hong Kong, and another complete Bach unaccompanied Sonata and Partita series. Recording projects include the Bartok Solo Sonata and works by Kurtag, for Resonus in July 2015.

A committed chamber musician, Simon was a member of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Octet, performing in concert halls and broadcasts worldwide. A CD of duos and trios by Kodaly and Dohnanyi, with Katherine Jenkinson, Paul Silverthorne and Clare Hayes will be released in 2015. In August 2015 he will be returning to Russia for a TV broadcast of violin and viola duos with Paul Silverthorne, in Chita, Siberia, where he has been invited to be Artistic Director of a Chamber music festival.

Simon has been a professor at the Birmingham Conservatoire for 11 years. He has given masterclasses throughout the UK and internationally. Future plans include further teaching in Russia and Kazakhstan, and at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London.

Simon is Artistic Director of Chamber Orchestra Anglia.

Simon studied with David Martin and Frederick Grinke, and then with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music, where he was awarded the Gold Medal. He received a DAAD scholarship to continue his studies in Germany with Wanda Wilkomirska.

He plays on a Rogeri violin, made in 1708, and uses bows by Malines and Voirin as well as a modern bow by Louis Simon à Paris.

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