[USED:Cond.A] Complete Piano Sonatas : Zhukov (2CD)

Skriabin: Sonats (2 CD)

Sonata No. 1
Sonata No. 2
Sonata No. 3
Sonata No. 4
Sonata No. 5
Sonata No. 6
Sonata No. 7
Sonata No. 8
Sonata No. 9
Sonata No. 10

Igor Zhukov, piano

Recorded: 1971

Igor Zhukov is a Soviet and Russian pianist and conductor. He was born in Gorky in 1936. The musician's bright talent was already apparent when he was a young student of a music school and then a college. Zhukov continued his music education in the Moscow Conservatory where his talent was influenced by two outstanding pianists - Heinrich Neuhaus and Emil Gilels. Alexander Skriabin's musical legacy ranks high among Zhukov's concert repertoire.

From his first concert performances, the pianist turned to the works of this distinguished master receiving great critical acclaim: “Skriabin's music possesses its performing secret thanks to which its reproduction as congenial as it is done by the author becomes a most difficult problem. Igor Zhukov achieves the main point - he creates a mighty emotional and psychological implication of rendition inseparable from Skriabin's poetry and dramatism. At the price of refusal from outward virtuosity, he fathoms a secret world of Skriabin's impulses and gentle rhythmic improvisation.”

Ten sonatas by A. Skriabin included in this Melodiya release are milestones on the way of development and evolution of the composer's piano works. Skriabin was a superb pianist, and many peculiar features of his performing manner such as nervous excitement, flexible nuances, subtle variability of tempo and rhythm, and the finest gradation of sound found their immediate reflection in his works. ( Melodiya )