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4 of 53 tracks have a preview · 14 works · 155:30

Variations Op. 88Anton Rubinstein 13 movements51:13
1. 1 Theme: Lento, Moderato 2:25
2. 2 Variation I: Allegro Moderato 2:20
3. 3 Variation II: Andante con moto, tempo rubato 3:16
4. 4 Variation III: Tempo di Marcia 3:02
5. 5 Variation IV: Andante con moto 3:20
6. 6 Variation V: Moderato assai 4:11
7. 7 Variation VI: Vivace 2:20
8. 8 Variation VII: Moderato assai 3:12
9. 9 Variation VIII: Moderato con moto 6:07
10. 10 Variation IX: Moderato 5:19
11. 11 Variation X: Moderato, patetico 3:28
12. 12 Variation XI: Allegro 2:36
13. 13 Variation XII: Allegro moderato 9:37
14 Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 7 Vladimir Shcherbachev 18:28
15 Rel’sy (1926) Vladimir Deshevov 1:14
Forms in the AirArtur Lourié 3 movements7:18
1. 16 i. 1:59
2. 17 ii. 2:28
3. 18 iii. 2:51
SynthesesArtur Lourié 5 movements6:35
1. 201 i. :50
2. 202 ii. 1:23
3. 203 iii. 1:58
4. 204 iv. 1:32
5. 205 v. :52
206 Sonata No. 2 (1916) Nikolai Roslavets 13:36
Five PreludesNikolai Roslavets 5 movements9:23
1. 207 No. 1 Andante affettuoso (1919) 1:21
2. 208 No. 2 Allegretto con moto (1919) 2:07
3. 209 No. 3 Lento (1920) 2:08
4. 210 No. 4 Lento (1922) 1:40
5. 211 No. 5 Lento rubato (1922) 2:07
212 Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 3 Aleksandr Mosolov 11:51
3 Pieces & 2 Dances, Op. 23aAleksandr Mosolov 2 movements1:24
1. 213 No. II :40
2. 214 No. III :44
Ereignis VIILeonid Polovinkin 3 movements5:37
1. 215 i. Pressentiment, Andante tranquillo 1:28
2. 216 ii. L’Action, moto tranquillo 2:19
3. 217 iii. Souvenir, Allegro 1:50
Music for ChildrenVladimir Rebikov 7 movements6:15
1. 218 Preparing the Lesson :53
2. 219 Strolling Musicians 1:07
3. 220 Dance of the Little Ones :47
4. 221 Cradle Song :58
5. 222 The Lame Witch Roaming the Forest 1:14
6. 223 The Bear :41
7. 224 In the Forest :35
3 Pieces from Melomimiques, Op. 15 (1889)Vladimir Rebikov 3 movements5:02
1. 225 The Devil’s Amusement :55
2. 226 The Faun 2:11
3. 227 In the Forest 1:56
Revelation (1915)Nikolai Obukhov 6 movements10:49
1. 228 The Tolling from Beyond 1:50
2. 229 Death 1:18
3. 230 The Void 3:09
4. 231 Immortal 2:42
5. 232 The Distress of Satan :35
6. 233 Truth 1:15
Two PiecesNikolai Obukhov 2 movements6:45
1. 234 The Temple is Measured: The Spirit is Incarnate 3:00
2. 235 Peace for the Reconciled: Towards the Source of the Chalice 3:45

Rubinstein’s expansive Op. 88 Variations open the set on the historic Rönisch grand at the Canberra School of Music. From there the programme moves through sonatas, preludes and experimental miniatures by Shcherbachev, Deshevov, Lourié, Roslavets, Mosolov, Polovinkin, Rebikov and Obukhov—composers who briefly led European modernism before Stalinist orthodoxy silenced them.

Sitsky’s performances restore a strikingly fertile chapter of Russian piano writing that was long in danger of vanishing from the repertoire.

In the artist’s words

The amazing leap of style from Rubinstein to the other composers recorded here happened in the space of only a few short years. Russia was in turmoil, on the verge of revolution, and given such a state, it was inevitable that music would change rapidly and probably extremely.

This group of composers led the world avant-garde in their day. I am certain that they were seen as Bolsheviks and extremists by the West. Some managed to get published through some Viennese firms, but generally, they were a local product, and eventually, when Stalin came to power in the late 1920s, he banned them totally, because art was there to serve the proletarian ideal, and had to be accessible to the masses. Ironically, the revolution resulted in the suppression of what was seen as the extreme left! The composers were certainly in advance of their counterparts in Europe, for a number of years.

Rubinstein represented the end of the romantic era in Russian piano music, but an era in which he personally chose to ignore the nationalistic school and the ethos of the Mighty Five group of composers, who wished for a truly patriotic school of composition based on Russian folk music; Rubinstein, instead, used European models for his own work, moreover models who represented the more classical aspects of European art (Mendelssohn is a fine example) rather than the more progressive composers such as Liszt. The musical upheavals in Russian music began less than a decade after Rubinstein’s death. Were it not for the eventual Stalinist suppression, the group of composers represented on these CDs could well have led and surpassed their European counterparts in their sheer audacity and exuberance.

— Larry Sitsky

Reviews

ONE of Australia’s most neglected senior composers, mainly because of his long-time academic and performing concentration in the ACT, Larry Sitsky made a name for himself through controversy in the 1960s. His compositions have rarely travelled to Melbourne but his reputation as a pianist has, if anything, grown over the past half-century. This double CD is dedicated to one of Sitsky’s main areas of interest: Russian composers prior to and in the decades after the 1917 Revolution. The vast selection begins with Anton Rubinstein’s substantial, late Romantic Variations Op. 88 and concludes with miniatures by Vladimir Rebikov and Nikolai Obukhov. In between, Sitsky gives expert and character-loaded interpretations of music by unknowns such as Vladimir Shcherbachev and Leonid Polovinkin, as well as more well-regarded composers such as Artur Lourie and Aleksandr Mosolov. Assisted by Sitsky’s virtuosity and insights, these action-packed discs offer both bewildering variety and a surprisingly adventurous spirit of exploration and experiment

— Clive O’Connell, The Age A2

A labour of love, then, this large-scale exercise. You have to admire Sitsky’s dedication and erudition, as well as the clear evidence throughout these recordings of his innate virtuosity. A lot of it makes for hard listening – not just the sheer percussiveness of a morsel like Deshevov’s Rel’sy which imitates Bartok’s Allegro barbaro in several respects – but the sustained aural onslaught of the three focal sonatas. This music-making gives some welcome substance to our knowledge of a strikingly fertile time in Russia’s musical activity that, for many years, was in danger of being wiped from the memory of all but a few true believers. We should thank Sitsky for his remarkable gift of restoration.

— Clive O’Connell, O’Connell the Music

Artists

Larry Sitsky

piano

Larry Sitsky's activities as a composer, pianist, writer, broadcaster and teacher place him among the foremost ambassadors of contemporary Australian piano music. His work has made a lasting contribution to the Australian musical tradition.