Warning to 20th-century
piano buffs: this disc contains no examples
of so-called "high modernism".
Nevertheless, in this generous recital,
Canadian virtuoso Alexander Tselyakov
charts out territory that thankfully
has not been surveyed to death. Like
Marc-André Hamelin (with whom
Tselyakov sometimes performs), it is
a credit to a player of his calibre
that he tackles music that will be unfamiliar
to most listeners, but I imagine most
people will find something on this menu
that they would like to hear again.
Glick’s 1996 Sonata
is written in an eclectically tonal
style, with echoes of melancholy Jewish
folk-tunes swirling through. Tselyakov
clearly enjoys Glick’s work, as the
programme ends with his gentle, wistful
Song as an encore, following
the dazzling final Toccata in
the Schedrin Sonata. Carrabré
offers a Prokofiev-sounding work, The
Elemental Wind, followed by Kulesha’s
mysterious Fantastic Landscapes,
also from 1996. Then we arrive at Sophie-Carmen
Eckhardt-Gramatté, and her sixth
Caprice, which combines virtuosity
with some parts that seem almost childlike
(perhaps recalling very intelligent
children). Francis Pott, another composer
who seems to admire Prokofiev, gives
us a plunging Toccata that seems
right up Tselyakov’s alley, and judging
from the audience response, this is
one of the program’s highlights. After
that comes a beautiful fragment of Messiaen’s
much-longer Vingt regards – this
is one of the slower, more reverent
ones – that serves as a well-considered
break from the faster selections surrounding
it.
But perhaps the Schedrin
selections take the prize, beginning
with the gorgeous, nostalgia of the
Poem, followed by a droll Humoresque
and a work dedicated to Albéniz
that displays a keen admiration for
his rhythms and harmonies. Schedrin
is perhaps not performed enough in the
United States, despite his popularity
elsewhere, and here Tselyakov gives
the Sonata No. 1 a superlative
display, often on the explosive side.
Perhaps this excellent performance will
in a small way help get the word out.
Throughout this recital, Tselyakov gives
impressively committed work, often showy
but still intelligent, and I greatly
admire his willingness to explore works
that most of us will rarely encounter,
let alone performed with such confidence.
The sound is very good
– recorded live, with all that can imply,
although the audience noise is minimal.
Nevertheless, there is just something
about a live recital that carries its
own magnetism.
Bruce Hodges
Alexander Tselyakov (piano) 
