Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev, 2016 SIPCA Runner-Up Releases Debut Album On Decca
Russian pianist Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev, runner-up at the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition, is to release his debut album Reflections on the Decca label.
Avaiable from tomorrow, the album features two concert études composed by Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev’s grandmother, the Russian concert pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva. Reflections is a very personal album which also features the music of Russian composers Rachmaninov, Medtner, Scriabin, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.
Now 24, Arseny’s favourite childhood composers included Prokofiev and Stravinsky. He recalls spending days listening to CDs of their music. “Since then I can’t help seeing Russian fairy tales in this music — with mythical creatures, vast magical forests and heroic ballads.” All this was ideal preparation for this future interpreter of Prokofiev’s Visions Fugitives, music that has been with Arseny from his earliest years. “It gives me an impression of looking at scattered pieces of a whole work, but each one of these hugely contrasted pieces is perfect in its own right.”
Including music composed by his grandmother was an act of homage for Arseny, as well as an exciting opportunity to programme this little-known music: “I was thrilled to record these two études by my grandmother — though it’s just a taste of what she did as a composer. For me it’s not just a matter of dusting off the family legacy; I think this music is worth sharing and deserves to be known and performed by musicians around the world. It has a unique combination of fresh musical language and experience from having a vast repertoire as a pianist — so I can hear clearly the influence of all the composers featured on this album.”
The tracks: SERGEY RACHMANINOV: 6 Moments musicaux, op.16 / NICOLAS MEDTNER: Canzona serenata, op.38 no.6, Danza festiva, op.38 no.3 / ALEXANDER SCRIABIN 2 Poèmes, op.32 / SERGEY PROKOFIEV: Visions fugitives, op.22/ PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Lullaby, op.16 no.1 arr. Rachmaninov/ TATIANA NIKOLAYEVA 24 Concert Études, op.13 nos.18 & 15/ SERGEY RACHMANINOV Polka de W.R.
