Although Richard Whitehouse's program notes accurately pinpoint Prokofiev's influence on Kabalevsky's youthful First piano sonata, late Scriabin often lurks behind some of the music's harmonic...

Although Richard Whitehouse's program notes accurately pinpoint Prokofiev's influence on Kabalevsky's youthful First piano sonata, late Scriabin often lurks behind some of the music's harmonic ambiguity and impassioned dynamic surges. In fact, the slow movement's gorgeous chord voicings and gentle melodic polyphony wouldn't be out of place in a Ned Rorem sonata! With all of that, a vibrant composing personality makes itself felt. By contrast, Kabalevsky's Second and Third sonatas (respectively dating from 1945 and 1946) are formally tighter and better "stage-managed" pianistically, yet are more derivative from a creative standpoint. However, in the right hands (Vladimir Horowitz's, for example), they sound like near-masterpieces and Alexandre Dossin's well-drilled fingers emphasize musical considerations over virtuoso effect.

He downplays the percussive drive in the Second sonata Presto assai's motoric piano writing by emphasizing melodic shapes and long lines, and does the same with the Third sonata's spiky Allegro giocoso. At the same time, the little Sonatinas' fast movements are appropriately incisive and aggressive. The distant ambience lacks warmth and depth yet preserves a concert-hall perspective from which you can assess Dossin's strong powers of projection. Since Artur Pizarro's comparable, albeit better engineered 1994 Collins Classics Kabalevsky sonata cycle disc is no longer available, Dossin has the field to himself.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com