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Toccata

Levitzki: Complete Works for Solo Piano / Glebov

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Details

Composer
GABRILOWITSCH LEVITZKI FRIED
Artist
Margarita Glebov
Format
CD
Label
Toccata
Released
May 27, 2016
Catalog #
TOCC0334
UPC
5060113443342

About

Of the three pianist-composers represented here as composers only Levitzki and Friedman have an extensive recorded legacy as executants. By comparison Gabrilowitsch, who also conducted the Detroit Symphony, seems to have been neglected when it came to the recording studio. Levitzki commanded his own series on Naxos (Volume 1 ~ Volume 2 ~ Volume 3) while the same label also celebrated Friedman with similar splendor (Volume 1 ~ Volume 2 ~ Volume 3 ~ Volume 4).

Trust Toccata Classics to approach these three names from one of the golden ages of pianism from an unaccustomed angle. All three wrote piano music under the nurturing that being a great world-touring pianist brings. Levitzki's haughty Valse de concert - one of many waltzes from his pen - has plenty of sentimental fancy in play. There's a touching Valse in A Major, a slow motion swirling Arabesque Valsante and a nice Valse Tzigane. The dance theme continues with a Meissen china Gavotte, a trilling and tear-unfocused Enchanted Nymph and a Dance of the Doll that bears the stamp of ragtime.

There's not a lot of Gabrilowitsch but it is classy. The Romance is touching and perfumed with a romance that sweeps along in Chopin-like grandeur. A deliberate pulse is often favored and this seems to imply cool calculation rather than anything impulsive. The Gavotte, rather like the one by Levitzki, has a predictably antique surface. The Feuillet is successful - a vehicle for the finer emotions; nothing cheap and nothing melodramatic.

I was less impressed with the Friedman arrangements. The four offered up seem prettified and of them only the Couperin, with its grace-note delights and ice-palace fantasy, holds the attention. The disc concludes with no fewer than eleven original works by Friedman. The four Preludes are impressive: No. 1: subtle with delicately chiming dissonances and a sleepy sign-off; No. 2: alive with swirling activity; No. 3: bell-tower Rachmaninov echoes but too short-breathed and No. 4: a quick pulsed and capricious brevity. The selection of Études include a trillingly liquid charmer (No.1 ), an exercise in rapid tremolo (No. 2), a luxuriously emotional essay presented in velvet (No. 4), a sentimental Allegro, con abandono (No. 9), a Godowsky-style study in decorative intricacy, a stormy tempest of the heart, very much in the Rachmaninovian manner (No. 11); likewise the final one (No. 16).

This very well-packed CD is further evidence that Toccata continues to enrich the classical listening experience with unexpected perspectives. Where Toccata lead others may follow. Not everything from these three contemporaries has striking musical substance but there is much to impress and where it does not impress it certainly delights.

– MusicWeb International (Rob Barnett)

Tracklist 26 tracks

  1. 1 Valse de concert, Op. 1 04:15
    Track
    1
    Title
    Valse de concert, Op. 1
    Duration
    04:15
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  2. 2 Waltz in A Major, Op. 2 01:35
    Track
    2
    Title
    Waltz in A Major, Op. 2
    Duration
    01:35
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  3. 3 Gavotte, Op. 3 02:11
    Track
    3
    Title
    Gavotte, Op. 3
    Duration
    02:11
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  4. 4 Arabesque valsante, Op. 6 03:06
    Track
    4
    Title
    Arabesque valsante, Op. 6
    Duration
    03:06
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  5. 5 The Enchanted Nymph 04:37
    Track
    5
    Title
    The Enchanted Nymph
    Duration
    04:37
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  6. 6 Valse Tzigane, Op. 7 02:14
    Track
    6
    Title
    Valse Tzigane, Op. 7
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  7. 7 Dance of the Doll, Op. 8 02:23
    Track
    7
    Title
    Dance of the Doll, Op. 8
    Duration
    02:23
    Composer
    Mischa Levitzki
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  8. 8 5 Piano Pieces, Op. 1: No. 4. Romance 03:40
    Track
    8
    Title
    5 Piano Pieces, Op. 1: No. 4. Romance
    Duration
    03:40
    Composer
    Ossip Gabrilovich
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  9. 9 No. 1. Fantaisie - Nocturne 05:23
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 1. Fantaisie - Nocturne
    Duration
    05:23
    Composer
    Ossip Gabrilovich
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  10. 10 No. 2. Gavotte 04:16
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 2. Gavotte
    Duration
    04:16
    Composer
    Ossip Gabrilovich
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  11. 11 No. 3. Feuillet d' Album 02:58
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 3. Feuillet d' Album
    Duration
    02:58
    Composer
    Ossip Gabrilovich
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  12. 12 6 Pieces for Organ: No. 3. Prelude, fugue et variation in B Minor, Op. 18, M. 30 (arr. I. Friedman for piano) 08:52
    Track
    12
    Title
    6 Pieces for Organ: No. 3. Prelude, fugue et variation in B Minor, Op. 18, M. 30 (arr. I. Friedman for piano)
    Duration
    08:52
    Composer
    César Franck
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  13. 13 Adagio (arr. I. Friedman for piano) 03:53
    Track
    13
    Title
    Adagio (arr. I. Friedman for piano)
    Duration
    03:53
    Composer
    Giovanni Battista Grazioli
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  14. 14 Symphony in G Major, Op. 13/16, No. 4: III. Prestissimo (arr. I. Friedman for piano) 03:19
    Track
    14
    Title
    Symphony in G Major, Op. 13/16, No. 4: III. Prestissimo (arr. I. Friedman for piano)
    Duration
    03:19
    Composer
    Carl Stamitz
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  15. 15 Pieces de clavecin, Book 1: 5th Ordre in A Major-Minor: La Tendre Fanchon (arr. I. Friedman for piano) 03:54
    Track
    15
    Title
    Pieces de clavecin, Book 1: 5th Ordre in A Major-Minor: La Tendre Fanchon (arr. I. Friedman for piano)
    Duration
    03:54
    Composer
    François Couperin
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  16. 16 No. 1. Pensieroso 01:31
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 1. Pensieroso
    Duration
    01:31
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  17. 17 No. 2. Vivo e molto leggiero 01:24
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 2. Vivo e molto leggiero
    Duration
    01:24
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  18. 18 No. 3. Con abandono 01:26
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 3. Con abandono
    Duration
    01:26
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  19. 19 No. 4. Molto appassionato ed animato 01:29
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 4. Molto appassionato ed animato
    Duration
    01:29
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  20. 20 No. 1. Allegro, molto leggiero 02:33
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 1. Allegro, molto leggiero
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  21. 21 No. 2. Vivo e con delicatezza 01:47
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 2. Vivo e con delicatezza
    Duration
    01:47
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  22. 22 No. 4. Andante molto cantabile 01:59
    Track
    22
    Title
    No. 4. Andante molto cantabile
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  23. 23 No. 9. Allegro, con abandono 01:30
    Track
    23
    Title
    No. 9. Allegro, con abandono
    Duration
    01:30
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  24. 24 No. 10. Allegretto, sempre leggiero 01:46
    Track
    24
    Title
    No. 10. Allegretto, sempre leggiero
    Duration
    01:46
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  25. 25 No. 11. Allegro patetico 03:06
    Track
    25
    Title
    No. 11. Allegro patetico
    Duration
    03:06
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov
  26. 26 No. 16. Allegro appassionato 03:02
    Track
    26
    Title
    No. 16. Allegro appassionato
    Duration
    03:02
    Composer
    Ignaz Friedman
    Performer
    Margarita Glebov