Igor Stravinsky - Piano Works (Jenny Lin)

Information

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

1. Piano Sonata: I
2. Piano Sonata: II
3. Piano Sonata: III
4. Four Etudes, Op. 7: Etude 1
5. Four Etudes, Op. 7: Etude 2
6. Four Etudes, Op. 7: Etude 3
7. Four Etudes, Op. 7: Etude 4
8. Ragtime for 11 instruments (transcribed by composer)
9. Polka (from 'Trois pièces faciles' for piano 4-hands, arr. Soulima Stravinsky)
10. Tango
11. Valse (from 'Trois pièces faciles' for piano 4-hands, arr. Soulima Stravinsky)
12. Piano-Rag-Music
13. 'Na kogo tï nas pokidayesh' (from the Prologue to Mussorgsky's opera 'Boris Godunov')
14. Serenade in A: Hymn
15. Serenade in A: Romanza
16. Serenade in A: Rondoletto
17. Serenade in A: Cadenza Finala
18. Circus Polka
19. Two Sketches of a Sonata: I
20. Two Sketches of a Sonata: II
21. Firebird Suite (arr. Guido Agosti): Danse infernale du roi Kastcheï
22. Firebird Suite (arr. Guido Agosti): Berceuse
23. Firebird Suite (arr. Guido Agosti): Finale

Jenny Lin, piano

Date: 2014

Label: Steinway & Sons

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Review

Stravinsky’s piano works, slender as they are, have been very well served on disc, starting with Aleck Karis on Bridge and continuing with Victor Sangiorgio on Naxos. Add Jenny Lin to the list of first-rate Stravinsky interpreters. Each of these discs has a slightly different program, adding musical “meat” to the major works: the Piano Sonata of 1924, the Serenade in A , the Four Etudes, and Piano-Rag Music. Combined, these only comprise about 30 minutes of playing time.

In order to bring this disc up to 64 minutes, Lin adds a selection of transcriptions, some of which are familiar (the Polka and Valse from the Second Suite for Small Orchestra, the Circus Polka, and Ragtime), and some of which are both rare and interesting. There’s a bit of the Prologue from Boris Godunov, a couple of sketches for a late sonata, and most interesting, a transcription of three movements from the Firebird Suite (Danse infernale, Berceuse, and Finale) by Lin’s teacher Guido Agosti, sanctioned by the composer.

This latter is a real find, and a nice change of pace from the otherwise inevitable Three Movements from Petrushka. It’s full of pianistic fireworks and Lin tosses it off with real bravura, albeit with understandably more rhythmic flexibility than we encounter in a typical orchestral performance. The music’s cascades of notes also offer an interesting contrast to the more linear textures characteristic of the Sonata, and to much of the remaining program. In the later, neoclassical works, Lin proves equally adept at providing crisp articulation and lucid textures without letting the music turn cold and mechanical, as it easily can.

In short, this is an extremely fine recital, and Lin’s Steinway has been quite beautifully recorded at the Sono Luminus studios in Virginia. There may not be any major works here, but the program has been intelligently assembled and the result is both very refreshing and impossible to criticize.

— David Hurwitz

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Igor Stravinsky (June 17, 1882 – April 6, 1971) was a Russian composer. Son of an operatic bass, he studied privately with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov from 1902 to 1908. Soon after the impresario Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky to write three ballets for the Ballets Russes: Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). The last of which, with its shifting and audacious rhythms, was a landmark in music history. Later Stravinsky also adopted Neoclassicism and serialism in his composition. His major Neoclassical works include Oedipus rex (1927) and the Symphony of Psalms (1930).

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Jenny Lin (born 1973) is a Taiwanese-born American pianist. She studied in Vienna, Baltimore and Geneva with teachers including Noel Flores, Julian Martin and Dominique Weber. She also worked with Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, and others. She has performed with orchestras worldwide and premiered works by composers such as Stefano Gervasoni and Unsuk Chin. Her performances have included venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center. Lin has released over 50 recordings, and is creator of Melody's Mostly Musical Day, a children's musical picture book and concert.

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