LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
6 Ecossaises WoO 83
recorded Moscow c.1930
Sonata No 2 in A major Op 2/2
recorded in Moscow c1957
FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN
Etudes Op 25 Nos.2, 3 & 5
recorded in Moscow c.1943
Mazurka No 30 in G major Op 50/1
recorded Moscow c.1951
Sonata No 3 in B minor Op 58
recorded Moscow 1951
FRANZ LISZT
Hungarian Rhapsody No 2 in C sharp minor S 244/2
recorded Moscow c.1942
PETER TCHAIKOVSKY
The Months Op 37b
June (Barcarolle); November (Troïka); December (Christmas)
recorded Moscow c.1952
We have already featured Lev Oborin (on APR6005) playing Rachmaninov's second and third Concertos, and that he was entrusted with the first ever Soviet recordings of these works shows the status he held at that time. He studied with Igumnov at the Moscow Conservatory from the age of 14 and in 1927, at the age of 19, he won the first Chopin competition. From this time on until his death he was central to Russian musical life both as performer and teacher (he taught Vladimir Ashkenazy amongst many others).
Oborin was the 'complete' pianist. He had a magnificent technique and seemed to be able to play any style of repertoire convincingly. He was also equally at home as soloist or chamber player, indeed in the West he is still perhaps better known as accompanist to the great violinist David Oistrakh due to the recordings they made together.
The present CD presents Oborin as classicist in Beethoven, as the great Chopin interpreter, as virtuoso in the Liszt Rhapsody and as Russian lyricist in the Tchaikovsky. He is magnificent in all.
APR5668 Available on Compact Disc, as a Digital Download and to Stream