Nikolai Myaskovsky - Piano Sonatas: Vol.1 - Nos.1, 2, 3 & 6

Nikolai MYASKOVSKY (1881-1950)

Piano Sonatas Nos 1, 2, 3 and 6

Murray McLachlan (Piano)

Olympia's sound across all three discs is more imperious than the Marco Polo equivalent. McLachlan has a more fluid delivery than Hegedüs and in the First Sonata is also two minutes faster overall without seeming to scant over the reflective moments. The Sonata is not terribly satisfactory and has an odds and ends character - seeming unresolved. McLachlan makes more of the stuttering Non allegro - allegro linking it explicitly with the Rachmaninov Preludes. In the Third Sonata McLachlan is in tune with the mildew and evanescent decay of the experimental works that found their perigee in the Fourth Sonata and Symphonies 10 and 13. This is more Frank Bridge and Bernard van Dieren than the Macdowell-geniality of the later works. Hegedüs captures better the music box charm of the Sixth Sonata though the great slashing challenge of the Molto vivo is better rendered by McLachlan who also makes a more dynamic fist of the muscular Second Sonata and its Lisztian diablerie.

Rob Barnett