Hyperion UK
1996
Glazunov: The Complete Piano Music - 1
About This Album
Alexander Glazunov was a marvelously fecund composer who wrote an enormous amount of music for a wide variety of purposes and audiences. But while it could never be said that Glazunov wrote an insincere note, neither could it be said that every note he wrote was destined for immortality. In this the first of four discs devoted to Glazunov's complete piano music on Hyperion, Stephen Coombs must perforce perform a fair amount of music that did not outlast its time. The four movements of the Suite on the name "SASCHA" are clever and charming, but they seem to go on a good bit longer than they actually do. The Three Miniatures are delightful enough, but would have been twice as delightful at half their length. The four waltzes that follow -- the Valse de salon, the Grande valse de concert, the Waltzes on the theme "SABELA," and the Petite valse -- for all their wit and vivacity, take more than 20 very long minutes between them. Coombs, a consummate professional, gives these works his all, but even his all is not enough to make time pass more swiftly. Then, at last, the disc closes and climaxes with Glazunov's magnificent Piano Sonata in B flat minor in a performance of complete sympathy and staggering virtuosity by Coombs. A huge, three-movement work requiring a pianist with stupendous technique, Glazunov's sonata has the same strength of inspiration and power of determination that are hallmarks of his best symphonies and string quartets and Coombs can finally let loose on a work worthy of his abilities. Although in all likelihood only devotees of the composer will listen straight through this disc, those who do will be rewarded with a work as good as the best Glazunov ever wrote. Hyperion's sound is curiously muffled and distant. ~ James Leonard, All Music Guide
Track List

Suite On The Name Sascha, For Piano, Op. 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
Miniatures (3) For Piano, Op. 42
5.
6.
7.
Valse De Salon For Piano, Op. 43
8.
Grand Concert Waltz For Piano, Op. 41
9.
Waltzes On The Theme "Sabela", For Piano, Op. 23
10.
Petite Valse For Piano, Op. 36
11.
Piano Sonata No. 1 In B Flat Minor, Op. 74
12.
13.
14.