Piano Gems and Masterpieces

• Booklet languages: English
• Time: 67:12
• Release Date: 2002

Review

Bulgarian born but trained in Russia, pianist Pavlina Radoslavova already had a promising recording career with Bulgarian National Radio and Balkanton before her immigration to Great Britain in 2001. This CD, her first for Eroica, marks her introduction to western audiences. Perhaps out of an obligation to meet marketing demands, Radoslavova plays a program of extremely popular piano pieces and offers little off the beaten path. Piano Gems and Masterpieces may be of modest interest to serious listeners, but it seems to be targeted at a wider public that will uncritically accept Radoslavova's playing. Technically proficient, she delivers these chestnuts with dispatch, but without much emotional investment or intellectual engagement. Schubert, Schumann, and Brahms sound the best here, and Radoslavova has great sympathy for these Romantic composers. However, she shows less commitment in the opening pieces by Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart, and her playing is not especially credible or gratifying in the Bartók, Schedrin, and Gershwin tracks. However, Radoslavova closes with Rachmaninov's Prelude in C sharp minor, where she is clearly in her element. The uneven recorded sound throughout the album does her a disservice, at times seeming as if the microphone placement was deemed too close and later mixed down. ~ Blair Sanderson, Rovi

Performances

Composer	Title	Time
Johann Sebastian Bach	Cantata No. 147, "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben," BWV 147 (BC A174) (Chorale "Jesu, joy of man's desiring")	3:33
Domenico Scarlatti	Work(s) ([Unspecified] Sonata in C major)	2:27
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major ("Alla Turca") K. 331 (K. 300i) (Alla Turca)	3:17
Ludwig van Beethoven	Bagatelle for piano in A minor ("Für Elise"), WoO 59	2:38
Ludwig van Beethoven	Piano Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor ("Moonlight"), Op. 27/2 (Adagio Sostenuto)	5:04
Franz Schubert	Moment musical for piano in F minor ("Air russe"), D. 780/3 (Op. 94/3)	1:48
Franz Schubert	Ständchen ("Leise flehen meine Lieder"), song for voice & piano (Schwanengesang), D. 957/4	3:21
Robert Schumann	Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15 (From Foreign Lands & People)	1:21
Robert Schumann	Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) for piano, Op. 15 (Traümerei)	2:38
Johannes Brahms	Hungarian Dances (21) for piano, 4 hands (or piano solo), WoO 1 (Hungarian Dance No. 3)	2:17
Johannes Brahms	Hungarian Dances (21) for piano, 4 hands (or piano solo), WoO 1 (Hungarian Dance No. 5)	2:10
Frédéric Chopin	Prelude for piano No. 24 in D minor, Op. 28/24, CT. 189	2:06
Frédéric Chopin	Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35, CT. 202 (Funeral March)	9:15
Frédéric Chopin	Waltz for piano No. 10 in B minor, Op. 69/2, CT. 216	3:51
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky	Children's Album: 24 Easy Pieces, for piano, Op. 39 (18. Neapolitan Song)	1:01
Aram Khachaturian	Masquerada, suite from the incidental music for orchestra (or piano) (Waltz)	3:58
Isaac Albéniz	España, album leaves (6) for piano, Op. 165, B. 37 (2. Tango)	2:16
Béla Bartók	Romanian Folk Dances (6) (Román népi táncok), for piano, Sz. 56, BB 68	4:24
Pancho Vladigerov	Shoumen Miniatures, for piano, Op. 29 (3. Rustic Dance)	0:54
Rodion Shchedrin	In the Style of Albéniz for piano (or various arrangements)	2:40
George Gershwin	Preludes (3) for piano (Prelude No. 3)	1:16
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov	The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Skazka o Tsare Saltane), opera in 4 acts with a prologue (Flight of the Bumble-Bee)	1:12
Sergey Rachmaninov	Prelude for piano No.1 in C sharp minor ("The Bells of Moscow"), Op. 3/2	3:45

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