Ukrainian Preludes
Nikolai Silvansky (1916-1985)
24 Preludes
Matvey Gozenpud (1903-1961)
12 Preludes
Evgeniya Yakhnina (1918-2000)
6 Preludes
Jascha Nemtsov (piano)
rec. 2024, RBB Studio 3, Babelsberg, Potsdam, Germany
First recordings
Hänssler Classic HC24044 [68]
Although I had come across Nikolai Silvansky before, the other two composers on this disc were new to me. Matvey Gozenpud was also a discovery for pianist Jascha Nemtsov, who heard about him as the result of an email arriving in his inbox out of the blue, from a music-lover eager to draw the pianist’s attention to this composer. He has since made many more discoveries in the large music libraries of Moscow. This disc was a joint project between pianist and this diligent seeker of undiscovered but infinitely worthy music, despite their not yet having met face to face. I say thank goodness for people like music-lover Alexander Plekhanov and pianist Jascha Nemtsov, whose commitment helps reveal works that have suffered the lack of recognition they clearly richly deserve; indeed. It is heartbreaking to read that these recordings of works by Gozenpud and Yakhnina are the first any of their compositions have ever received.
The overarching impression I got from listening to the disc – which I felt compelled to do over and over again – was that every piece is steeped in humanity. I am struggling to find an adequate way to express how I felt while listening; suffice it to say that I have rarely come across a disc where, as in this case, every one of the 42 pieces here by three composers bowled me over. It wasn’t as if there were some diamonds among the rough; rather, there was no rough but all diamonds. These pieces last on average a little over a minute and a half each, but every one leaves a lasting impression. There is a powerful feeling of undiluted honesty here without any artifice and each of the three composers clearly thought along the same lines – though whether they ever met is unclear.
In the case of Nikolai Silvansky, I am even more impressed to read that he was largely self-taught, yet his 24 preludes stand comparison with the other outstanding sets produced during the Soviet period, principally those of Dmitri Shostakovich and Vsevolod Zaderadsky, though there were others whom Nemtsov lists in his notes. His preludes are so thorough and tuneful; the same can be said of Matvei Gozenpud, who was fortunate enough to study piano and composition guided by Reinhold Glière in Kiev’s conservatoire. His Jewish origin sealed his fate, as a wave of antisemitism forced him to flee to Kazakhstan in 1950. His health was severely affected and this ultimately led to his untimely death. His music shows incredible talent; from the outset his set of 12 preludes is imbued with a wistful innocence created by wonderfully melodious harmonies and a Romantic lyricism which often brings Rachmaninov to mind.
Evgeniya Yakhnina’s story is equally tragic – and ironic, considering that her uncle, Julius Martov (Tsederbaum), helped found Russian Social Democracy together with Lenin himself, but then so often nothing made sense in the maelstrom of Soviet politics, particularly in the Stalinist period. She lost her post as teacher at a specialist music school in Moscow once the antisemitic campaign began in earnest in 1948. Her first husband, himself a talented composer from Armenia, Hrachiya Melikyan, died in the first days of the war in 1941 while, her only daughter’s father, her second husband, was killed in a plane crash. Despite these many setbacks, she remained creatively active throughout her life. These six preludes, her only works for piano, were published in 1959 and show a prodigious talent. I would love to hear others of her works, said to be leaning more towards the avant-garde and atonality. The first prelude shows a liking for complex rhythms that neither of the other two composers on the disc show in theirs. The others also indicate this, even when they are of a more whimsical nature. Her fifth and longest prelude -indeed, the longest on the disc at three and a half minutes – marked Andante lugubre, is the most overtly Romantic in nature and emblematic of her talent. As I say above, it is cruel beyond words to read that this disc contains the sole recorded examples of the music of either Gozenpud or Yakhnina. Jascha Nemtsov, who since 2013 has been Professor for the history of Jewish music at the Franz Liszt Musikhochschule in Weimar, deserves profound thanks for his devotion to the project of bring these thoroughly brilliant pieces to the attention of the listening public and I hope that his collaboration with the dogged determined Alexander Plekhanov will bring forth more disgracefully neglected works by composers who fell foul of a Soviet regime whose often unfathomably stupid behaviour vis-à-vis the arts robbed humanity of music all should hear.
Nemtsov’s commitment to bringing this music to the public’s attention is matched by his performances, which display honesty, commitment and brilliance, and the sound is excellent. Surely his devotion to the project will encourage other pianists to explore these works, for once heard they are difficult to ignore. This is an altogether magnificent disc.
Steve Arloff
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