Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914)
Piano Works
Billy Eidi (piano)
rec. 2024, Auditorium Campra, CRR Darius-Milhaud, Aix-en-Provence, France
Le Palais des Dégustateurs PDD047 [64]

Anatoly Liadov may be best remembered for a handful of delightful orchestral miniatures such as Baba Yaga, Kikimora and The Enchanted Lake. They are jewel-like exercises in atmospheric writing in an idiom rather like Rimsky-Korsakov’s. He is also thought of as the composer who failed to produce a score for Diaghilev, and thereby created an opening for Stravinsky, who went on to make his name with The Firebird – but this may not be quite what happened.

Liadov enjoyed high regard in his lifetime as a conductor and teacher, yet he was extremely diffident about composing. He wrote no large-scale work, and concentrated on numerous piano miniatures, four volumes in the complete edition. What we have here is a selection. In Liadov’s earlier years, Schumann was apparently a great influence, but none of those works is included here. The pieces on this programme are highly influenced by Chopin, to the extent that many of them sound like Chopin pastiche, skilfully done but mostly not suggesting an independent compositional identity in the way that Liadov’s orchestral works do.

Liadov favoured Chopin’s smaller forms, particularly Preludes and Mazurkas. Preludes such as Op.11 No.1 and Op.31 No.2 are very close to the Chopin idiom, and almost as fine. The Prélude Pastorale, however, sounds more like a number from Liszt’s Swiss volume of the Années de pèlerinage, as does the Pastorale Op.17 No.2, but in Op.24 Liadov breaks away from the Chopin style. By the time we get to Op.57 No.1 with its more adventurous harmony, the Prelude sounds like early Scriabin.

Something similar is true of the Mazurkas. The earlier ones, such as Op.11 No.2-3 and the two of Op.15, are very like Chopin, and nearly as good. Later, Liadov strikes a more individual note. The Mazurka rustique Op.31 No.1 sounds like Bartók and the Mazurka Op.38 is more flamboyant than Chopin’s.

The other works here are a mixed bag. In the Barcarolle Op.44, obviously modelled on Chopin’s but far less virtuosic, there is no equivalent of Chopin’s simultaneous trills or his leaping figures at the climax. The Étude Op.37 is a fine work, with an elaborate skirl of notes surrounding its central melody. The Bagatelle La Douleur Op.17 is stark in the manner of late Liszt. The Idylle Op.25, the longest piece here, fails to hold the attention.

The booklet has an interesting essay about Liadov and his piano music but tells us nothing about the pianist, Billy Eidi. Egyptian by birth, he moved to Europe where he has performed widely. He has also made a number of recordings, concentrating on twentieth-century French music. He plays fluently and well, though he lacks that last spark of imagination which, for example, Krystian Zimerman brought to his Szymanowski recital or Piotr Anderszewski to his recent Brahms programme.

The recording is fine. There is also a recital of Liadov by Stephen Coombs on Hyperion and his complete piano works on a two-disc set by Olga Solovieva on Northern Flowers. I have not heard either of these, but this disc should do very nicely for anyone interested in Liadov.

Stephen Barber

Contents
Trois Morceaux Op.11 (1885)
Prélude-Pastorale (1894)
Deux Mazurkas Op.15 (1887)
Étude Op.37 (1895)
Deux Bagatelles Op.17 (1887)
Barcarolle Op.44 (1898)
Deux Morceaux Op.24 (1890)
Trois Préludes Op.36 (1895)
Deux Morceaux Op.31 (1893)
Trois Morceaux Op.33 (1899)
Mazurka Op.38
Idylle Op.25 (1891)
Trois Morceaux Op.57 (1900-1905)