New Recording of PCs by Barvinsky & Kosenko (3 Mov. Ver.)

[tuatara442442]

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9748971--ukrainian-piano-concerts-works-by-vasyl-barvinsky-viktor-kosenko
A disc of Piano Concerti by Barvinsky and Kosenko played by Violina Petrychenko will be released on Feb. 21st.
I especially welcome the first modern commercial recording of all three movements of the Kosenko concerto, since the second movement is my favorite. Previously I can only enjoy the old LP recording uploaded on youtube and a piano solo version of that movement, also played by Petrychenko in her quest of neglected Ukrainian repertoire.
By the way, Petrychenko also played Kosenko's Nocturne-Fantasy, Op. 4 gorgeously, taking a slower pace than most performances I have seen online.

[Martin Eastick]

Excellent news! I kept on at Hyperion to do the Kosenko ( as well as the Borowski & Schütt!) to no avail unfortunately; but this more than makes up for that! What a promising start to the new year!

[Gareth Vaughan]

I heartily echo Martin's enthusiasm. Two excellent PCs which should have been on Hyperion's radar. Marvellous news.

[Alan Howe]

It'll be good to have these - finally!

I note that the TT for the Kosenko is 48:45: something of a monster (size-wise, I mean), then?

[Mark Thomas]

The old recording available on YouTube comes in a 42 minutes, so that seems about right. It's a lovely work, very much in the Rachmaninov tradition, but I do feel that the first movement is rather overlong.

[Alan Howe]

Members may like to know that this is being offered by jpc at the substantially reduced price of EUR 5.99 for as long as stocks last:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/ukrainische-klavierkonzerte/hnum/12130048

[tuatara442442]

but I do feel that the first movement is rather overlong.

I feel the recapitulative cadenza is spectacular but uneccesary, since there is a formal recap after that. I'm not usually a big fan of cadenzas anyway, so I don't feel missing something coming back to the old Soviet recording with the cadenza cut.

[Ilja]

Members may like to know that this is being offered by jpc at the substantially reduced price of EUR 5.99 for as long as stocks last:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/ukrainische-klavierkonzerte/hnum/12130048

Might have been an oopsie; it's back to 16,99.

[Alan Howe]

Well, not an oopsie/whoops for me - I got mine for the discounted price!   And I did say as long as stocks last! (They must have sold out and re-stocked).

[Alan Howe]

My initial impressions: the Kosenko is probably too long for its material (especially the first movement at 23:53), but no doubt familiarity will bring a greater a sense of what the composer was trying to achieve. A word of warning, though: this is not Rachmaninov - Kosenko was from a later generation. Think Medtner, perhaps? By contrast the Barvinsky (at 20:37) is much easier to grasp and has greater immediate appeal.

The orchestra is somewhat thin-sounding in the string department, well though they play overall. I wonder what toll the war may have taken in respect of their numbers?

Nevertheless, a very fine release which deserves the widest possible exposure.

[eschiss1]

Only 6 years separate Rachmaninoff and Medtner, which is hardly a "generation"... Kosenko is indeed from 20 years later though, closer to the time of Lyatoshynsky, Ornstein, Eckhardt-Gramatté...

[Alan Howe]

I was trying to convey the reality that Kosenko's music doesn't really sound like Rachmaninov and struggling to think of possible comparisons in a corner of the repertoire I don't know a lot about. What's clear, though, is that Kosenko is nothing like, say, Prokofiev or any of the modernists; at heart he is a late romantic, producing a work which outdoes anything by Rachmaninov in terms of scale while not quite sounding like him. Rather a clever compositional niche (which Medtner sort of occupies too). And then an obvious steal from Rachmaninov comes along only to develop in a different direction - Kosenkoesque, I suppose. Fans of Rachmaninov and Medtner will love this, though. Very Slavic...

A thought: invite these Ukrainians (orchestra, conductor Volodymyr Svokhip and soloist Violina Petrychenko) to perform the Kosenko at this summer's Proms: they'd go down a storm.

[eschiss1]

I favor that for all sorts of reasons.

[Gareth Vaughan]

You think the controller of Radio 3 would have the imagination to do that? Dream on!!!

[Alan Howe]

No. But what a prospect it would be...