Cheap Piano Recital (Music) (Yakov Flier) Price

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A Great Russian Master
Although periodically sidelined by a mysterious arm injury that began to trouble him when he was still in his teens, when Yakov Flier (1912-1977) was at his best he was fully the equal of his exact contemporaries, Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli preferred him to all other Soviet pianists, Richter eschewed the Rachmaninov Third Concerto because he believed that Flier had a patent on the piece and the much younger Evgeny Kissin has remarked that he feels closer to Flier musically than to any other past master. It's a pity that it this is the only Flier recording now easily available, but let's be grateful for what we have. The Bach-Busoni Chaconne receives one of the great performances on record -- emotionally searching, brilliantly executed and imaginative enough to make a listener believe that the piece was written for the grand piano and not the violin. The sweet thunder (and strategic deployment) of his octaves in Liszt's "Funerailles" demonstrates why Flier reminded some of his countrymen of Vladimir Horowitz. His virtuosity in the same composer's F Minor Study (the 10th of the 12 Transcendental Etudes) would take one's breath away -- were it not that it is subordinated to a musicality that makes a listener pay attention to the music's agitated drama rather than to its superficial glitter. Flier's Debussy playing, while beautiful, does not compare to that of his friend and compatriot, Richter -- but, then, neither does that of any other pianist. But if any other pianist is capable of playing Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words" with greater elegance, emotional directness and greater understanding of what is meant when we speak of Mendelssohnian lightness and fantasy, my guess is that he or she hasn't yet been born.

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A Great Russian Master
Although periodically sidelined by a mysterious arm injury that began to trouble him when he was still in his teens, when Yakov Flier (1912-1977) was at his best he was fully the equal of his exact contemporaries, Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels. Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli preferred him to all other Soviet pianists, Richter eschewed the Rachmaninov Third Concerto because he believed that Flier had a patent on the piece and the much younger Evgeny Kissin has remarked that he feels closer to Flier musically than to any other past master. It's a pity that it this is the only Flier recording now easily available, but let's be grateful for what we have. The Bach-Busoni Chaconne receives one of the great performances on record -- emotionally searching, brilliantly executed and imaginative enough to make a listener believe that the piece was written for the grand piano and not the violin. The sweet thunder (and strategic deployment) of his octaves in Liszt's "Funerailles" demonstrates why Flier reminded some of his countrymen of Vladimir Horowitz. His virtuosity in the same composer's F Minor Study (the 10th of the 12 Transcendental Etudes) would take one's breath away -- were it not that it is subordinated to a musicality that makes a listener pay attention to the music's agitated drama rather than to its superficial glitter. Flier's Debussy playing, while beautiful, does not compare to that of his friend and compatriot, Richter -- but, then, neither does that of any other pianist. But if any other pianist is capable of playing Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words" with greater elegance, emotional directness and greater understanding of what is meant when we speak of Mendelssohnian lightness and fantasy, my guess is that he or she hasn't yet been born.

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A neglected master
Amongst the great succession of Russian pianists, few remember Yakov Flier, a pupil of Igumnov who was born in 1912 and died in 1977. He performed mainly in the USSR, and was a significant teacher, his pupils including Davidovich, Rudy, Postnikova and Feltsman -- and Pletnev. This disk celebrates a masterly pianist with a distinctive and powerful voice, unjustly neglected by BMG in their Russian Piano School series in favour of lesser talents.

The opening Bach-Busoni Chaconne is superb. Unlike modern performances, Flier, like Michelangeli, understood the need to adhere to a consistent pulse, to enhance structural cohesion and retain its sense as a chaconne rather than as a fantasia. His technique throughout is superb. He backs up with four Songs without words, which reveal legato phrasing of an exceptionally high order. The following Liebestraume and the Consolation in D are warmly and simply phrased. The Funerailles that follows is a live performance. Flier takes a broad approach to the piece, never rushing his fences, building a phenomenal crescendo over an unerring left hand ostinato. The "appassionata" étude lacks nothing in trascendental technique, but it is played without the savagery that mars some performances. The Debussy which concludes the disk is very fine, ranging hugely in tone colour, while preserving clear rhythms in order to avoid degeneration into pure "atmosphere". The Clair de lune sounds newly minted, a marvel indeed.

The recordings were made between 1946 and 1954. For Russian recordings, they are better than you would expect. The sounds lacks depth and overloads a bit in parts, but it captures Flier's scintillating pianism very well.