Liadoff (Анатолий Лядов), Preludes Opp. 33/1, 36/3, 39/2 & 46/4

Anatoly Liadov (Анатолий Лядов) Preludes Opp. 33/1, 36/3, 39/2, and 46/4

Here I've selected some preludes of Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914). Liadov was a Russian late romantic composer who had studied piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory and composition with Rimsky-Korsakov and in 1887 joined the faculty teaching mostly composition. The principal influence in his music was Chopin. Liadov was long fascinated by counterpoint, and in his polyphonic style the left hand often transcends mere accompaniment and blooms into a rich counter melody. Consequently, I sometimes, not always, chose to treat the balancing of the hands more as a duet between voices. Here are the ones I recorded:

Prelude (on a Russian theme), Op. 33, No. 1 marked adagio, composed in 1889 and dedicated to Nicolas Abramitschew;

Prelude, Op. 36, No. 3 marked moderato from 1895 and dedicated to Alexandra Markoff;

Prelude, Op. 39, No. 2 marked adagio, also from 1895, and dedicated to Felix Blumenfeld; and

Prelude, Op. 46, No. 4 marked lamentoso, from 1899 and dedicated to I. A. Lomazansky. These miniatures are very short, altogether approximately 5 minutes total listening time, so I hope you'll want to hear and enjoy the entire group.

Comments welcome.

Piano: Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6'3") with lid opened on the singer stick.
Recorder: Korg MR-1000
Microphones: Earthworks TC-20 matched pair of small diaphragm omni-directional condenser mics in
A-B configuration

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Anatoly
• Liadov
• Liadoff
• Lyadov
• Анатолий
• Лядов
• preludes
• Russian
• David
• April
• classical
• piano

[Rachfan1]

Hi,

In the same way that you are Hungarian but appreciate the culture of Russian music, likewise as an American I love to play this music because it is so expressive. Thank you for listening and commenting. David