The most unusual thing about this release by the young Russian-American pianist Vassily Primakov is the program, containing three sets of dances, arranged into short suites from the dozens Schubert wrote by Primakov and his teacher Vera Gornostaeva. There are two groups of waltzes and one of the more laid-back Ländler, played almost without pause within each group. Surrounding these are two Impromptus from the Op. 142 set and all four from Op. 90. There's an overall method to this program, quite original and nicely thought ...
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The most unusual thing about this release by the young Russian-American pianist Vassily Primakov is the program, containing three sets of dances, arranged into short suites from the dozens Schubert wrote by Primakov and his teacher Vera Gornostaeva. There are two groups of waltzes and one of the more laid-back Ländler, played almost without pause within each group. Surrounding these are two Impromptus from the Op. 142 set and all four from Op. 90. There's an overall method to this program, quite original and nicely thought out on Primakov's part. First of all, it's not at all clear which works most qualify as "impromptu" here. Schubert is known to have improvised short dances as fast as his fingers could travel across the piano keys, and the few hundred that were written down and published represent a small fraction of the whole. The pieces called Impromptus perhaps reflect a greater degree of compositional planning. Primakov delivers crisp, commanding performances of the dances and rather quiet,...
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