Pianist Vadym Kholodenko is emerging as a Prokofiev specialist with a cycle of the piano concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony and now this recital of solo piano music on Harmonia Mundi. The program has an unusual and satisfying dynamic, beginning with the taut and serious Piano Sonata No. 6 in A minor, Op. 82. This was the first of Prokofiev's so-called "War Sonatas." Written in 1939, it definitely conveys the feeling of a world on the edge. Kholodenko's playing is clean and crisp, but one misses the tension that has ...
Read More
Pianist Vadym Kholodenko is emerging as a Prokofiev specialist with a cycle of the piano concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony and now this recital of solo piano music on Harmonia Mundi. The program has an unusual and satisfying dynamic, beginning with the taut and serious Piano Sonata No. 6 in A minor, Op. 82. This was the first of Prokofiev's so-called "War Sonatas." Written in 1939, it definitely conveys the feeling of a world on the edge. Kholodenko's playing is clean and crisp, but one misses the tension that has sometimes been brought to these sonatas. From there, the program lightens, and there are some gems. Things in Themselves, Op. 45, inspired by no less than Immanuel Kant, is a pair of short pieces that are really sui generis. The mood lightens further with the Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 32, in a neoclassic vein, and becomes evanescent with the tiny Visions Fugitives, Op. 22, which Kholodenko handles with charismatic elegance. It's a strong recital, very nicely recorded at the Médiapôle...
Read Less