Fathers & Daughters
Works by Tchaikovsky, Kugel, Scriabin, Fedorov, Zemtsov
Dana Zemtsov (viola), Mikhail Zemtsov (viola), Anna Fedorova (piano), Borys Fedorov (piano)
Channel Classics CCS44523 68:07 mins
This imaginatively planned and vividly recorded album celebrates two strongly connected musical dynasties in the shape of the Fedorov family of pianists and the Zemstov family of violists. Bringing these hugely talented musicians together results in some exceptionally insightful playing. Furthermore, the way this enormously eclectic recital is arranged has an immediacy that replicates the kind of spontaneous music-making that might well take place in one of their homes.
The programme opens with Borys Fedorov’s charmingly nostalgic two-movement Amarcord, Childhood Memories for viola and piano which is followed by Yevgeny Zemstov’s melancholic Melodie im alten Stil for the same instrumental combination. A beautifully played Chopin Nocturne forms the perfect musical hors d’oeuvre for the more substantial First Viola Sonata by Nikolai Roslavets, its highly charged post-romantic language owing much to the later works of Scriabin.
Resourceful arrangements of jazz-inflected, Jewish and Mexican folk music for two violas precede the rarely heard Scriabin Fantasy in A minor for two pianos and Glazunov’s warmly romantic Elegy for viola and piano. Finally, all the instrumentalists join forces to perform Zemstov’s engaging Tango Suite which explores many of the musical styles that featured earlier in the recital.
Given the outstanding nature of the performances, it’s perhaps a little frustrating that with the obvious exception of the Chopin, the programme contains no unassailable masterpieces. Hopefully the sheer quality of ensemble that Borys Federov and Anna Federova achieve in the Scriabin Fantasy might persuade Channel Classics to record them in some of the high points of the piano duo repertoire, such as the Mozart Sonata for Two Pianos or Debussy’s En blanc et noir. Erik Levi
