Prokofiev: 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet; Dilorom Saidaminova: The Walls of Ancient Bukhara; Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Behzod Abduraimov (piano)
Alpha Classics ALPHA1028 73:42 mins
Behzod Abduraimov, who began his meteoric career by winning the London International Piano Competition in 2009 at the age of 18, seems to prefer touring the US to playing in Britain, so this album is the closest British audiences are likely to get to him at present. And this time, rather than allowing his excellence in Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Rachmaninov to shine out, he keeps his main focus on byways.
He’s not the only Uzbek on the international circuit – others include Yefim Bronfman and Stanislav Ioudenitch – but he’s fiercely proud of his alma mater in Tashkent, and here he’s promoting the music of one of his teachers, Dilorom Saidaminova. She too likes to flourish her origins, hence the novelty in this programme, her collection of short pieces entitled The Walls of Ancient Bukhara.
Five hundred years ago, that city was the biggest cultural centre in Asia, with a remarkable flowering of creativity by poets, painters, mathematicians, architects and musicians. Her pieces are tonal but gently dissonant, and not impressionistic in the normal sense of the word. But they’re very atmospheric, and allow Abduraimov ample scope to display his artistry. The first piece feels like an Uzbek lute improvisation, after which the musical landscape opens out magically, with Abduraimov creating delicately understated effects.
His account of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suite affords further evidence that he is one of the world’s most accomplished poets of the keyboard, and I have never heard ‘Ondine’ so dainty and insinuating, or ‘Le gibet’ so gravely beautiful.