Tchaikovsky’s Grande Sonate, in G major was dedicated to Karl Klindworth, and first performed at a private hearing in 1879, by Nikolay Rubinstein, founder of the Moscow Conservatory. Composed in the autumn of 1896, the Six Moments musicaux of Rachmaninoff adopt musical forms from previous eras: the nocturne, song without words, barcarolle, virtuoso étude, and theme and variations. Written in haste in order to meet the commission deadline (the twenty-three-year-old Rachmaninoff was desperately short of funds), the set evidences his virtuosity, and is full of portent of the music to come. Barry Douglas writes: ‘This recording project with Chandos Records is a personal salute from me to great masterworks of the Russian repertoire. I am an Irish pianist who, nevertheless, feels a deep affinity with Russian culture, and felt it even before I had the good fortune to win the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986. Our own Irish composer and virtuoso pianist John Field, who invented the Nocturne and taught a whole generation of Russian musicians, fermented the linkage between Ireland and Russia, and I feel very proud to help keep this synergy alive!’
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