Boris Pasternak's Piano Sonata

[Rugby]

Yes, THAT Pasternak:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p889zT1SKsc

Rugby

[Elgarian]

Thanks for posting the link to this--I knew about the Pasternak
sonata, but had never heard it.

Pasternak's mother, Rosa Kaufman, was a concert pianist of some repute
in pre-Revolutionary Russia and evidently knew both Scriabin and
Rachmaninov personally.

As the description on YouTube notes, as a young man Pasternak himself
was an admirer of Scriabin, and studied at the Moscow Conservatory
with aspirations to becoming a composer. He left the conservatory
when he realized that his main talent lay elsewhere--but not before
completing several student compositions.

There was a recording of the Pasternak sonata listed at Berkshire a
while back. The pianist and label were unfamiliar to me (and I can't
recall them now); I think the CD also included the Rachmaninov Piano
Sonata No. 2.

Many here will recall that in David Lean's film of Dr. Zhivago (which
is a rather romanticized and simplistic reduction of Pasternak's
book), there's a scene where Yuri Zhivago and Tonya are sitting on the
stairs and listening to a pianist (presumably Rachmaninov himself--we
never see the pianist) play Rachmaninov's G minor Prelude. Yuri
remarks admiringly, "That's genius"; whereupon Yuri's medical mentor,
a cynical professor, responds, "Really? I thought it was
Rachmaninov."

Regards,

John

[Elgarian]

On Feb 3, 3:24 pm, Elgarian <castlep...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> There was a recording of the Pasternak sonata listed at Berkshire a
> while back.  The pianist and label were unfamiliar to me (and I can't
> recall them now); I think the CD also included the Rachmaninov Piano
> Sonata No. 2.

I've just tracked down the recording on Amazon: Carlo Levi Minzi, on
the Antes label.

Anyone familiar with this pianist and the recording?

Regards,

John

["mcdonaldREMOVE TO...@scs.uiuc.edu]

I'd sure love it if someone who owned the recordings of the
Pasternak and also the various Lyatoshynsky things would rip
them in good stereo and post somewhere.

Doug McDonald

[Rugby]

On Feb 3, 3:43 pm, "mcdonaldREMOVE TO ACTUALLY REACH ME"@scs.uiuc.edu
wrote:

Particularly since I have contacted the cd label for the Lyatoshynsky
pieces ( in Prague) , and am advised the cd is OOP and supply, and get
the distinct impression no further production is contemplated even
though originally issued just in 2006 . A Ukrainian retailer
alledgedly in business since 1999 has none, nor does Amazon.

If you find a source for the Lyatoshynsky cd, please let me know.
Thanks.

Rugby

[CharlesSmith]

Thanks. This is interesting, but on balance I would say he made the
right career choice.