Pavel Pabst came from a musical family: his father was an organist
and opera composer, his mother an opera singer and elder brother
a pianist and teacher – one of his pupils being no less than Percy
Grainger! As a pianist, Pabst studied with Liszt, taught at the
Moscow Conservatoire, performed with Rachmaninov and helped both
Tchaikovsky and Arensky with their piano concertos. He composed
almost exclusively piano works, many of which have since been
lost.
His Piano Concerto in E flat is an absolute delight,
and combines a sort of touching simplicity and naivety with
virtuosic pyrotechnics and flamboyant romanticism. It opens
with an expansive and impassioned first movement – heroic
and epic, with very delicate passages in the cadenza contrasting
the rich, thick exuberant episodes. The slow movement is more
introspective, lyrical and reflective – really beautiful,
with a most noble theme entering towards the end. The third
movement opens, lively and dancing, and ends in a blaze of
virtuosity. Oleg Marshev gives a rollicking performance of
this excellent piece – he is superbly delicate and sensitive
when the music demands it, and big and swashbuckling in the
rest.
The Rimsky-Korsakov Piano Concerto in C sharp major
is based on a single theme, a folksong that Balakirev collected.
Although not as exciting and exhilarating a concerto as the
Pabst, this is nevertheless a good work, and deserves greater
recognition.
The disc concludes with Scriabin’s Piano Concerto
in F sharp minor, a relatively early work, so not yet reaching
the heady heights of passion that Scriabin later accomplishes,
but still a very accomplished piece. It is quite dark in place,
exotic in others, and as well played here as both the Pabst
and Rimsky-Korsakov.
These are lively and crisp performances, all the
performers playing with both astuteness and passion. A simply
splendid disc – and I can guarantee that you’ll be whistling
bits of the memorable Pabst for weeks!
Em Marshall
see also Review
by Rob Barnett
Oleg Marshev (piano) 
