With a balanced and diverse program executed with technical brilliance and expressive intensity, this disc of Russian piano music played by pianist
Benjamin Moser is a delight from start to finish. The program takes works by well-known composers like
Rachmaninov and
Prokofiev, along with works by less well-known composers like Scriabin and
Medtner, then mixes together familiar works like four of
Rachmaninov's preludes with less familiar works like his Etudes Tableaux, and the result is a continually surprising and always satisfying collection. More importantly,
Moser's performances are uniformly first-class. The young German pianist has a gargantuan technique that can handle anything from the delicate filigree of
Rachmaninov's sultry G sharp minor Prelude to the muscular calisthenics of
Prokofiev's hurtling Precipitato from his Seventh Sonata. But he also has a soul that shines through in every piece, an absolute necessity in Russian music. Few readings of Scriabin's overheated Fantasy in B minor have the steady-beating heart of
Moser's account and fewer readings of the central Andante caloroso from
Prokofiev's sonata have the sense of tragedy that
Moser brings to it. Recording in crisp, clean but not especially evocative sound,
Moser's disc should be heard by anyone interested in great piano playing.