Samuel Evgenievitch Feinberg (1890-1962) was famous in his lifetime as a virtuoso pianist and respected teacher, and somewhat less as a composer of great imagination and skill. The piano sonatas presented on this disc reveal two stylistic sides of Feinberg: the elaborate, intensely chromatic fantasist of Sonatas No. 7 and No. 8; and the more diatonic, elegant academic of the Sonatas No. 9-12. Listeners will be reminded of Scriabin in the first two works, for that composer's influence was strong on Feinberg until 1934. During the repressive Stalinist years and until his death, Feinberg either maintained silence or published more accessible works that passed party scrutiny. His later style, safely within conservative Soviet guidelines, was influenced by
Prokofiev, but elements of Feinberg's earlier wildness still appear in his unpredictable modulations and ambiguous tonality.
Nikolaos Samaltanos and
Christophe Sirodeau divide the six sonatas between them, and deliver them with equal levels of enthusiasm and sensitivity. Sonatas No. 7, No. 8, and No. 9 receive their world-premiere recordings here, and the revelation of these exciting works is an important step in restoring Feinberg's reputation, long overdue. The recording is satisfactory, though it has a recital hall resonance that suggests distant microphone placement.