Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; Pictures from Crimea; Night on Bald Mountain; etc. in Bloomington, MN

After diversions into other fields, including the music of her
namesake
, pianist
Sonya Bach
(Korean:
ì??ë? ë°?흐
) has emerged with a specialty one might expect from a student of
Lazar Berman
: she is a talented performer in Russian virtuoso repertory.
Mussorgsky
's music is better known in orchestral renderings than in keyboard versions, but to pull off a convincing recital for keyboard is difficult.
Bach
's is superb. She opens with an arrangement of the orchestral
Night on Bald Mountain
by
Konstantin Chernov
, dating from around 1902; the work was certainly heard this way prior to recordings (and it has been recorded as well before
's reading). It sets the large dimensions of
's performance, with a broad, gloomy witches' sabbath resolving to a melodic finale inaugurated by convincing church bells. For many listeners, the highlight will be the presence of four of
's rather sparse output of short piano pieces. Sample the minimalistic, two-line
Meditation: Album Leaf
, which is pure
in its total tonal independence, and wonder why this work is not included on recitals more often. The grand finale is
Pictures at an Exhibition
, also identified in the booklet as being an arrangement by
Chernov
, but this seems to be a mistake; what is heard is
's piano original. It is a superb performance, both imposing and wonderfully detailed in smaller sections like the "Tuilleries." With
Rubicon
's engineering from a Seoul studio catching all the many shades of
's performances, this is an unusually satisfying
release. ~ James Manheim