Samuil Feinberg's 3rd piano concerto

[fnork]

If you have 45 minutes to spare, do have a listen to Samuil Feinberg's 3rd piano concerto. It is basically entirely neglected, yet for me, I think it's one of the most touching and deep Russian piano concertos written. While Feinberg's earlier works up until the early 30's were highly modernistic, experimental and Scriabin-influenced, he moved in a different direction and also stopped performing his earlier opuses in concerts. The later works, however, are by no means less inventive or less interesting. In the 3rd concerto, Feinberg seems to be at a peak in melodic inventiveness - the melodic lines are often long-spun, and the orchestration is perfectly balanced to my ears, ranging from intimate solo/duo passages (as the duo episode between cello and piano in the 2nd movement) to using the entire orchestra to great effect. The 2nd movement is endlessly beautiful, and while the finale starts enigmatically, it evolves into a simple chorale that gets presented very interestingly. I hope this will be a rewarding discovery to some PW members. Any reflections/thoughts on this music?

[mjames]

Wow great find, I always thought he only composed the modern type of music. Which is why I kind of stayed away from his works, but to think he composed in this style. Freaking awesome concerto, thank you so much for the recording!

[fnork]

Yes, he made a quite radical shift in the 1930's, up until then he was free to write as he wanted but then due to pressures of writing 'soviet realist' music, he stopped performing his old works, and also changed his style quite a bit. Not that the late works are not challenging - I actually adore some of the late works the most, such as piano sonata nr 11 and this concerto. But yes, it is a somewhat different Feinberg comparing to the early stuff.

Glad you liked this.