Kazhlayev, Prelude No. 1, from Six Preludes (1968)

[rachfan]

Murad Kazhlayev, a composer and conductor, was born in Baku, Russia in 1931.  He graduated from the Baku State Conservatory. There he studied composition with Boris Zeidman. Kazhlayev was a teacher at the Tchaikovsky Music School in Makhachkala.  He was the chief conductor of the Dagestan Radio Symphonic Orchestra and later the Artistic Director of the Dagestan Philharmonic Hall Orchestra. And for 10 years he was in charge of the Variety Symphonic Orchestra named after Y. V. Silantyev. Most recently he established the Dagestan Musical School for Gifted Children.  He also founded a museum dedicated to the musical culture of Dagestan affiliated with the school.  Kazhlayev has been recognized and awarded several times including the prestigious People’s Artist of the USSR and the Order for the Merit for Dagestan Republic.

LINK: https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php?topic=61597.0

I hope you'll enjoy hearing this piece.

Piano: Baldwin Model L Artist Grand (6’3”) with lid fully raised.
Recorder: Roland R-44
Mics: Matched pair of Earthworks TC-20 small diaphragm, omni-directional condenser mics in A-B configuration

[visitor]

this is outstanding work David. It's not my first brush with this composer, but my first exposure to this piece. I do wonder if i have this work in my soviet archives. If i do, i will give it a few more listens w/ score in hand. if i didn't know it wasn't by Taktakishvilli, i would have thought this was Ottar up to usual lyrical shenanigans. I don't know, it sounds more 'Georgian" to me than "Russian" , but then again Dagestan borders the Georgian regions so the overlap is there. That jumps at me right away
There's a nice acidic sweetness to the piece and your tone and treatment of it are appropriate (like a sweet orange or grapefruit, has a bit of bite but still so good   ).
I am still forming my impressions of the piece in more details but I immediately love the piece and your playing doesn't disappoint and is up to your usual high standard.
This piece suits your instrument as well, i love a slightly darker baldwin sound for these types of things, those lower registers have so much color. this is spot on and a welcome addition to the board and your repertoire.
Thanks for sharing.  

[rachfan]

Hi visitor,

I'm so glad you liked this music!  And thanks for your comments on my playing. This prelude is almost a Russian song of the blues and has just a bit of jazz as well.  You know Kazhlayev is truly a Late Romantic AND despite his age he is still there. Here is the states I think that this music is not well known.  If so, I've done something to raise awareness.

In 1984 I changed from a 1924 Steinway medium grand to a brand new Baldwin Model L which is considered to be a full grand.  I've never regretted the change. I love the darker sound that you mentioned.

Thanks for stopping and listening to this piece.

David  

[ted]

This is a very attractive little piece, sensitively played. Not that similarity  implies anything much, but now and then I could have sworn I was listening to John Ireland; it exudes the same type of strong nostalgic sentiment. It is really just a regular pulse, leaving its communicative power to brief phrases and luscious chords. In hands less adept at bending the pulse it would lose much, but there is no danger of that with you. I see that the composer is living, and is a highly respected musician. The most promising fact about him to me is that he was expelled from music school for playing "non-academic genres". A similar thing happened to Billy Mayerl in England so that sort of nonsense wasn't confined to Russia.

[rachfan]

Hi Ted,

You probably least expected me to be playing the blues ha-ha!  Yes, it certainly does have some merits.  Hmmm, I have three CDs of Ireland's pieces.  I got the sheet music for "Sarnia", but it's difficult to play.  But yes, the nostalgia is found in both. I too liked some of the chords.

I didn't know that Kazhlayev was expelled from the conservatory.  The Soviet Ministry of Culture was notorious for actions like that.  When Catoire died the ministry was beseiged to allow a reprinting of his piano and other works.  The ministry after great delays finally allowed a format of one thin volume which sold out immediately. There has never been any further reprints to this day. When I recorded three sets of Catoire's pieces, I had to use the original printings which were difficult to read.

When Cliburn went to Russia for the competition, and it concluded, the jury huddled behind closed doors, and finally a small delegation from the ministry went to the Kremlin for a brief meeting with Kruschev.  They wanted to ignore Cliburn and give the awards to a Russian.  Kruschev fumed, and to his credit, pointedly asked who was the best pianist.  The visitors said Cliburn.  Kruschev again to his credit said "Then give him the prizes!"  The USSR Ministry of Culture was a piece of work.

David  

[goldentone]

Hi David,

You did a very nice job with this eclectic, roving piece.  Is that your impression
of it?  It's good that you've taken on a contemporary composer.  Something you
can add to your artistic accomplishments.

[rachfan]

Hi goldentone,

Overall I really came to like this piece a lot.  It has a nice flow to it.  I especially liked playing that powerful and beautiful climax toward the middle of the piece. I think those progressive chords which he wove into the fabric added even more color. 

Thanks for listening and commenting.

David

[cbreemer]

A nice piece with lush harmonies and occasionally blues-ey twists. It sounds like Kazhlayev
is an accomplished if maybe not terribly original piano composer. I thought for a moment I was listening to a piano reworking of Borodin's famous Nocturne. Did you get to know this one from
fyrexianoff's Youtube channel ? He has tons of stuff by unknown Russian/Soviet composers.

Very well played as always. I thought I spotted a moment of confusion (or in any case an
unexpected pause) somewhere towards the end. Just to have *something* to niggle ;-)

One might indeed detect a certain kinship to Ireland. Now there is a splendid piano composer who
should get far more exposure. You're right that Sarnia is damn difficult. I've cut my teeth on it too,
and they still hurt

[ajlongspiano]

Brilliant work, rachfan! At this point, I don't care about music being completely original. Nowadays that kind of music isn't very pleasant to the ear, haha. I'm glad you play these obscure pieces. Makes me very happy to be on this forum!

Best,

AJ Long

[rachfan]

Hi C,

Good to hear from you again! Yes, Kazhlayev might not be Rachmaninoff or Scriabin, but I do think that his music is certainly highly creditable.  I knew you'd find that "unexpected pause"!  It's a half second or so.  It's a leap and I probably should have shot a glance at the keyboard down below, but didn't do it. I call it a "senior moment".     

I haven't heard that Borodin in many years.  So now I'm going to listen to it again.

No, I didn't know of fyrexianoff's resources.  I've always gone to Malcomb Ballan at Pianophilia.  He's never let me down on Russian scores.  And he's let me do a few premier recordings too.

Re Ireland, whew!  I have three CDs of his piano works, but have yet to learn even a single piece.  Maybe some day.

Thanks for stopping by and complimenting my playing.

David

[rachfan]

Hi AJ

Thank you for stopping and listening to this piece by Kazhlayev.  And thanks for those kudos on my playing.  I appreciate it! 

For several years I've specialized in Russian music for the piano.  I'm a Late Romantic fan, especially of the Russians.  That's all I play now.  If it doesn't have a lush sound, I won't play it. Life is to short to waste it on ugly music.  Kazhlayev is still with us -- age 85.

The accomplished composers that I seek must also be obscure, unknown, and/or forgotten.  Often times pianists ask me where I found  the "new music".  What new music? I learned and recorded it, but most the credit and appreciation really should go to the composer.     

Thanks again.

David

[emill]

Hello David,

Thank you for the info on Kazhlayev .... it sets the mood for something, perhaps "sad" without expectation of a solution. So fitting for the searing and paralyzing heat of summer here.

emill

[rachfan]

Hi emill,

Thanks for stopping by.  I believe that your description of mood is correct.  I like this composer, and I may do another of his pieces unless something else is closer in the cue. 

David

[chechig]

Beautiful piece and wonderful performance!!! Bravo!! Thanks for sharing!!!

[rachfan]

Hi chechig,

Thanks for listening and commenting too!  I really appreciate it.  If you like Late Romantic piano music mostly from Russia, Ukraine and Dagestan, I have 44 of my recordings from that genre listed on two full pages at YouTube.  But I have to figure out how the Channel works and to set it up.

Enjoy!

David (rachfan)

[chechig]

Hi chechig,

Thanks for listening and commenting too!  I really appreciate it.  If you like Late Romantic piano music mostly from Russia, Ukraine and Dagestan, I have 44 of my recordings from that genre listed on two full pages at YouTube.  Here is the link:

Yes, I know, thanks. I've been suscribed to your channel in youtube for a long time, Msburgmuller.

[derschoenebahnhof]

Hi chechig,

Thanks for listening and commenting too!  I really appreciate it.  If you like Late Romantic piano music mostly from Russia, Ukraine and Dagestan, I have 44 of my recordings from that genre listed on two full pages at YouTube.  Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U

Enjoy!

David (rachfan)

Hi Rachfan,

This looks like the link to your private YouTube videos page, because if I click on it, it just redirects me to my own YouTube account. Could you try posting a link again to your playlist?

Thanks!
CG

[rachfan]

Hi,

OK, I apologize for the misinformation on the link! Please bear with me, as I'm not great with UT's technicalities.  As I understand it, chechig (CG) and MsBurgmuller (whom I've known for a long time) both need a workable link. Also derschoenebahnhof, is interested as well.

I just went over to UT to look through their menu.  It appears that I would need to make a play list and post it on my Channel. Is that how it's done? If yes, I'll have to figure out how to do a play list and post it there.  Hopefully that will generate a unique URL link to my play list.

Anybody want to chime in? 

David




 

[chechig]

 As I understand it, chechig (CG) and MsBurgmuller (whom I've known for a long time) both need a workable link. Also derschoenebahnhof, is interested as well.

David
 

Msburgmuller and chechig is the same person, sorry, it's my mistake. First, I created the account in pianostreet, and later the youtube channel but with different names, a silly thing. You couldnt know it.

[rachfan]

  You know, I wondered about the two names being the same person.  The very same thing happened to me at Piano Society recently.  I finally got rid of the other one with the help of one of the Admins.

While I was at YouTube, I came to the conclusion that the playlist wouldn't be great. If more than one person were to use it, some might like the selections while someone else might want different selections.  It looked to me that the ideal solution would be the Channel.  When I first went in there, I could move all 44 pieces in there, sort of like a download or upload.  I then filled out the electronic application form and got the necessary verification of my name using a code word they do via a phone call. So that's in place now.  But... nothing's easy. I couldn't upload the copied videos from the Video Manager to the Channel.

I'll look more into it tomorrow.  There's pages on the net saying that "it takes only minutes".  I don't think so!    Didn't IPod users download music files that way?  Maybe that's old technology now.  I still work with a PC and landline telephone.   

I'll let you know what I find out.

David

[derschoenebahnhof]

There's pages on the net saying that "it takes only minutes".  I don't think so!   

As a software engineer, I can confirm that anything management thinks will take minutes usually takes hours or days ;-)

Anyway, no rush for me on the link, and thanks Rachfan for posting these recordings on the audition room!

Best,
CG

[rachfan]

I haven't totally given up the idea of setting up a channel at YouTube. But I'm not very confident about it either.

David