Oleg Timofeyev & John Schneiderman - The Russian Guitar 1800-1850 (2016)

Tracklist
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01. The Poor Branch
02. In the Valley
03. Troïka
04. In the Garden
05. Four Études: Étude No. 1
06. Four Études: Étude No. 2
07. Four Études: Étude No. 3
08. Four Études: Étude No. 4
09. Variations on Weber's Last Thought
10. Rondo à la Savoyard
11. Kamarinskaia
12. In the Valley
13. Exercise in A Minor
14. I Feel Bad
15. Pour biendans ma chaumière
16. How Did I Upset You?
17. Akh vy seni
18. Mozart Variations
19. March
20. Stop Singing, oh Nature's Friend
21. I Love Pear
22. You Won't Believe
23. Étude in D Major
24. Étude in G Major
25. Étude in A Minor
26. Rondoletto
27. Rondo
28. Polonaise de Mars
29. Sonata for Violin and Seven-String Guitar: I. Allegro moderato
30. Sonata for Violin and Seven-String Guitar: II. Polish Song with Variations
31. Fantasia
32. Sonata: I. Allegro moderato
33. Sonata: II. Rondo. Allegretto
34. D'un mensonge
35. On dit que sans espérance
36. À ma Clémence
37. Polonaise
38. Perduta l'arbitra
39. Se m'abandoni
40. Variations
41. Kozak-Air Russe
42. Fantasia
43. Not a Peacock
44. Troïka
45. I Loved Rose
46. Don't Be Surprised
47. Fantasia on the Themes from Cramer's Études
48. Remember, My Friend
49. Bach's Fugue
50. Cossack
51. Rondo
52. Go Home, Dear Cow
53. Ukrainian Song
54. Ogiski's Polonaise
55. Ah, Mother, I Have a Headache
56. Vanyusha
57. Polonaise
58. Polonaise
59. Kamarinskaia
60. Potpourri from Life for the Tsar
61. Polonaise in A Major
62. Polonaise in F Minor
63. Variations on Two Songs
64. Polonaise
65. My Heart
66. Graziella
67. It is Hard for Me
68. Gallop
69. Scherzo
70. L'illusion perdue
71. An Orphan's Song
72. Ballad
73. Prayer
74. Melody
75. Capriccio in B Minor
76. Capriccio in G Major
77. Tyrolian Waltz
78. Waltz
79. Two Marches: March No. 1
80. Two Marches: March No. 2
81. Three Exercises: No. 1 in G Major. Andante
82. Three Exercises: No. 2 in G Major. Allegro moderato
83. Three Exercises: No. 3 in G Minor
84. Six Études: I. Étude in G Major
85. Six Études: II. Étude in D Major
86. Six Études: III. Étude in D Minor
87. Six Études: IV. Étude in B Minor
88. Six Études: V. Étude in C Minor
89. Six Études: VI. Étude in F Minor
90. Romance Without Words
91. Fantasia "At the Seashore"
92. Four Études: I. Étude in B Minor
93. Four Études: II. Étude in C Major
94. Four Études: III. Étude in D Minor
95. Four Études: IV. Étude in G Minor
96. Ukrainian Dance
97. Cavatina "di tanti palpiti"
98. But Sylvia Is Not Here
99. My Little Dove
100. To the Hearts
101. Sonata for Violin and Guitar: I. Moderato
102. Sonata for Violin and Guitar: II. La chasse
103. Variations on "Que le jour me dure"
104. Forgive Me
105. Potpourri of Russian Folksongs
106. To the River
107. The Ray of Hope
108. Polonaise
This comprehensive release is a celebration of the astonishing presence of the guitar in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. Just the sheer number of composers featured on this 7-CD album exemplifies how popular the instrument was. Though many of these composers have now fallen into obscurity, their works live on - discovered by renowned guitarist Oleg Timofeyev, an expert on the music of this time. Mr Timofeyev is known for reviving the seven‐string Russian guitar, and it is on this instrument that he performs these works, many of which have never been recorded before.
The release starts with one of the masters of the instrument, Andrey Sychra, whose numerous pupils form many of the composers on this album. Sychra was an accomplished harpist, and several of his works seem to imitate the delicacy of the harp. His fine Études are among the first for Russian guitar, and this style would be elaborated on by many of Sychra's followers, whether they were meant for study or the concert hall. Sychra was also adept at programmatic music, with his compositions after poems able to depict atmospheric scenes, particularly apparent in his works based on Russian folk songs. Other composers, such as Mikhail Vysotsky, preferred to extemporise on themes by well‐known composers; Vysotsky chose Cramer's Études as a basis for his free-flowing Fantasia, and even arranged the third contrapunctus from J.S. Bach's Art of Fugue in a remarkably original and novel transcription.
The final CD of this album sees the Russian guitar paired with other instruments - unusual, as Russian guitarists, often in the military or part of land‐owning nobility, rarely had an opportunity to play alongside other musicians. We have Piotr Naimanowsky's Variations for guitar and fortepiano, a sympathetic working of the popular French air Que le jour me dure, and a Sonata for violin and guitar by Antoine de L'Hoyer, a Frenchman who spent 10 years in Russia and frequently wrote for the Russian guitar.
This innovative release represents an exciting chance to discover the severely neglected world of the Russian guitar during this period. As Oleg Timofeyev and his companions show, there is a wealth of music worthy of attention here, in a variety of genres and styles.
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