Get a free album when you join our newsletter. Sign up
Cover: Sergei Rachmaninov · Peter Tchaikovsky – Piano Sonata No. 1 · The Seasons

Sergei Rachmaninov · Peter Tchaikovsky

Piano Sonata No. 1

The Seasons

Olli Mustonen, piano

ODE 1082-5 · SACD / CD · September 2006

Buy / listen

Track listing

15 tracks · 71:09

Listen to samples on selected tracks.

Sergei Rachmaninov

  1. Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28 35:03
  2. 1 I. Allegro moderato 12:37
  3. 2 II. Lento 8:52
  4. 3 III. Allegro molto 13:46

Peter Tchaikovsky

  1. The Seasons, Op. 37b 36:02
  2. 4 I. January: At the Fireside 4:28
  3. 5 II. February: Carnival 2:46
  4. 6 III. March: Song of the Lark 2:20
  5. 7 IV. April: Snowdrop 2:35
  6. 8 V. May: Starlight Nights 3:25
  7. 9 VI. June: Barcarolle 3:01
  8. 10 VII. July: Song of the Reaper 1:37
  9. 11 VIII. August: Harvest 2:52
  10. 12 IX. September: The Hunt 2:35
  11. 13 X. October: Autumn Song 3:52
  12. 14 XI. November: Troika-Ride 2:52
  13. 15 XII. December: Christmas 3:31

About this recording

Mustonen's fourth solo piano album for Ondine, faithfully rendering his glittering piano sound and technique in SACD quality. It features Rachmaninov's seldom-performed first Piano Sonata, coupled with Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, a popular cycle of twelve intimate miniatures. Olli Mustonen, praised by The Sunday Times as "a living dream of pianism, having broken through an expressive barrier that other players do not know exists", is known for delivering a fresh and visionary approach to standard repertoire.

Features

Hybrid SACD (recorded in DSD; SACD Surround 5.0 / SACD Stereo / CD Stereo - playable on all SACD and CD players); booklet with liner notes in English, French, German and Finnish

Press

Mustonen creates a savage case for an unduly neglected sonata. (...) his super-human agility allows him a freedom unknown to lesser pianists. (...) Mustonen is no less remarkable in Tchaikovsky's Seasons, scorning their gentler, more domestic virtues.
Bryce Morrison, Gramophone, November 2006

A fervently committed rendition of this work, (...) filling the Sonata with this kind of life and sound vitamines, which I have been missing in many other recordings of the piece.
Peter Cossé, klassik-heute.com, September 25, 2006