In Reply to: Kabalevsky on Chandos posted by Mike Porper on November 2, 2015 at 13:18:58:
Of his three piano sonatas, I know nos. 2 and 3. In fact, back in the early 60's when I was growing up, our family attended a recital by Byron Janis, which included the Kabelevsky Sonata No. 2. At that time (my first hearing of the work), I found the piece pretty wild (in a good sense!), and I soon acquired the sheet music. It's a very demanding piece for the pianist (on the order of the bigger Prokofiev sonatas, or perhaps the Barber Sonata), and I thought Janis played the heck out of it! Unfortunately, Janis left no recording of this work.The Third Sonata is much easier and I hear it every so often on student recitals. It's a much easier to grasp piece for the listener too, with its catchy main theme.
Although Janis to my knowledge never recorded the Kabelevsky Second Sonata, his erstwhile teacher, Vladimir Horowitz, did record both the second and third sonatas. I have Horowitz' broadcast performance of the second, which appeared on the Urania label. It comes from a period (late 40's) when Horowitz was still really in his prime and it's a tremendous account of the music! Horowitz also has an RCA recording of the Third Sonata, which I haven't heard.
Edits: 11/03/15
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Follow Ups
- Kabelevsky also has a lot of piano solo music - Chris from Lafayette 10:49:28 11/03/15 (0)