SAMUIL FEINBERG (1890-1962) Russian Pianist and Composer
Samuil Feinberg has been one of my gods since I was a student in high school over forty years ago, solely based on an old Russian recording on the MK label of the Bach Well Tempered Clavier. For someone brought up on Glenn Gould and Wanda Landowska, it was an epiphany. His playing was Romantic, beautiful, technically awe inspiring, and yet completely different from anything I had ever heard. While Gould's Bach was, and still remains for me, the ideal of Bach in the late 20th century, Feinberg shook my faith.
His conception of Bach is a three dimensional, liquid fabric, each voice a wave that is ever present, coming closer to the surface when called, receding under the surface when in a secondary role, but always present. I am no Proust and it is very difficult to describe sound in words, but if you close your eyes and let the sound he creates wash over you, you will have an idea of what I mean.
His interpretations are always entirely his own, never reminding of someone else, sometimes unsettling, always convincing. You will hear his Beethoven, quite unlike any other, his Chopin, beautiful if seemingly unidiomatic, his Schumann, more transparent and spontaneous, and you will walk away wondering if an important and well kept secret has been shared with you.
I was an usher at Carnegie Hall in New York City when I was in college and the Moscow Philharmonic came to play. I had the opportunity to ask several of the musicians if they knew Samuil Feinberg. "Ah, Professor Feinberg is a very feared man." The reply was given with a smile, a hint perhaps, Feinberg having died some six years earlier.
What I did not know until fairly recently is that Feinberg was also an important composer. I owe eternal gratitude to one of YouTube's contributors, someone who goes by the very pianistic name of Hexameron, for posting much of his piano music.
On this page you will hear Feinberg the pianist performing Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Schumann. I have so far found only one recording of him playing a work of his own, but many of his music played by other fine pianists.
Samuil Feinberg the composer
will have a page of his own, as will his rather stupendous
piano concerti
.
Essential to an understanding and appreciation of Feinberg the composer is a familiarity of the works for piano of Alexander Scriabin in whose footsteps he follows. Scriabin's music, which grows out of Chopin (listen to Scriabin's Opus 3 Mazurkas), seems to come to an historical dead end. Feinberg is Scriabin's musical heir and happily I have many of
his recordings of Scriabin's works for the piano
to share with you.
Bach Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor, BWV 903
Bach Prelude and Fugue Book I N°7 in F minor, BWV 857
Bach Prelude and Fugue Book II N°4 in C sharp minor, BWV 873
Bach Prelude and Fugue Book II N°18 in G# minor, BWV 887
Bach Toccata in C minor BWV 911 Recorded in 1961
Mozart 12 Variations in B flat Major, KV. 500
Beethoven Piano Sonata 4 Op 7 in Eb Major Recorded in the 1960s
i. Allegro molto e con brio
ii. Largo, con gran espressione
iii. Allegro
iv. Rondo: Poco allegretto e grazioso
Beethoven Piano Sonata 11 in B flat Major Op 22 Recorded in 1960
i Allegro con brio
ii Adagio con molta espressione
iii Menuetto iv Rondo - Allegretto
Beethoven Piano Sonata 23 Op 57 "Appassionata" Recorded in the late 1930s
i. Allegro assai
ii. Andante con moto iii. Allegro, ma non troppo
Chopin Ballade N°4 in F minor, Op.52
Chopin 3 Mazurkas Op.59 N°1 in A minor N°2 in A-flat major N°3 in F-sharp minor
Liszt Consolation N°6 in E Major Recorded in the late 1930s
Liszt Mephisto Waltz N°1
Schumann Humoresque in Bb Major, Op.20 Recorded in 1953
i Einfach - Sehr rasch und leicht - Hastig - Einfach und leicht
ii Intermezzo - Innig - Sehr lebhaft
iii Finale
Schumann Waldszenen, Op.82 Recorded in 1953
i 1 Eintritt 2 Jager auf der Lauer 3 Einsame Blumen 4 Verrufene Stelle 5 Freudliche
ii 6 Herberge 7 Vogel als Prophet 8 Jagdlied 9 Abschied
