Vladimir Nielsen

VLADIMIR NIELSEN
Soviet pianist (1910-1998)

The following performances by Vladimir Nielsen are Archive recordings of the Kiev and Leningrad Radio and date from the years spanning 1955 to 1960. My understanding is that he made only one commercial recording of works by Mozart and Schubert. What a Pity. And more's the pity that I have not been able to include those performances as well.

He studied Leningrad Conservatory and was appointed piano soloist of the Leningrad Philharmonic at upon graduation at the age of 19. It is said thet Nadezhda Golubovskaya, the teacher of Galina Werschenska, was wild about his playing. He was very highly considered within the Soviet Union but allowed to travel only within the Eastern Bloc, and then only for several years (1957-1959). He was not allowed to travel after that brief period until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 thirty years later when he performed in the United States, France, and in other post Soviet era European countries as well.

All of the pieces presented here are uniquely wonderful. Vladimir Nielsen's performance of the Schumann Waldszenen opens up new landscapes for me in a work I have loved all my life. I would say the same for the Op 20 Fairy Tale, one of my favorite works by Nikolai Medtner. Even the Mendelssohn Songs Without Words show me heretofore unsuspected depths. But in my opinion, the greatest treasures among the recordings we do have are the three pieces by Ravel in which he creates an entire universe all his own.

Vladimir Nielsen in Recital

SCHUMANN Waldszenen, Op.82
1 Eintritt
02:01 ➢ 2 Jager auf der Lauer
03:30 ➢ 3 Einsame Blumen
05:31 ➢ 4 Verrufene Stelle
08:06 ➢ 5 Freundliche Landschaft
09:30 ➢ 6 Herberge
11:34 ➢ 7 Vogel als Prophet
14:13 ➢ 8 Jagdlied
17:00 ➢ 9 Abschied

MENDELSSOHN Lieder ohne Worte
20:01 ➢ Moderato in B minor, Op 67~5
21:59 ➢ Andante tranquillo in B♭ major, Op 67~3.
24:08 ➢ Andante un poco agitato in E minor, Op 102~1
27:02 ➢ Allegro agitato in A minor, Op 85~2