INTERNATIONAL PIANO. Brahms

INTERNATIONAL PIANO March/April 2006 Brahms The Early Brahms Piano Sonata No. 1, Op.1. Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9. Four Ballades, Op. 10 Oleg Marshev (pf) Danacord DACOCD 643 Oleg Marshev has tackled a very wide range of Romantic repertoire on disc, including a series of Danish Romantic piano concertos and the piano music of Emil von Sauer. Here he turns to music that is more mainstream, though with the exception of the Ballades these works are not as frequently heard as they might be. Brahms's C major Sonata is in fact his second work in the genre (the first was the F sharp minor op.2). Like Mendelssohn's op.106, the shadow of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" looms large in the...

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GRAMOPHONE. Brahms

THE GRAMOPHONE December 2005 Brahms The Eraly Brahms Piano Sonata No. 1, Op.1. Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9. Four Ballades, Op. 10 Oleg Marshev (pf) Danacord DACOCD 643 Ringing authority in early Brahms from this gifted pianist Having wandered engagingly down the country lanes of Sauer, Pabst and Richard Strauss, the prolific Oleg Marshev, Danacord's gifted star pianist, is firmly on the motorway for his latest venture. The results are impressive. Though at least six works preceded the First Sonata in C major, Brahms's designated op.1 announced the arrival of its 19-year-old composer with unabashed self-confidence. After the expansive first movement, with its barely disguised genuflection to Beethoven and the Hammerklavier, there follows a set of variations...

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AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE. Brahms

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE November/December 2006 Brahms Piano Sonata No. 1, Op.1. Variations on a Theme by Schumann, Op. 9. Four Ballades, Op. 10 Oleg Marshev (pf) Danacord DACOCD 643 Marshev, born in the USSR and living now in Italy, has been on the international scene for some years; his US debut was in 1991. For Danacord he has made some 30 CDs, mostly of unusual repertory: the complete solo music of Prokofieff, Emil von Sauer’s complete piano music, four discs of Danish piano concertos, and so forth. Marshev shows a strong affinity for Brahms. He has the strength and control to clarify the thick textures of the sonata beautifully. The quicker variations in the Schumann set reveal a great technique,...

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Musicweb-international. Schubert

http://www.musicweb-international.com/ The late Schubert Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat Major, D960 (1828) [38:15] Drei Klavierstьcke, D946 (1828) [32:20] Oleg Marshev (pf) Danacord DACOCD 646 [70.09] For this release Danacord, the Danish-based independent label, have chosen Oleg Marshev as their soloist. He was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, then part of the former Soviet Union and also the birthplace of Rostropovich. Marshev trained with Valentina Aristova at the Gnesin School for highly gifted children and with Mikhail Voskresensky at the Moscow Conservatory where he completed his Doctorate in 1988. He was awarded the Diploma with Honour. Marshev plays these Schubert works on a Steinway Model D piano. Schubert wanted to dedicate his Piano Sonata No. 21 to Hummel but his...

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Classic FM. Schubert

Classic fm The late Schubert Piano Sonata No. 21 in B flat Major, D960 Three Piano Pieces, D946 Oleg Marshev (piano) Danacord DACOCD 646 Schubert's last few months were constantly plagued by syphilitic fits of giddiness, almost certainly the result of some ill-advised liaison some years beforehand. Despite this he hits just kept on coming, and included his Ninth Symphony ("Great"), his String Quintet and his final three piano sonatas. The B flat is the last of all Schubert's sonatas, and it is an unfanthomable achievement by a mere 31-year-old, from whom life was literally slipping away. Whereas some virtuosos choose to envelop the sonata in a haze of dreamy nostalgia, Oleg Marshev pays it as a valedictory statement in...

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CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB. Prokofiev Concertos

CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB February 2006 Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) The Five Piano Concertos CD 1 [68’49] Piano Concerto No. 1 (1911-2) [16’44] Piano Concerto No. 4 (1931) [27’29] Piano Concerto No. 5 (1932) [24’36] CD 2 [68’22] Piano Concerto No. 2 (1913, rev. 1923) [37’38] Piano Concerto No. 3 (1916-21) [30’44] Oleg Marshev (pf)/South Jutland SO/Niklas Willèn Danacord DACOCD584/5, Musikhuset, Sшnderborg, Denmark, 30 July – 10 August 2001 [2 CDs, 137’11] A thoroughly refreshing new “take” that is a strong contender for top billing. Marshev and Willèn prove to be a formidable interpretative pairing, superbly supported by the supple and slender South Jutland orchestra This new Danacord set is in fact anything but “new” – it was...

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PIANIST. Prokofiev Concertos

PIANIST October 2005 PIANIST'S CHOICE Sergei Prokofiev The five piano concertos Oleg Marshev (pf); South Jutland Symphony Orchestra/Niklas Willèn(cond) Danacord DACOCD 584-585 It says a lot for a record company like Danacord that it is prepared to stick with its artists enough to entrust them with the repertoire that's as popular as the Prokofiev piano concertos. With a pianist like Oleg Marshev - who has the complete Rachmaninov and Shostakovich concertos, complete Prokofiev solo piano music, von Sauer sonatas and studies, and much more under his belt for the Danish label - there was no doubt that the Marshev Prokofiev concerto cycle was going to be something to look forward to. But is it individual enough to stand out against...

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CLASSIC FM. Prokofiev Concertos

CLASSIC FM October 2005 Prokofiev Piano Concertos Nos 1-5 Oleg Marshev (piano); South Jutland SO/Niklas Willйn Danacord DACOCD 584-585 This set is a revelation. Instead of the routinely hard-edged piano sound that so many pianists bring to these works, Marshev offers a rounded, beautiful tone that genuinely draws you into the music, while in no way undercutting its virtuoso drive. In the Second Concerto's massively difficult opening movement, Marshev's command amazes, as does his deft touch with the attractive and rarely heard Fourth (for left hand only). The orchestral accompaniments, too, are seriously good. Malcolm Hayes

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CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB. Shostakovich

CLASSICAL MUSIC ON THE WEB January 2003 Shostakovich concertos Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975) Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings in C minor, op. 35 (1933) Piano Concerto No 2 in F, op. 102 (1957) 24 Preludes for Piano, op. 34 (1932-33) Oleg Marshev (piano) Helsingborg SO/Hannu Lintu Recorded 29 July – 2 August 2002, Konserthuset, Helsingborg Danacord DACOCD 601 / 76.52 It must have been knocking on for forty years ago that I read a review of a recording of Mahler’s First Symphony penned by the late, great Deryck Cooke. With so many recordings of the work already in the catalogue, he argued that the only possible justification for bringing out yet another was to produce an outright winner. What followed...

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International Piano. Shostakovich

  INTERNATIONAL PIANO March/April 2004 Shostakovich Piano Concerto no.1 in C minor, Op.35. Piano Concerto no. 2 in F, Op.102. 24 Preludes, Op. 34 Oleg Marshev (piano) Helsingborg SO/ Hannu Lintu Danacord DACOCD 601 Who would have thought it? I have heard quite a few of Oleg Marshev's Danacord recordings, and liked many of them a good deal; but I was fairly disappointed with his recent Rachmaninoff concertos cycle. Now, out of the blue, he comes up with a Shostakovich disc as impressive as any I have encountered. In the concertos I fancy he has at last displaced my long-standing loyalty to Alexeev and the composer himself, and I certainly haven't come across an account of the Preludes that approaches...

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