Anna Shelest and “A Romantic from Kharkiv”

This past weekend in New York there were two CD release parties in celebration of the latest recording of Anna Shelest with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Neeme Järvi.

Entitled A Romantic from Kharkiv: Music of Sergei Bortkiewicz, the CD is a celebration of the pianist and composer, whose music grew out of the tragedy of the two World Wars, and whose music is described by critics as “luxuriantly Romantic, with strong, memorable melodies often compared to Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky.”

Although I did not attend the concert, Mr. Cosmo and Mr. Alexander were there and explained to me that the new recording is not only important because Ms. Shelest was also born and raised in Kharkiv before coming to America when she was fifteen years old, it is also important because of the brilliant quality of the music, and the chance for pianist to explore exciting repertoire that is not often heard. Ms. Shelest is becoming known more and more for her scholarly approach to exploring and performing lesser-known repertoire, and her projects of this kind are always exciting. In fact, her album Donna Voce 3, which features works by women composers, has been submitted to the Grammy Awards for consideration.

Mr. Cosmo also told me that for the release party, in addition to other solo works by Bortkiewicz, there was a performance of the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1, which featured two pianos, with Ms. Shelest’s husband, Dmitri, playing the orchestral part on one, while Ms. Shelest played the solo part of the other.

I continue to be inspired by these two great pianists, and I suggest that anyone who is studying the piano can learn a great deal from them by leaning more about their recordings, and listening to their videos, many of which are available on YouTube.

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