Gramophone Magazine
October 2024
Editor's Choice

Boris Brovtsyn (violin), Eldar Nebolsin (piano), Spectrum Concerts Berlin

Taneyev, S: Sonata for Violin and Piano
Taneyev, S: Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 30

Sergey Taneyev’s music was acclaimed by some as a ‘model of pure style and sublime art’, but he was a loner whose supreme mastery of European Classical technique placed him outside the more nationalist trends of the day. The Violin Sonata in A minor is neo-Classical in its reserved and often song-like moods and expressions. It contrasts with the grand scale of the Piano Quintet in G minor in which the virtuoso nature of the piano writing reflects Taneyev’s own prowess, and the brilliant integration of the works’ themes cumulate into an overwhelming conclusion.

"With glorious string-playing – in tune, polished, well matched and well balanced – this is a performance that rivals Pletnev’s Award-winner…A disc to warm the cockles of a Taneyev fan’s heart." - Gramophone Magazine, October 2024