Nikolai Lugansky

Nikolai Lugansky – Richard Wagner: Famous Opera Scenes (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:57 minutes | 773 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Wagner’s genius is often associated with his unique sense of orchestration. These transcriptions and paraphrases for piano reveal the beauty and boldness of his harmonic language, whose suggestive power was unparalleled at the time. With Nikolai Lugansky, who is both narrator and virtuoso here, the listener is immersed in a world of legends where heroes – with sublimity – tell of human torments and longings.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Richard Wagner Famous Opera Scenes (2024) [24Bit-96kHz] FLAC [PMEDIA] ⭐️
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:57 minutes | 774 MB | Genre: Classique
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover

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Nikolai Lugansky – Tchaikovsky: Grand Sonata & The Seasons (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:21:35 minutes | 1,95 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © naïve classique

Though less well-known than his operas, his symphonies and concertos, Tchaikovsky’s piano music nonetheless contains at least essential works of his, i.e. the cycle The Seasons Op. 37b, and the Grand Sonata Op. 37. Composed at a period of crisis in the composer’s personal life, they illustrate two quite different aspects of his style: on the one hand we have the fashionable worldliness of The Seasons, pieces that almost belong to the genre of salon music; on the other hand, we see him ambitiously grappling with the large format of the classical sonata, in the tradition of his illustrious predecessors. Composed between December 1875 and May 1876, the cycle of The Seasons was written like some kind of musical calendar for the year 1876, to a commission by the publisher of the monthly review Le Nouvelliste, the idea being to issue a piano piece every month. Composed in 1878 when the classical sonata – which composers deemed to be too restrictive – was largely abandoned in favour of free-form pieces, Tchaikovsky’s Grand Sonata in G major upheld the ancient four-movement structure. The pianistic writing of the Grand Sonata conveys a sense of forceful power that seems to go beyond the tonal dimensions of the piano and conjure up the multiple sound resources of a symphony orchestra, as might be expected from someone of the composer’s power. In a letter to his younger brother, Tchaikovsky complained about the difficulties he faced in writing his sonata: “I’m working on a sonata for piano… [and its composition] does not come easily. I worked unsuccessfully, with little progress. I’m again having to force myself to work, without much enthusiasm. I can’t understand why it should be the case that, in spite of so many favourable circumstances, I’m not in the mood for work. I’m having to squeeze out of myself weak and feeble ideas, and ruminate over each bar. But I keep at it, and hope that inspiration will suddenly strike.” Tchaikovsky isn’t particularly a piano composer; and the only recording of him that Nikolai Lugansky had made up till now was of the First Piano Concerto; even though the pianist had played several of his works for the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994. He has been described by Gramophone as ‘the most trailblazing and meteoric performer of all’ for his extraordinary depth and versatility.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:22:07 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical, Piano
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Unfortunately no, dear reader, there is no such thing as a cycle of “24 Preludes” by Rachmaninoff; however there are indeed 24 Preludes: a collection of ten Op. 23 from 1903, 13 other Op. 32 from 1910 and one isolated Prelude from the Morceaux de fantaisie Op. 3 (Fantasy Pieces) from 1893. In total: 24 Preludes, in which as a simple count shows Rachmaninoff − much like Chopin and of course Bach − illustrated all major and minor tones. Deliberately random, or the involuntary drive to create a reasonably coherent cycle? Contrary to his two illustrious predecessors, Rachmaninoff didn’t order his Preludes according to a specific tonal plan: the musician’s fantasy develops bit by bit.

Nikolai Lugansky – described by the famous magazine Gramophone as “the most innovative and transcendent interpreter of all” (so much for the others…), truly an extraordinarily deep and polyvalent pianist – decided to present the Preludes in the order prescribed by partitions, rather than reorganising them according to some hypothetical tonal logic, without knowing if Rachmaninoff would even have recommended or even considered it, particularly as the constant alternation of moods, independently of any tonal consideration, gives the piece a sense of perfect coherence. Finally it’s worth mentioning that Lugansky offers a very “original” interpretation of this divine music, which may feel like a re-discovery to some listeners.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Franck: Préludes, Fugues & Chorals (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:33 minutes | 888 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Given the paucity of César Franck’s piano music on disc, Nikolai Lugansky’s focus on this composer is to be commended. On his third release for harmonia mundi, the Russian pianist reveals an organ master strongly attached to the musical forms inherited from J.S. Bach: the prelude, the fugue, and the chorale. Translated to the piano keyboard, Franck’s music, with it’s expansively conceived structures, requires a completely fresh approach that puts the greatest performers to the test: here, Lugansky took on an additional challenge by preparing his own transcription (a brilliant one, at that!) of Franck’s celebrated Choral pour grand orgue No.2.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Debussy: Suite bergamasque (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:08 minutes | 674 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

A century after his death on 25 March 1918, many harmonia mundi artists are eager to pay tribute to Claude Debussy, the magician of melody and timbre, the great ‘colourist’ and father of modern music. After Rachmaninoff’s Preludes, Nikolai Lugansky wanted to present a finely nuanced portrait of this composer so fond of travelling! Whether it ranges over time (Hommage à Haydn) or the most vividly imagined open spaces, this freely composed programme is concerned above all with light and colour, in works we can never tire of.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Beethoven: Late Piano Sonatas, Opp. 101,109 & 111 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:13 minutes | 1,00 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Édouard Herriot once said: ‘In Beethoven, everything comes from within. His model is not the rule of the schoolroom.’ This is particularly true of the late sonatas, which contain elements of both intimate journal (Romain Rolland saw in Op. 101 ‘a day in the inner life’ of Beethoven) and total experimentation (the variations of Op. 109!) before attaining the mystical serenity of the very last sonata, Op. 111. Here is Nikolai Lugansky’s long-awaited vision of this pianistic Everest.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 14, 17 & 23 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:07 minutes | 962 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

For this second volume of Beethoven sonatas, Nikolaï Lugansky goes back in time and selects three milestones in the composer’s stylistic evolution: the ‘Moonlight’, the ‘Tempest’ and the ‘Appassionata’. The Master of Bonn gradually broke with the models he had inherited from the codes of Viennese Classicism in order to give free rein to affect, emotion and Romantic gesture. With these three works, Beethoven laid the foundations of a free and humanistic art.
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Nikolai Lugansky – Liszt: Piano Works (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:05:40 minutes | 868 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © naïve

The great Russian virtuoso Nikolai Lugansky presents his recording to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Franz Liszt (1811-1886) – an album of popular piano pieces including La Campanella, Valse oubliée, his version of Isolde’s Liebestod by Wagner, some of the Douze études d’exécution transcendante, and several gems from Années de pèlerinage, among them Vallée d’Obermann, Sposalizio, Les jeux d’eau de la Villa d’Este and Sonnet de Pétrarque 123.

An acclaimed recording artist, Nikolai Lugansky has recently signed an exclusive contract with the Naïve-Ambroisie label. The Moscow-born pianist put together this disc, his first devoted entirely to Liszt’s music, with a seriousness, freedom and concern for overall unity worthy of the composer himself. His last release – an all-Chopin recital for Onyx – was described by The Guardian as “unquestionably thrilling”, and his recording with violinist Repin of Sonatas by Franck, Grieg and Janáček (Deutsche Grammophon, October 2010) was hailed by Gramophone as “a quite magnificent performance”. It also won the Prize for best Chamber Music recording at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2011. Nikolai Lugansky won the Diapason d’Or for his recordings of the complete Chopin Études and Preludes, and the Rachmaninov Preludes and Moments musicaux, as well as an Echo Klassik Deutscher Musikpreis for his 2005 recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 3. Capable of great refinement and sensitivity in Mozart and Schumann, and breathtaking virtuosity in Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, Lugansky is a pianist of extraordinary depth and versatility. Recent and upcoming engagements include concerto projects with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Andris Nelsons, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko, Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich and NHK Symphony Orchestra all with Charles Dutoit; recitals at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Moscow State Conservatory, London’s Wigmore Hall, Prague’s Rudolfinum and the Wiener Konzerthaus; and chamber music collaborations with Vadim Repin and Leonidas Kavakos.

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Nikolai Lugansky – Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux – 3 Pieces (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:32 minutes | 996 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi

Following on from his formidable complete recording of the Preludes, Nikolai Lugansky now immerses us in two more major cycles by Rachmaninoff, the Études-tableaux. Like Chopin and Liszt, the Russian composer here transcends every technical difficulty to make room for emotion alone. At once poet and virtuoso, Nikolai Lugansky is unmatched in his ability to do justice to this prodigious musical kaleidoscope.

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