Pianophilia

A good chance indeed. Thanks again to Alfor for this album, a Soviet and east European ethnomusicology fan's dream come true:

Andrey ESHPAI (Mari El)
Works for Piano (pub. 1977)

p. 003 Mari Melodies (15, #1 = 'Variations on a Mari Theme')
p. 015 Komi-Permian Song ('The Stray Cuckoo')
p. 016 Bashkir Song
p. 017 Chuvash Song
p. 018 Tatar Dance Song
p. 019 Kazakh Song
p. 021 Kalmyk Song
p. 022 Russian Round Dance ('Khorovod')
p. 023 Belorussian Song ('Perepelochka')
p. 025 Hungarian Songs (24); 1. Rozy Gerenchera, 2. Why are you Running from Me?, 3. On the Edge of a Village House, 4. Tune, 5. Dance, 6. The Barrel is Too Small, 7. Song, 8. Front of the House, 9. Her, Correction!, 10. Birdie, Birdie, 11. Two of my Chickens from Last Year, 12. Girl Sitting in Gold Garlands (song recorded by B. Bartok in a Slovak village), 13. I Stand by the Well (song recorded by B. Bartok in a Romanian village), 14. In the Crimson Forest (song recorded by B. Bartok in a Slovak village), 15. That You Are?, 16. I Had a Goat, 17. Falling Plums, 18. Rise up, Shepherd!, 19. The Wide Danube, 20. The Black Soil, 21. Cypress, 22. How Many Colors on the Pond! (song recorded by B. Bartok in a Romanian village), 23. The Stars, the Stars..., 24. When I Was a Shepherd
p. 051 French Songs (8)
p. 057 Sad Melodies (2)
p. 059 Preludes (3)
p. 063 Game
p. 064 Meter and Rhythm
p. 066 Waltz
p. 068 Epitaph
p. 070 Rondo-Etude
p. 078 Etude
p. 082 Sonatina (in G Major)
p. 085 Sonatina (in D Minor, 3rd movement = Toccata)

I knew there was someone that spoke Russian here. Thanks so much.

Like most every composer Alfor posts here, I'm new to Eshpai, but his music looks especially interesting.

pianophiliac wrote:I knew there was someone that spoke Russian here. Thanks so much.

Like most every composer Alfor posts here, I'm new to Eshpai, but his music looks especially interesting.

The volume posted has a lot in common with a number of volumes in the Russian/Soviet thread (e.g. short teaching pieces, lots of works based on national themes). Quite a bit of Eshpai can be heard on Youtube, though not so much solo piano music. Here is the Toccata from the second sonatina in the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrdzKMzMtI

caostotale wrote:

pianophiliac wrote:...Here is the Toccata from the second sonatina in the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrdzKMzMtI

y<bvlgwrlöäna bklwpäaegnm, cs ≈ oüphwr0gqebnjk<l,ö ü+bakjlqgmn,.fq#öav<löäbswklnVüg. coüqfP
+B
DPQV, CBKCSIPOS!!!!!

Slightly too much reverberation!!??

I couldn't find a great version Here's something that's perhaps less offensive to the ears!

caostotale wrote:I couldn't find a great version Here's something that's perhaps less offensive to the ears!

Eshpai - Sonatina (in D minor) (midi).zip

Plug this into Youtube and you'll get a bunch of hits--lots of Cyrillic only pages there.

Эшпай токката

It seems to be a popular students' choice in the former-Soviet territories. I ran across a couple of not-so-exciting recital videos.

alfor wrote:

caostotale wrote:

pianophiliac wrote:...Here is the Toccata from the second sonatina in the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrdzKMzMtI

y<bvlgwrlöäna bklwpäaegnm, cs ≈ oüphwr0gqebnjk<l,ö ü+bakjlqgmn,.fq#öav<löäbswklnVüg. coüqfP
+B
DPQV, CBKCSIPOS!!!!!

Slightly too much reverberation!!??

aw cmon, YouTube is not Carnegie Hall. you have to give some leeway. i found the piece and performance rather exhilarating.

caostotale wrote:

pianophiliac wrote:I knew there was someone that spoke Russian here. Thanks so much.

Like most every composer Alfor posts here, I'm new to Eshpai, but his music looks especially interesting.

The volume posted has a lot in common with a number of volumes in the Russian/Soviet thread (e.g. short teaching pieces, lots of works based on national themes). Quite a bit of Eshpai can be heard on Youtube, though not so much solo piano music. Here is the Toccata from the second sonatina in the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrdzKMzMtI

Thanks for the translations, caostotale. Very nice and accessible music.

alfor wrote:

caostotale wrote:

pianophiliac wrote:...Here is the Toccata from the second sonatina in the book:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJrdzKMzMtI

Slightly too much reverberation!!??

And banging that nice piece out real loud in the current Russian tradition doesn't help, either. Yet, this is an effective and well written piece.