Primephonic reviews the new Gleb Ivanov recording:
“The Russian pianist Gleb Ivanov opens his programme with a tremendous swagger in Soirée de Vienne, the intoxicating paraphrase on Strauss waltzes by Adolf Grünfeld. It’s one of many glittering and virtuosic arrangements made of his waltzes (others include those by Dohnányi, Schulhof, Schulz-Evler and Tausig) and it blazes with exuberance and joie de vivre in Ivanov’s magisterial hands. It’s made all the more exhilarating by his own interpolations in the score which sound entirely natural and it’s dispatched with a breezy confidence and a seemingly effortless virtuosity. Listening to Ivanov’s thoughtful playing of the Liszt transcriptions of Schubert songs, one is reminded just how exquisitely crafted these arrangements are. … In the Rachmaninov pieces we find Ivanov on home territory with a spacious reading of the Mélodie and an edgy, big-boned account of the Humoresque. But he saves the real fireworks for the final piece, Grigory Ginzburg’s arrangement of Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King which he plays with a manic zeal. It’s completely over the top (which of course is the whole point) and quite breathtaking. The sound recording is excellent: well-balanced, with a rich piano sound.” —Kevin Paintin, Primephonic
