Discography
Aus Meinem Tagebuch (From my Diary), Op. 82
Max Reger (1873-1916)
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>"It is a spell-binding performance. The standard here is of the highest." Colin Clark, Fanfare
"This is a fine album in its own right and a triumph for Nosikova. …She plays with tensile strength and emotional commitment, but it cannot be denied that the lightness and glitter she brings to this music are a large part of its success." Lynn René Bayley
"Nosikova’s ability to depict a wide range of moods and colors in this music makes this a happy recommendation." Henry Fogel, Fanfare
| Disc 1 | Disc 2 | ||
| Book 1 | Book 3 | ||
| 1 1 | Vivace | 1 1 | Lied |
| 2 2 | Adagio | 2 2 | Albumblatt |
| 3 3 | Andante sostenuto | 3 3 | Gavotte |
| 4 4 | Vivace | 4 4 | Romanze |
| 5 5 | Moderato | 5 5 | Melodie |
| 6 6 | Sostenuto | 6 6 | Humoreske |
| 7 7 | Vivace | ||
| 8 8 | Andantino | Book 4 | |
| 9 9 | Vivace | 7 1 | Praludium |
| 10 10 | Andante innocente | 8 2 | Fuge |
| 11 11 | Sostenuto ed esspressivo | 9 3 | Intermezzo |
| 12 12 | Larghetto | 10 4 | Arabeske |
| 11 5 | Silhouette | ||
| Book 2 | 12 6 | Melodie | |
| 13 1 | Allegretto con grazia | 13 7 | Humoreske |
| 14 2 | Andantino | ||
| 15 3 | Andante espressivo | ||
| 16 4 | Andantino | ||
| 17 5 | Allegretto con grazia, | ||
| sempre poco agitato | |||
| 18 6 | Andantino espressivo | ||
| 19 7 | Larghetto | ||
| 20 8 | Vivacissimo | ||
| 21 9 | Andantino | ||
| 22 10 | Scherzando e vivace |
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24 Preludes for Violin and Piano and Oskolki
by Lera Auerbach
Avita Duo
Katya Moeller, violin
Ksenia Nosikova, piano
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"I must give special attention to the Avita Duo, a mother and daughter duo that has performed together for 10 years. They clearly have a trusting and intuitive partnership that is reflected in their absolutely impeccable rhythm and timing. These pieces are so dissonant and demand so much understanding from the performers—it really is so beautiful to hear how these performers work together to bring Auerbach’s strange, ethereal, disastrously beautiful pieces to life." Jacqueline Kharouf
“Phenomenal instrumentalists in the service of music that is clearly of huge consequence.” Colin Clarke, Fanfare
“… an absorbing recording. Dramatic performances of compelling works for violin and piano.” Henry Fogel, Fanfare
| Prelude 1 | Prelude 20 |
| Prelude 2 | Prelude 21 |
| Prelude 3 | Prelude 22 |
| Prelude 4 | Prelude 23 |
| Prelude 5 | Prelude 24 |
| Prelude 6 | Prelude No. 8 P.S.* |
| Prelude 7 | Prelude No. 22 P.S.* |
| Prelude 8 | Oskolki 1* |
| Prelude 9 | Oskolki 2* |
| Prelude 10 | Oskolki 3* |
| Prelude 11 | Oskolki 4* |
| Prelude 12 | Oskolki 5* |
| Prelude 13 | Oskolki 6* |
| Prelude 14 | Oskolki 7* |
| Prelude 15 | Oskolki 8* |
| Prelude 16 | Oskolki 9* |
| Prelude 17 | Oskolki 10* |
| Prelude 18 | |
| Prelude 19 | *World Premiere Recording |
Total Duration 79:10
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Schumann & Schumann
Works of Robert and Clara Schumann
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Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Sonata in F minor, op. 14
1. Allegro Brillante
2.Quasi Variazioni: Andantino de Clara Wieck
3. Scherzo: Molto comodo
4. Scherzo: Vivacissimo
5. Prestissimo possible
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
6. Notturno in F Major op. 6 No. 2
7. Scene Fantastique: Le Ballet des Revenants
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Sonata in F-sharp minor, op. 11
8. Introduzione: Un Poco Adagio-Allegro Vivace
9. Aria
10. Scherzo e Intermezzo: Allegrissimo-Lento
11. Finale: Allegro Un Poco Maestoso
Total Duration 76:33
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Music for Piano and Chamber Music
Works of Liszt, Mendelssohn, and Clementi
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This disc presents an interesting collection of three relatively unfamiliar piano concertos: Liszt's phantasmogorical and brilliant Malèdiction for Piano and Strings composed in 1833, when Liszt was 22 years old and in the midst of his virtuoso career; Concerto in A minor by Mendelssohn, writen by 13-years-old Mendelssohn in 1822, a juvenile work but testamental of the composer's childhood genius; and the delightful Clementi's Piano Concerto in C major, which was written in the 1780's and survived only in a copy made in 1796 with altered instrumentation by a third party.
"The Malèdiction is excellent and one of the best recordings ever made of this piece; the performance succeeds in maintaining a dramatic argument for the whole 15 minute movement with admirable cooperation between the soloist and accompaniment, rather than a piece that maintains only for certain sections, as is common to recordings of the work", All Music Guide, April 2010
"an interesting and worthwhile recording...leaves me wanting to hear more", Fanfare, Burton Rothleder, March-April 2010
"A collector would be hard pressed to obtain a tripling of more convincing performances of such rarities on one CD, and all played with a twinkle in the eye, a simultaneously wistly penetration (especially the Mendelssohn), and a self-effacing validity that carries these musical "Footnotes" into the realm of the absolutely listenable- and perhaps memorable, as well". Amazon.com, Melvyn M. Sobel, April, 2010
1. Franz Liszt: Malèdiction for Piano & Strings
Felix Mendelssohn: Concerto in A minor
2. i. Allegro
3. ii. Adagio
4. iii. Allegro ma non troppo
original cadenza by Ksenia Nosikova
Muzio Clementi: Concerto in C Major
5. i. Allegro con spirito
6. ii. Adagio e cantabile, con grande espressione
7. iii. Presto
original cadenza by Ksenia Nosikova
Total Duration 73:42
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Flight and Fire
Music of Lera Auerbach
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The Russian pianist
and composer Lera Auerbach was born in 1973. Her music is powerfully communicative and, although concentrated in
its organization, has the ability to transport the listener. Music is life. Life is music. The composer herself
is fascinating; someone who writes music bursting with vitality and color - generous in its impact - yet is
reluctant to speak about it. However, in her attempt to not disclose too much, Lera Auerbach is actually very
forthcoming.
"I am afraid I would not be able to help with the interview. When I was younger I enjoyed writing program
notes for my music: I felt it was a way for me to protect it from possible misunderstanding; one last service
that a composer could do for his child before it is fully on its own. I no longer like writing about my music.
Even being interviewed about it becomes an inner-burden. What I realized is that you can't protect your child
and should just let it be without any attempts to explain or defend it. Sometimes letting go is the hardest
thing to do. The music is out there on its own whether you like it or not; it's no longer under your control,
and frankly, it never was. Revealing the chord that still ties you, as a composer, to your work only does
your music disservice. "
"Let music connect directly to the listener regardless of the composer's own attempts to interpret its essence.
Jorge Luis Borges wrote, 'A man sets himself in the task of portraying the world. Over the years he fills a given
surface with images of provinces and kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fish, rooms, instruments, heavenly
bodies, horses, and people. Shortly before he dies he discovers that this patient labyrinth of lines is a drawing of
his own face'."
From Booklet's Notes by Colin Anderson
"Entitled, "Flight and Fire", this disc offers a stimulating fare of the piano music of the Russian composer, Lera Aurebach…Nosikova plays with fingers of steel; yet she can turn her tone inwards at a moments' notice, as in the quieter passages of the second movement. The elusive nature of the fourth movement is particularly spellbinding, while the concentration of the final Adagio religioso belies the studio conditions… Fascinating listening. It is hard to imagine a disc that does greater service to Auerbach's piano music." Fanfare Magazine, Colin Clarke, February 2008
"The really first-rate pianist Ksenia Nosikova enters into a competition with Lera Auerbach as an interpreter…It is not by chance that the composer dedicated the first sonata to her. From the "Fantasia" of the year 1986 to the "Il Segno" of 2006, the interpreter crafts a focused insight into the piano creations of 1973-born Auerbach. She clearly exemplifies the game with old forms of Russian precursors (like toccata or sonata) by cutting to the character. She elucidates the contrasts of introspect and "barbaro" expressions with large dynamic broadness." Fono Forum (Germany), Michael Stenger, October 2007
La Fenice: Sonata for Piano No. 1
1. Moderato
2. Allegro ma non troppo
3. L'istessee tempo
4. Moderato ma con moto
5. Andante
6. Adagio religioso
Il Segno, Piano Sonata for Piano No. 2
7. Adagio tragico
8. Toccata
9. Grave
10. Allegro
Memento Mori
11. Requiem - Canon - Requiem
12. Back to Childhood - Let's Play Grownups - Childhood
13. Adulthood - Memento Mori
14. Fantasia
Images from Childhood
15. The Question
16. What a Story!
17. Dialog
18. Quarrel
19. An Old Photograph from the Grandparent's Childhood
20. After the War (The Field of the Dead)
21. Decision
22. Family Holiday
23. Stubborn
24. E-Creatures
25. Shadows on the Wall
26. Prayer
Total Duration 64:31
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Complete Années de Pèlerinage
(Years of Pilgrimage)
by
Franz Liszt
Liszt
worked on the Années de Pèlerinage almost constantly
throughout his life. The cycle consists of three volumes. The first, Switzerland,
records Liszt's experiences while traveling in Switzerland in 1837-37.
In a letter to the writer George Sand, Liszt wrote: “That musician
especially who is inspired by nature, without copying her, breathes out
in tones the tenderest secrets of his destiny: he thinks, feels, and speaks
through her.” This philosophy pervades the first book of Années
de Pèlerinage as it never had before in music. The second, Italy, reflects his impressions of travels through Italy with the
glamorous Countess Maries d'Agoult, who was the great love and inspiration
of Liszt's life. Their life together was filled with art, music, and literature,
particularly the poems of Petrarch and the Divine Comedy of Dante,
which they read to each other during evenings at a villa on Lake Como.
The music of the second volume explores the inner reaches of emotion deeply
and challenges the performer to interpret what Sacheverell Sitwell called
"the lofty impressions of a sensitive tourist." The Third
Year, published three years before Liszt’s death in 1886, is
given mostly to solemn meditations on religious themes and to scenes connected
with the Villa d’Este, the estate near Rome where Liszt lived during
his stays in that city. Here we see an elderly and introspective Franz
Liszt seeking to epitomize the consolations of faith in a setting of startling
beauty and splendor. In its entirety, the Années de Pèlerinage is considered a musical self portrait that covers many aspects of Liszt's
personality.
Années
de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage)
Première anneé: Suisse (First Year: Switerland)
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>- Chapelle de Guillaume Tell (William Tell's Chapel)
- Au lac de Wallenstadt (At the Lake of Walenstadt)
- Pastorale
- Au bord d'une source (Beside a Spring)
- Orage (Storm)
- Vallée d'Obermann (Oberman's Valley)
- Eglogue (Eclogue)
- Le mal du pays (Homesickness)
- Les cloches de Genéve: Nocturne (The Bells of Geneva: Nocturne)
- Polonaise Melancolique
Total Duration 63:14
"Her (Ksenia Nosikova’s) tone in Vallèe d‘Obermann,
the keystone of this collection (Switzerland) is sensuous and singing.
Moreover, superb pacing and two marvelously constructed climaxes turn
this diffuse and difficult tone-poem into a tour de force… Les
Cloches de Genêve glows with luminous tonal shading and has
real charm and emotional power… Her Polonaise Melancolique is indeed revelatory. Here she achieves extraordinary elasticity of rhythm,
tasteful rubato, and above all, spellbinding atmosphere. I don’t
expect this unusual work so remarkably played any time soon."
American Record Guide, March, 2004
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Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage)
Deuxième anneé: Italie (Second Year: Italy)
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- Sposalizio (Marriage [of the Virgin: a painting by Raphael]
- Il Pensieroso (The Thinker [a statue by Michelangelo)
- Canzonetta del Salvatore Rosa (Salvator Rosa's Song)
- Sonetto 47 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 47)
- Sonetto 104 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 104)
- Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (Petrarch's Sonnet 123)
- Apres une lecture du Dante Fantasis quasi sonata
(After Reading Dante:Fantasia quasi sonata)
Venezia e Neapoli (Venice and Naples)
[Supplement to the Second Year] - Gondolliera (Gondolier's Song)
- Canzone
- Tarantella
Total Duration 67:59
"Nosikova's interpretations are instinctively straightforward, exuding
musical intelligence, honest integrity and a rock-solid technique. Her
sonority is full-bodied . . . Nosikova is at her best in a glowing account
of the Dante sonata, richly colourful and full of dramatic intensity.
Rounded off by a fine account of Venezia e Napoli, this is a super
disc.
From the recordings of the 'Italie' book of Années de pélerinage discussed above, there are six that are recommendable: Brendel (1972),
Berman, Bolet, Hatto, Nosikova and Hitzlberger.
International Piano, Tim Parry, London (UK), July/August, 2006
"The Italian leg of Liszt's Années de Pèlerinage is frequently traversed on disc these days. Happily, Ksenia Nosikova proves
to be a worthy contender on every level, as her stylish, intelligent,
and technically rock-solid artistry bears out. Nosikova’s laser-like
projection and lean yet never flinty tone are in keeping with her direct,
straightforward readings…Tempos are judged to perfection and even
seemingly fragmented works such as Tarantella from Venezia e
Napoli ebb and flow in judicious proportion… Nosikova's Dante
Sonata is particularly incisive, dramatic, and colorful and shines
alongside excellent recent versions . . . "
ClassicsToday, October, 2002
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Années de Pèlerinage (Years of Pilgrimage)
Troisiéme anneé: (Third Year)
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>- Angélus! Prière aux anges gardiens
- Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este I: Thrénodie
- Aux cyprès de la Villa d'Este II: Thrénodie
- Les jeux d'eau à la Villa d'Este
- Sunt lacrymae rerum / En mode hongrois
- Marche funèbre
- Sursum corda
- Polonaise
Total Duration 63:51
"In the third and least-performed book of Liszt's Années
de Pèlerinage, pianist Ksenia Nosikova upholds the excellent
standards she brought to the cycle's first two volumes …she keeps
sparse, austere selections like the two Thrénodies and the Marche funèbre aloft and fluid. She also is attuned to Liszt's
harmonic inventiveness: notice how tellingly she shades the odd major-to-minor
shifts in Angelus! Prière aux anges gardiens… no arpeggio
or tremolo is simply rattled off (Les jeux d'eau à la Villa
d'Este); every note is carefully voiced and well considered. I admire
the energy and sweep Nosikova brings to the E major Polonaise."
ClassicsToday, August, 2006
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In This Moment
Women and Their Songs
with Katherine Eberle, mezzo-soprano
Juliana Hall
Letters from Edna (1993)
8 Songs on Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay
1. To Mr. Fick & Mr. Bynner (December 5, 1912)
2. To Arthur Davison Ficke (February 9, 1913)
3. To Anne Gardner Lynch (December 23, 1921)
4. To Harriet Monroe (March 1, 1918)
5. To Norma Millay (May 25, 1921)
6. To Arthur Davison Ficke (July 9, 1943)
7. To Arthur Davison Ficke (October 14, 1930)
8. To Mother (June 15, 1921)
Lori Laitman
9. Homeless (Michael Flack) (2002)
10. Echo (Christina Rossetti) (1995)
Libby Larsen
Raspberry Island Dreaming (2002)
11. The River Is (Joyce Sutphen)
12. Where the River Bends (Joyce Sutphen)
13. Raspberry Island (Patricia Hampl)
Judith Cloud
14. Song and Music (Dante Gabriel Rosetti) (2011)
15. The Lake Has Swallowed the Whole Sky (Silvia Curbelo) ( 2002)
16. Drinking Song (Silvia Curbelo) (2002)
17. The Shape of Laughter (Betty Andrews) (1994)
18. I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz (Pablo Neruda, trans. Stephen Tapscott) ( 2006)
19. The Room was a Pond (Silvia Curbelo) (2002)
20. Death of the Tango (Silvia Curbelo) (2002)
21. When I was Young (Betty Andrews) (1994)
Total Duration 66:00
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The Blissful Viola
with Christine Rutledge, viola
The Blissful Viola CD recording comprises of works for viola and piano by 20-century British composers Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975), Franck Bridge (1879-1941), and Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979). The first piece of the CD, the Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke (1919) stands as one of the composer's most widely recognized works. While it follows in the formal tradition of the German post-Romantic sonata, its melodic outlines, textures, and colouristic devices point out to impressionistic influences that often draw comparisons to the music of Debussy, Franck, or Ravel. Sir Arthur Bliss wrote the Sonata for Viola and Pianoforte in 1933 for the great virtuoso and fellow Englishman, Lionel Tertis. This is one of several works Bliss wrote between 1926 and 1935 for specific virtuoso performers, each a reflection of the individual's unique musical character and capabilities. Often described as the successor of Elgar, Bliss's works are expansive, demonstrating an interest in illustration and outward expression rather then thematic transformation or introspective reflection. Like the Bliss's Sonata, Frank Bridge's Pensiero (1905) and Allegro Appasionato (1908) were written for violist Lionel Tertis. The works were commissioned as part of a project by Tertis to compile a library of British viola works that would promote both English composers and the viola as a solo instrument.
- Rebecca Clarke: Sonata for Viola and Piano (1919)
- Impetuoso
- Vivace
- Adagio-Risoluto
- Frank Bridge: Two Pieces for Viola and Piano
- Pensiero (1905)
- Alegro appassionato (1908)
- Sir Arthur Bliss: Sonata for Viola and Pianoforte
- Moderato
- Andante
- Furiant
- Coda
Total Duration 57:00
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The University of Iowa Center for New Music performs
Twentieth-Century American Music
| William Albright | Abiding Passions |
| Mario Davidovsky | Flashbacks |
| Bernard Rands | Concertino |
| Noel Zahler | Agarttha |
| Michael Daughtery | Sinatra Shag |
| David K Gompper | Don't Go There |
| David K Gompper | Finnegan's Wake |
Total Duration 70:27
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