The program of the album “Masterpieces of Five Centuries” includes music by great Western European masters from the 16th to the 18th centuries, Russian composers of the 19th century, as well as Soviet and contemporary composers. Most of the compositions are recorded for the first time on a classical six-string guitar.
Listeners will discover works by great viol players Marin Marais and Carl Friedrich Abel. The peak of the viola da gamba’s glory occurred at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, and the music has remained alive, gaining new life through performances on the classical guitar. For the first time, the touching piece “The stars will no longer hurt you, and your life will be filled with love and peace,” attributed to the master of English Baroque Henry Purcell, is presented on guitar. All of these arrangements were made by Evgeny Finkelstein.
The Russian guitar music included in the album spans three centuries. The variations on the folk song “Sredi doliny rovnyaya” by Semyon Aksyonov and the piece “Adieu” (“Melancholic Waltz”) by Nikolai Alexandrov are both 19th-century works created for the popular seven-string guitar of that time. In the 20th century, the six-string guitar took center stage, leaving the unique repertoire of the 19th century in the shadows for a long time. Thanks to the magnificent arrangements by Sergey Rudnev, this heartfelt music begins to resonate once again. Evgeny Finkelstein was one of the first performers to include these compositions in his concert programs.
The 20th century is represented by pieces that have not been performed for over half a century: the Etude by Alexander Mosolov (the composer’s only work for guitar), “Lullaby,” and “Little Waltz” by Vissarion Shebalin.
Works from the 21st century include Three Waltzes for solo guitar and the Toccata “June” by Yulia Finkelstein – a composer, musicologist, and laureate of international competitions, as well as the wife of Evgeny Finkelstein. The exquisite cycle of Waltzes, with an element of the grotesque, was Yulia’s first work created for classical guitar. The vigorous and fierce toccata is part of the cycle “Seasons.” In 2020, this piece received the first prize at the International Composition Competition for guitar.
Evgeny Finkelstein is an outstanding Russian guitarist who performs solo concerts on the world's largest stages, including the halls of the Moscow Conservatory, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Gasteig in Munich, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and many others. The musician studied under the leading figures of Russian guitar – Kamill and Alexander Frauchi, Nikita Koshkin, and Alexander Gitman. Critics note that his playing is distinguished by its extraordinary sound beauty and great expressive power.
This release is dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Melodiya.
