Alexander Siloti (1863-1945): Fragments

Alexander Siloti was an extremely fine pianist. He was taught first by Scriabin’s piani teacher, Nikolai Zverev, followed by Rubinstein, Taneyev and Tchaikovsky at the Moscow Conservatoire. He moved on to become one of Liszt’s pupils from 1883. He moved towards conducting in preference to playing the piano, an early success being the world premiere of Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto in 1902. Had he made any proper recordings we would no doubt rate his importance as much higher. As one of the foremost musicians in Russia, he actively pursued the introduction of many new composers’ music both as a pianist and conductor, and was the recipient of many dedications. He also produced a large amount of piano transcription and other works. He left a handfull of piano rolls, but the only surviving acoustic recordings of his playing are some privately-made recordings by his family. Around 25 minutes’ worth of music is guessed to have been made. Unfortunately most of this is either known to be destroyed, currently unknown of location or otherwise unavailable. This short fragment of Siloti playing in the 1930s survives as a tape transfer from a now destroyed original disc. He begins by playing a little of Liszt’s Concert etude “Un sospiro“, and follows this with two themes from Gounod’s “Faust“ and a melody from Rachmaninoff’s second Suite for two pianos. The playing is somewhat ostentatiously romanticised (though heartachingly beautiful for all that), but graceful, and fascinating to be able to hear nonetheless.