Recording of the Month

Saint-Säens Danse Macabre Liszt Bénédiction, Mephisto Waltz No 1 Prokofiev Sonata No 6,
Suggestion Diabolique 
Op 4, No 4
Behzod Abduraimov p
DECCA 4783301

“Only 21, Tashkent native Behzod Abduraimov won the 2009 London International Piano Competition, and toured Australia earlier this year. If Europe’s trying to wrest the wunderkind crown back from China, then Abduraimov is definitely the real thing. He takes on the titans in the very first track: Horowitz’s elaboration on Liszt’s piano reduction of Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre. With old-school aplomb Abduraimov produces sparklingly even scale passages, quick clean staccato and over-the-top rubato.” Phillip Scott

Editor’s Choice: Orchestral 

Chisholm
Piano Concertos Nos 1–2
Danny Driver p, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Rory Macdonald
HYPERION CDA67880

“Erik Chisholm may just be this year’s major rediscovery. Born in Glasgow in 1904, he was a composer, conductor and pianist as well as an inveterate collector of the folk music of his native Scotland, a predilection that caused him to be dubbed “MacBartók”. His first concerto is titled Pìobaireachd, which refers to the music of the Highland bagpipes. A number of folk tunes are cleverly manipulated and interwoven to impressive effect. British pianist Danny Driver proves the perfect advocate for Chisholm’s complex and challenging writing for the piano. His technique is formidable...