CCMusic.com

The return of a Titan! Returing to the record studio a pianistic Titan. The first volume of Oleg Marshev's new Ravel survey draws together threads of pianistic innovation and Spanish influence from the composer's earliest surviving work through to the groundbreaking cycle of Miroirs published in 1905. Rarities include the first-ever piano recording of one of the fugues written by Ravel in his attempts to win the Prix de Rome. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Oleg Marshev trained with Valentina Aristova at the Gnessin State Musical College and with Mikhail Voskresensky at the Moscow Conservatoire. He is numbered among the fifth generation of Russian pianism since Liszt, through the lineage of Alexander Siloti, Konstantin Igumnov and Voskresensky's teacher, Lev Oborin. Resident in Italy since 1991, Marshev received awards in several international piano competitions in Canada, Italy, Portugal, Spain, USA, including four first prizes. He is now widely acknowledged as one of the most talented Russian pianists of his generationa.