Piano Quartet Op. 20 / Piano Trio Op. 22 / Violin

The musical output of the Russian composer Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) has been suspiciously absent from the mainstream of public performance. Perhaps this can be attributed to a number of reasons, but it should certainly be held that it is not because of the music itself.

As a master of intellect and balance, his compositions share with Brahms a sturdy structural outline combined with a romantic heat which emanates from every phrase and gesture. The confidence of his craft along with a frank and sometimes brutal honesty was to put him at odds with many of his contemporaries, not the least of which were the group of nationalist composers known as The Mighty Handful.

But it would be his close friendship with Tchaikovsky that would bring him to the forefront of the debate between the practitioners of nationalistic style and those of the European. At the heart of his composition, however, was his particular skill and affinity for counterpoint. As a student of the polyphony from it's earliest incarnation in the late medieval period to the high baroque, Taneyev's works are rich in the colors and harmonies produced by a strict adherence to traditional and scientific principles of counterpoint practice. This is certainly an attribute he would instill in his own students which included Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Medtner and Gliere.

Featured OnClassical/Ævea violinist Daniela Cammarano "produces a generally rich and fuid tone from the 1948 Vittorio Bellarosa violin". "The engineers have captured her at a close enough distance to pick up some breathing as well that varies in it's obtrusiveness; and they've maintained a natural balance between the two instruments." - Robert Maxham, Fanfare.

"Alessandro Deljavan is one of the most interesting pianists I have heard in my life." - Fou Ts'ong