Beethoven and Rachmaninoff Piano Sonatas
Ivan Moshchuk, piano
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This recording presents an encounter between Beethoven’s only Sonata in D minor, Op. 31 No. 2, and Rachmaninoff’s Second Sonata in B-flat minor, in the revised version. The program explores these works not as opposing poles of the repertoire, but as a dialogue between two composers confronted with their own historical rupture. These works are complemented by Siloti’s transcription of Bach’s Prelude BWV 855a, alongside a piano arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s fifth movement, Nunc dimittis, from the All-Night Vigil, Op. 37.
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The album of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff piano sonatas is an early work. Just out of conservatoire, I found myself at the threshold of my endeavours as an independent musician. Creating a studio recording proved to be an exciting opportunity that could define values and perspectives that would guide me for years to come. I had just relocated from Baltimore to the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, joining a vibrant interdisciplinary community. Music could not exist in my mind without a dialogue with other disciplines, and these surroundings further evolved this principle. Steeped in the writings of Derrida and Kierkegaard, I felt drawn to echo their ideas in my approach to interpreting music, prioritising the human capacity for doubt, vulnerability, and fragile, uncalculable possibilities, all while distancing myself from passive, inherited formulas. Nothing felt more human than diving into Derrida's paradox of forgiveness alongside Kierkegaard's concepts of faith and the absurd—not as doctrines, but as open philosophical questions in relation to music. Thus, through this lens, the album of Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and forgiveness began to take shape. [read more]
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Sound Production - Caroline Siegers
Recorded at Teldex Studio, Berlin, Germany
Artwork - Kazimerz Malevich, Black Square (1913)
Image - Courtesy of Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow