Dimitri Kabalevsky: 24 Preludes, Sonatina, Piano Sonata 3 – Murray McLachlan

“McLachlan makes a persuasive case for the 24 Preludes, Op.38. Each is based on a folk-tune, and in No.13 (f-sharp minor) we encounter the theme made famous by Stravinsky in the closing bars of Firebird. McLachlan does the set with great fluency and clarity of articulation… also giving us two of Kabalevsky’s best-known piano pieces, the Sonatina and the Piano Sonata No.3 with its Prokofievian middle movement.

Dmitri Kabalevsky was one of the Soviet Union’s greatest musical figures; a popular composer, whose music for children is partuicularly popular, and a prolific composer of piano music and chamber music, whose champions included no less a figure than Vladimir Horowitz. Pianist Murray McLachlan plays Kabalevsky’s brash, entertaining Preludes and two of his acclaimed major piano works in this much-requested recording from the Olympia catalogue, available again at a value price.