A good 'Russian Futurist' piano album

Mikhail Dubov's album part of Melodiya's 'Sound Review' series

I launched this blog/newsletter originally on Blogger and have continued it on Substack out of my conviction that avant garde Russian composers of the 1910s through 1930s should not be forgotten. While I have expanded to other musical topics, I have found an album that fits with my original focus, and I want to recommend it.

Sound Review 1/6, part of Melodiya’s series of Sound Review recordings focused on Russian composers, is a piano recital by Mikhail Dubov. It’s a nice set of music that features composers Arthur Lourié, Nikolai Obukhov, Ivan Wyschnegradsky, Sergei Protopopov, Gavrill Popov, Alexander Mosolov and Leonid Polovinkin. It’s available for streaming or purchase at many of the usual places, including Amazon, Spotify and Apple Music. Notice that if you go to Melodiya’s page for the album, you can download a PDF of the album’s booklet, with notes in both Russian and English.

All of the album is worth a listen, but I particularly liked Dubov’s rendering of Lourié’s “Masks.” I have two or three other recordings of Mosolov’s fourth piano sonata, Opus 11, from 1925, but I think I like Dubov’s subtle rendition the best. The album also features a rare recording of Popov’s Opus 1, “Two Pieces,” that I was glad to have.

About Mikhail Dubov, I know very little. Confusingly, there are apparently two Mikhail Dubov’s from Russia who do piano recordings, but the one featured in the recording here is this guy. I intend to keep an eye out for his other recordings. I could not find an official website for him or any social media accounts.

There are 14 Sound Review recordings so far; browse them here. I don’t see them at Bandcamp, although perhaps that would be a good fit for them. I really liked Yury Favorin’s recording for the series, Sound Review 3 1/5. See my recent review.