ALEXANDER SCRIABIN

Emerging from a three-year contemplation period, in collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, Ugorski’s long-awaited complete recording of Alexander Scriabin’s sonatas has now finally been released – starting with the digital release. It has become a statement of one of the “grand old men” of the piano who passed away in September 2023.

“Anatol Ugorski, the world-famous pianist and renowned teacher, is hard to pin down. He doesn’t seem to take himself seriously and makes fun of earnest matters; he slips through your fingers and refuses to make concrete statements. But if you venture a conversation with Anatol Ugorski about music, all of a sudden, his opinions are emphatic and clear-cut. Then he becomes easy to grasp.”

Another critic wrote: “In the hands of Anatol Ugorski the black piano case turns into a time machine. A half century of musical experience is no more than an eyeblink – condensed into a moment of sound. With each sound he produces, Ugorski is challenging our stale, ingrained tendency to let whole works and styles smother in the dusty drawers of our categorical prejudice. Such an approach commands our utmost respect. Even though he is probably not even trying to impress us, deep down inside Ugorski is following his most basic commitment: to remain attentive to the notes, to react to what they have to say, and to find the appropriate way to express their meaning in the present day and age. Now he has once more turned his attention to Scriabin, whom even such a virtuoso as Ugorski describes as ‘extremely technically challenging’!”

(From an online portrait by Concerto Winderstein).