Russian pianist and composer Valery Kuleshov’s limitless technique, palette of colors, sense of structure and range of sonorities beggar belief. His “Boris Godunov Suite” – transcribed after Mussorgsky’s opera – captures in pianism of nearly unparalleled invention and difficulty the work’s rich orchestral textures. The thrill and excitement of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” is superbly maintained in Kuleshov’s awe-inspiring tour-de-force transcription. Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet”, transcribed by Florian Noack, remains as fresh and colorful as the original.
