Firma Melodiya presents an album of the remarkable Russian pianist Dmitri Bashkirov.

“Bashkirov moved from Tbilisi to Moscow in the 1950s to study at the conservatory, and his first performance caused a real sensation”, remembered the prominent organist Harry Grodberg. After he graduated the Moscow Conservatory and completed his postgraduate course under Alexander Goldenweiser, Bashkirov received the first prize at the Long-Thibault International Competition in Paris.

The piano school of Heinrich Neuhaus had an huge influence on the young pianist. “This is a romantic pianist … of modern formation. Both dreaminess and tenderness are characteristic of him. But what he has on the foreground when he plays is intensity of feeling”, wrote one of the music critics about Dmitri Bashkirov.

Combining impeccable technical virtuosity with emotional depth, brilliant artistry with the skill of a dramatist performer, he mastered an extensive concert repertoire and spent a lot of time in the studio, recording for Melodiya and later for the biggest European labels. Bashkirov played music of the romantic composers and French impressionists with particular inspiration, but his interpretations of Prokofiev were also especially impressive, and the classical harmonies of Haydn and Mozart were followed by the sonorous energy of Rachmaninov and the sharp distinctness of Shchedrin.

This album includes recordings of works made by Dmitri Bashkirov between 1957 and 1972.