Liadov’s notorious indolence kept him from ever achieving all that his admirers hoped, but some of his orchestral pieces have worn quite well, and the piano music deserves to find a modest place in more recitals than it does. The most substantial work here – at any rate in terms of length – is the Glinka Variations, quite a wide-ranging set that owes a good deal to Glinka’s own sets of variations, and in turn to the pieces that amused St Petersburg salons in the early years of the nineteenth century. Glinka is, again, an exemplar for some of the mazurkas, though they also owe a debt to Chopin, in manner – such as the use of descending chromatic harmonies – if not in originality and enterprise. However, Liadov has a voice of his own. It includes a Russian appreciation of prettiness – what Tchaikovsky called le joli – which has made Marionettes and especially the Musical snuffbox popular. He also has a very Russian elegance in his turns of phrase, and melodies sometimes tinged with melancholy. It seldom breaks out into anything more, though one of his rare stormy moods is captured in the violent B flat minor Prelude from Op. 36. One of the finest pieces in this well-chosen recital is the Barcarolle in F sharp, Op. 44. Scriabin was another influence, as can be heard in the Four Pieces, Op. 64: Liadov’s appreciation of the younger man’s musicianship was cordially returned.
This is an attractive recital, sympathetically played by Stephen Coombs and given a lucid recording. It does much to suggest why Liadov always had so many admirers.'