Pavel Pabst Opera and Ballet Paraphrases
Pavel Pabst (1854-97, his name is often anglicized to Paul Pabst) did not achieve the fame of his pianistic colleagues mainly because he chose to concentrate on teaching (his pupils included Lyapunov and Goldenweiser) rather than performing. He is known today chiefly through his
Fortunately Oleg Marshev is fully attuned to the task. He has all the technique required for the taxing pianistic acrobatics and he infuses the music with charm and character. Immediately, in the Fantasie on Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazeppa, Marshev’s dexterity and flamboyance are allied to the warmth of his singing tone. He can sing and shape a melodic line beautifully, and this is essential for operatic paraphrases of this kind. (It is a pity, however, that the piano is for the most part imperfectly tuned.) The Eugene Onegin Paraphrase doesn’t have Cherkassky’s unique wealth of textural variety, but in places it has a greater fluency, a more natural sense of propulsion, and more depth of tone. The