Kabalevsky: Music for Children - Şahan Arzruni, piano

Contemporary Soviet composer Dmitri Kabalevsky is well-known outside of his native country, chiefly for his contribution to the piano repertoire of the young keyboard student. Born in Petersburg in 1904, Kabalevsky studied composition with Myaskowsky at the Moscow Conservatory. His works among others include operas, symphonies, incidental music, piano works and songs. In his output for the young, he has shown an extraordinary flair for meeting the problems of the beginner­student and has achieved this without his pieces sounding "easy" or pedantic. These works certainly rank with the very best of that tradition and are equal in inspiration to the works of Schumann or Bartok. Kabalevsky projects such freshness of color, vividness of intention and simplicity in deliverance making the tiny vignettes engage the interest of a youngster who can then identify himself with the music. Kabalevsky's harmonic language remains throughout rather conventional mostly based on triadic patterns assuming tonal functions not too different from the Nineteenth century language. His melodic structure is orthodox with a swift flowing line, studded at times with a swift flowing line, studded at times with unexpected turns giving spiciness and charm. His rhythms are solid, mostly uncomplicated, providing the basic pulse.