by Daniel Hathaway
Russian pianist Nikita Mndoyants chose 29 short works — the longest just over four minutes — for his debut recording on the Steinway & Sons label, proving that sublimity can be achieved in very small stretches of time. The composers would agree. Beethoven’s Op. 126 Bagatelles, Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, and Prokofiev’s Sarcasms were highly thought of by their creators, even though their formats left little room for the development of ideas. [Read more…]