Album insights
Born in Odessa, Samuil Feinberg (1890-1962) embodied a rare type of musician whose creativity extended across various fields simultaneously. Apart from his distinctive compositional work highlighted by Marc-André Hamelin, he left behind a significant number of theoretical writings, influenced multiple generations of pianists as a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, and enjoyed an outstanding reputation as a profoundly insightful and delicately sensitive piano artist over four decades.
Feinberg's musical journey began in Odessa where his father, initially from Lithuanian Jurburg, had relocated after serving a prison sentence for possessing banned revolutionary texts. The family moved to Moscow in 1894, and in 1896, his younger brother Leonid was born. At ten, Samuil started his formal music education with Alexander Jensen and later with Alexander Goldenweiser, a crucial figure in his development during his time at the Conservatory (1906-11).
For his final exams, Feinberg impressively prepared a range of solo works alongside Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto and astonished the examiners by performing the entire Well-Tempered Clavier from memory. Although plans to study counterpoint with Tanejew fell through, his composition lessons with Nikolai Shiljajew, a student of Tanejew, proved fruitful.
Introduced to Maximilian Vološin's circle by his sister, Feinberg found inspiration for his early songs. His visits to Vološin's estate in Koktebel also brought him into contact with Marina Tsvetaeva, whose sister-in-law Véra Efremov greatly influenced him, despite their love remaining unfulfilled.
In Berlin, Feinberg faced critiques from pianists Artur Schnabel and Frederic Lamond. Despite Schnabel's comments on his playing, Rachmaninoff praised Feinberg's interpretation of one of his sonatas. Illness during military service in 1915 spared Feinberg from frontline duty.
Feinberg's career as a composer blossomed with works like the 1st Sonata, composed in 1915, and later the 2nd Sonata within two weeks in 1916. His 3rd Sonata, completed between 1916-17, was published posthumously in 1974 as part of a collection of his 12 sonatas.
Referring to his sonatas, Feinberg noted revisions for the 1st and 2nd, while distancing himself from the extensive 3rd Sonata, possibly due to its perceived extreme nature. The 4th Sonata, composed in 1918, bears dedication to Nikolai Myaskovsky and shows influences from Fyodor Tyutchev's poem "The Night Wind."
The subsequent sonatas, including the 5th and 6th, continued Feinberg's exploration of lyrical and expressive realms. These works garnered mixed reviews—the 6th Sonata presented at the 1925 IGNM Music Festival in Venice evoked diverse reactions, from high praise to sharp criticism.
Feinberg's voyage through music displayed a constant quest for innovation, drawing inspiration from varied sources while paving the way for a newer generation of Russian composers.