Julia Zilberquit - Three Centuries of Bagatelles (2007)

Three Centuries of Bagatelles: what a neat idea! Although most of the music comes from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – the only work that comes from eighteenth century is Couperin's Les Bagatelles (Rondeau) from Book Two of his Pièces de Clavecin – the selection is so cool – Beethoven's supremely well-known Bagatelle Für Elise, plus other far-less-well-known works by Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Bartók, Lyadov, Tcherepnin, and Denisov – and the performances are so sweet it's almost impossible to resist this disc. Superbly played by Russian-born, American-based pianist Julia Zilberquit, each little work comes alive with its own personality and its own melodic charms and stylistic quirks. With an agile technique and a brilliant tone – listeners may recall her superlative 1996 recording of Shostakovich's concertino arranged for piano and string orchestra by the performer – Zilberquit never fails to find what's distinctive about each tiny piece – the 36 pieces here average only a bit longer than two minutes – and never fails to make it appealing. Recorded in clear, round digital sound by producer Vadim Ivanov in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory in 2001, this disc will delight all but the stubbornest fans of musical giganticism.