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Album guide

Red Square Blue: Jazz Impressions of Russian Composers

Fred Hersch

Released
1993
Label
Angel
Forces
Piano, Trio, Cello, Flute, Harmonica
Personnel
Fred Hersch piano, Steve LaSpina bass, Jeff Hirshfield drums, with James Newton flute, Toots Thielemans harmonica, Phil Woods alto saxophone and clarinet, and Erik Friedlander cello

Fred Hersch treats this repertoire as chamber music as much as jazz. Around his piano, bass and drums, the guest voices change: Toots Thielemans brings harmonica to Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky, while James Newton’s flute and Erik Friedlander’s cello appear together on Hersch’s two-part reading of Glière.

That changing instrumentation lets Hersch move between intimate pieces and music borrowed from much larger works without pretending they all belong to one ensemble. A passage from Scheherazade, Scriabin’s short piano pieces and Rachmaninoff’s concerto can each keep something of their own scale and temperament.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsMussorgsky, Glière, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, Rachmaninoff · classical source works

Ten recordings serve eleven classical tracks because Hersch’s “Andante” and “Aria” both draw on the first movement of Glière’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and share its recording.

Jazzed upFred Hersch · 1993

No Spotify edition is available. You can still browse the complete track listing below.

Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. The Old Castle from Pictures at an ExhibitionMussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition: Il vecchio castello (The Old Castle)
  2. Andante (from Concerto for Coloratura, Op. 82)Glière: Concerto for Coloratura Soprano, Op. 82: I. Andante
  3. Aria (from Concerto for Coloratura, Op. 82)Glière: Concerto for Coloratura Soprano, Op. 82: I. Andante
  4. Prelude, Op. 11, No. 2Scriabin: Prelude in A minor, Op. 11 No. 2
  5. Canzona from Symphony No. 4 in F minorTchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36: II. Andantino in modo di canzona
  6. Etude, Op. 8, No. 2Scriabin: Étude in F-sharp minor, Op. 8 No. 2
  7. Prelude, Op. 9, No. 1Scriabin: Prelude in C-sharp minor for the left hand, Op. 9 No. 1
  8. The Young Prince and The Young Princess from ScheherazadeRimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35: III. The Young Prince and the Young Princess
  9. Prelude, Op. 11, No. 1Lyadov: Prelude in B minor, Op. 11 No. 1
  10. Arabian Dance from The NutcrackerTchaikovsky: The Nutcracker, Op. 71: Arabian Dance (Coffee)
  11. Adagio from Piano Concerto No. 2Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18: II. Adagio sostenuto