The Chronicle Review Corner

Ms Fialko is a talented Ukrainian pianist who was signed by Divine Art for her commercial recording debut as winner of the 2021 Ciccolini Prize for pianists, a new international competition that had to be held virtually due to the pandemic. The audio masters arrived from a studio in Kyiv only days before the Russian attack.

Given that she won the prize, she’s clearly a talented pianist, and she has chosen a varied programme of Russian Romantic classics (though Prokofiev was born in Ukraine).

Her playing is confident and possesses the feel of someone who could play even harder pieces if she chose – she’s got the air of someone who is really on top of the instrument and the music, and can devote some mental energy to enjoying playing, rather than just getting it played.

There are two long pieces: Anatoly Lyadov’s Biryul’ki, Op. 2 (he is “rightly considered a master of the miniature” say the sleeve notes) and Sergei Prokofiev’s 10 Pieces from Romeo and Juliet, Op. 75, the latter being half the CD’s 70 minutes. Shorter pieces by Nikolai Medtner and Alexander Scriabin complete the programme.

In the opening section, “biryul’k“ means playing with small toys that need to be hooked back one by one, and the pieces have the feel of playfulness (and Fialko’s skill means she can be playful). “This work is a great challenge for the pianist, as the composer also plays with the performer from whom is required true virtuosity and the ability to play complex things very simply and with a smile,” Say the sleeve notes.

Romeo and Juliet is obviously well-known so some sections of this will be familiar to many listeners.

An excellent CD; some of the pieces may be works in miniature and playful but Fialko’s skill means this is a serious pieces of piano playing. One for lovers of the piano and for those who want something jolly, to entertain.

—Jeremy Condliffe