Ivan Laskovsky : Pensée Fugitive ( МИМОЛЕТНАЯ МЫСЛЬ )

This impassioned early Romantic piece is by the Russian pianist and composer Ivan Feodorovich Laskovsky (1799-1855). Laskovsky - like Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov after him - had a non-musical career, but managed to compose a substantial oeuvre, including a piano concerto. He was actually a military man, serving first in the Preobrajensky regiment (1817-1832), then as an official in the War Ministry. He studied piano with John Field, and much later befriended the young Balakirev. Some of his piano music was published posthumously in 1858. I only realised after preparing this video that there is an audio recording by Anna Petrova-Forster on YouTube, and her excellent performance uses a slightly brisker tempo than mine. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Played by Phillip Sear