Issay Dobrowen - Sonata Skazka Op.5a (Tale Sonata)

Issay Dobrowen (1891-1953) was a Russian/Norwegian Composer. He left the Soviet Union in 1922 and became a Norwegian citizen in 1929. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, his teachers including Konstantin Igumnov and Sergei Taneyev, graduating with a gold medal. He once played Beethoven&Sonata Appassionata for Vladimir Lenin, this sonata being the revolutionary&favorite piece of music. He also directed the first german performance of Mussorgsky&Boris Godunov in 1922. Dobrowen worked with both Nikolai Medtner and Artur Schnabel, among other well-known musicians. He was also a close friend of the Russian writer Maxim Gorky, and the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen. Relatively unknown today, he wrote piano music reminiscent of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Interest in his music started after editing and collation of his CPiano Concerto and recently more of his works have been recorded.