“The Sacred Spring of Slavs CD features the work of an unknown Ukrainian composer, Ihor (or Igor) Shamo, whose pleasant Hutsulian Watercolours are a fitting tribute to their name, as well an exceptional creative feat: an arrangement for solo piano by Serhiy Salov of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. It’s a daring wager, when one considers the complexity of the orchestral work and the composer’s virtuostic deployment of the four-hand arrangement for piano—a composer who, in 1916, also created a piano reduction for pianola, a hiccoughing thing that can be heard on conductor Benjamin Zander’s website and that in no way compares, from a musicality standpoint, to the sheer frenzy of Salov’s arrangement. The Ukrainian pianist could well make a name of himself with this daring though masterfully-executed project. My only reservation has to do with some of the calmer sections (e.g. Spring Rounds), which seem a little disassembled and bring down the level of excitement. A minor reservation in the face of such a feat.”
May 14, 2010