Prelude in B major, Op. 2 No. 3
Fantasie in B minor, Op. 28
Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp major, Op. 30
Valse in A-flat major, Op. 38
Feuillet D'Album in E-flat major, Op. 45 No. 1
Feuillet D'Album in F-sharp major
Feuillet D'Album, Op. 58
Poème-Nocturne, Op. 61
Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 62
5 Preludes, Op. 74

A short while ago I received an email message from Scott Rothstein, a regular visitor to this site and arts writer himself, asking me if I could post a review for the benefit of other readers, of a recording by Latvian pianist and composer Vestard Shimkus, which he considers to be a remarkable musician. I must admit that until then I had not heard any recordings by Vestard Shimkus, primarily because the Artalinna label has no distribution here in my country (Canada) and even if it did, there's only so much music one can listen to at any given time, so while you're focusing your time on one recording, another one slips out the backdoor.

My curiosity was immediately kindled, so I did some research and contacted the people at Artalinna, a small independent music label in France, and they were kind enough to send me all three of Shimkus' CDs on their label. Older extant recordings of his can be found on the Ars Produktion, Wergo and Naxos labels as well. Vestard Shimkus (also spelled Šimkus) was born in 1984. His father was a musician in a progressive-rock band named "Katedrale" during the 1960s-70s, and his sister Aurelija is also a pianist. He studied piano through many teachers, and also studied composition for five years under the Latvian composer Peteris Vasks, who's piano works he has recorded on Wergo.

I've decided to focus my attention on his recording of the music of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin, not only because he's one of my favorite composers, but also because his highly expressive musical language is tailor-made for Shimkus' musicianship. You see, Scriabin's music is highly unsettled and volatile, but yet Scriabin managed to write it down within the rather strict confines of musical notation (an archaic system which needs to be revised), and only gifted and/or highly perceptive musicians can see beyond the notes on the page, and recreate the composer's vision. For example, listening with the printed score in hand to the Piano Sonata No. 6, Op. 62, the one and only Sonata that Scriabin himself never performed in public for fear of revisiting the dark imagery within the score, it's obvious that Shimkus has fully assimilated the notes and delivers an account driven exclusively by emotive means. All of the expressive markings, and there are many, are observed and yet everything sounds impromptu, fresh and inspired. And that's the only way to give Scriabin's music full justice. Vestard Shimkus approaches the music of other composers the same way as well ... from within.

Thank you Scott.