Aleksandrov was with A.  Stanchinsky the final pair of Moscow-trained
Russian composers formed in the era before WW1.  He was already a name
before his graduation in 1916 because of his luxurious settings of Kuzmin's
Alexandrine songs.  Both Medtner and Rachmaninov praised his Opus 1
Preludes.  His piano works through the '20s are distinctive because they
mark a modernism predicated on Rachmaninov and Medtner, not on Scriabin.
There is an element of reserve about his work, not unlike Faure.  Yet he is
the most lyrical of piano composers who chose not to decamp from the Soviet
Union in the '20s.  His Opus 21 Visions was one of the most popular pieces
of that era, frequently played by his contemporaries.  His sonatas were
regarded as the summit of his accomplishment as a composer.  Samuel
Feinberg championed several.  I believe the young English pianist-composer
Jonathan Powell has four in his repertoire.  During the later '20s, he
collaborated with his teacher Zhilaev in editing the posthumous works of
Stanchinsky.  In later life (and he lived a long life, from 1888-1982) he
tried his hand at neo-polyphonic piano compositions.  His own piano playing
has always struck me as having a curious tension between reticence and
lyricism.  He recorded a number of his own compositions for Melodiya,
though none of the Sonatas.  He taught composition at the Moscow
Conservatory for years, and in the latter years of his life there was the
one surviving link from the Silver Age.  When one thinks of important works
of the Soviet tradition of piano composition that are not available, the
Sonatas, Visions, & Preludes of Aleksandrov stand at the top of a short
list.  I think Gavril Popov's Op 6 Grosse Klaviersuite, the first 6
Feinberg Sonatas, deserve a hearing as well.

David Shields
Charleston, SC