Cesar Cui(1835-1918) Preludes for Piano 25 Preludes, Opus 64 Naxos 8.555557 Jeffrey Biegel, Piano Recorded 1992(first released on Marco Polo) TT 67:00 Cesar Cui, the product of a French father and Lithuanian mother, is most known for his inclusion as one of the "Mighty Handful". Along with Mussorgsky, Balakirev, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui was active in promoting the Russian nationalist movement. Cui's motto could have been - "My way or the highway". He was vicious in his attacks on those who did not accept the "Mighty Handful" line of thought - Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Rachmaninov, and others. Given Cui's 'knife in the back' mentality, it is amusing that his musical style was so derivative: always looking back with no harmonic adventure and even little chromaticism. Derivative and obnoxious he may have been, but I've very much enjoyed listening to this fine Naxos offerring. Cui displays a knack for turning a phrase and coming up with fine melodies. His emotional range is admirable, and he's a natural composer for the piano. Most appealing, there's a particularly light and breezy nature to many of the preludes which captivates and is invigorating. Biegel fully captures the delights of Cui's music, and the sound quality is simpatico except for some clanging in the stronger passsages. It all begins with an irresistably heroic Prelude in C major which represents an introductory fanfare; music this good certainly gave me the expectation of more to come, and I wasn't disappointed. Subsequent pieces are arranged to maximize diversity of themes and structure, and every prelude has its attractions and distinctiveness. Don's Conclusions: Cui is no Chopin or Scriabin in musical inspiration, but he offers a consistently rewarding and enjoyable set of preludes. Every aspect of the production has 'winner' on its lips, and the Naxos price is further inducement to check out a 2nd tier composer at his best. In summation, I can't imagine anyone not being allured by a discovery of such fine music. Don Satz [log in to unmask]