Recordings

“A concert pianist of the highest order, Inna Faliks can be as dramatic or as subtle as a great stage actor.”

—Marc Vitali, WTTW Radio

Inna Faliks’ most personal recording project to date is now available . [Order on Delos website]

Inna Faliks, a spellbinding Ukrainian-born pianist with a glowing international reputation, has a long-standing practice of alternating musical interludes with the spoken word takes the form here of narrative storytelling. With this unique CD—her first for Delos—Inna has a captivating tale to tell.

Her story chronicles her life’s path: her family’s emigration to America, her seminal early influences and her evolution as an artist. And it’s also her love story, as she is reunited as an adult with the childhood friend who is now her husband.

Each episode of the pianist’s saga—dramatically narrated by actress Rebecca Mozo— alternates with a beautifully played masterpiece that is closely connected to her life story from childhood onward. Music and words combine to spin a powerful and moving tale.

Includes:

Rodion Shchedrin: Basso Ostinato

J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue in G-sharp Minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book

Jan Freidlin: Ballade in Black and White

W.A. Mozart: Fantasia in D Minor, K 397

Chopin-Liszt: The Maiden’s Wish

Paganini-Liszt: La Campanella

Frédéric Chopin: Polonaise-fantaisie, Op. 61

George Gershwin: Prelude 1 in B- at Major

Gershwin: Prelude 2 in C-sharp Minor

Gershwin: Prelude 3 in E- at Minor

Elliot Carter: Retrouvailles

P. I. Tchaikovsky: Nocturne in C-sharp Minor

Harrison Birtwistle: Oockooing Bird

“I was not familiar with Inna Faliks until now, and neither apparently is our site, but one hopes that the newfound acquaintance will be developed further. She is a remarkable Ukrainian pianist with chops to burn, a forceful technique and extremely attentive spirit to that of Beethoven. This is a fine recital in warm, resonant sound that highlights the clarity and reasonable sense of balance and voicing that Faliks brings to the instrument. With a desirable program to boot, this is an easy item to recommend.”

—Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition, January 12, 2014. Read entire review here.

Inna Faliks’ recording of pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven. [MSR Records]

Includes: 

POLONAISE IN C MAJOR, OP.89

EROICA VARIATIONS AND FUGUE IN E-FLAT, OP.35
Opening and Theme
Variations Nos.1-15
Fugue and Finale

FANTASIA IN G MINOR, OP.77

PIANO SONATA NO.32 IN C MINOR, OP.111
I. Maestoso – Allegro con brio ed appassionato
II. Arietta (Adagio molto semplice e cantabile)

“The music on this disc is too unconventional to describe neatly. There are as many ways to play it as there are people who choose to play it. This is why the question “does the world need another Beethoven CD?” did not cause me too much grief while I was making this recording (though it did, of course, rear its taunting head). At any given moment, Beethoven is at once surprising and inevitable, direct and intricate, earthy and transcendent. Ever fresh, the music changes with each utterance. Recording it is a step in a wondrous journey. The four works on this disc present Beethoven’s boundless imagination in a number of guises.” – Inna Faliks

“Poetry…A kind of panoramic vision.” –The Washington Post

PRESS QUOTES FOR “SOUND OF VERSE”

Sound of Verse, Inna Faliks’ recording of works by Pasternak, Ravel, and Rachmaninov is now available. [Listen to sample or purchase on MSR Records web site]

Includes:
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)
PIANO SONATA IN B MINOR (1909)
PRELUDES (1906)

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
GASPARD DE LA NUIT (1908)

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)
PIANO SONATA NO.2 IN B-FLAT MINOR, OP.36 (Original 1913 Version)

“I have chosen the music on this CD because literature and poetry inspire me and often assist me in finding the kind of expression and colors I would like to communicate through music. Boris Pasternak’s music is inexorably linked to his poems. The strange dynamic contrasts between short phrases in the sonata seem erratic until one looks at them as if they are lines in a poem, lines with a rhythm and rhyme scheme. Boris Pasternak’s poetry moves me with its original, poignant imagery; each of his poems is a quest to connect to and to define the artistic process. This poet creates immediate and intimate contact with the reader/listener by opening and exploring his own soul — unapologetic, unsentimental and lyrical. The same immediacy and frankness permeates his youthful music. I include Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit because, as with the other works, I connect to its vivid poetic context. The sensuous Ondine, the hypnotic Le Gibet and the passionate, sad and quirky Scarbo are powerful poetic images that give life to this music. Rachmaninov ’s The Bells is one of my favorites choral- symphonic works of his. A translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem of the same name inspired Rachmaninov to create it. The original version of the Second Sonata, composed at the same time, exudes the same ominous colors, hypnotic luminosity, passion and pathos as the poem and the choral symphonic work, but ends with life-affirming exuberance.” – Inna Faliks, May 2009

Live at Pianoforte Chicago Inc., Dec. 2004
To order this CD ($15) please contact us.

Includes:
Chopin: Nocturne in C minor op.48/1
Schumann: Symphonic Etudes op.13
Brahms: Sonata in F minor op.5

PianoSoft: Inna Faliks in Concert
*Only for institutions with Disklavier Yamahas
To order this PianoSoft recording, please visit Yamaha MusicSoft

Includes:

Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 35 – Presto
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 35 ‘Marche funèbre’ – Lento
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 35 – Scherzo
Beethoven: Fantasia in G Minor, op. 77
Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 35 – Grave
Liszt: La Campanella
Chopin-Liszt: The Maiden’s Wish
Mozart: Sonata in A Minor

Double CD Set – Live at Salle Cortot, Paris, Feb. 2007
To order this CD ($20) please contact us.

CD1:
Haydn: Sonate en re majeur, Hoboken XVI:42
Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie, opus 61 en la bemol majeur
Villa Lobos: O Boisinho de Chumbo, Alma Brasileira
Freidlin: Ballade in Black and White
Paganini-Liszt: La Campanella

CD2:
Corigliano: Fantasia on an Ostinato
Beethoven: Sonate opus 111 en ut mineur
Gluck-Sgambati: Ballet d’Orphee et Eurydice