Musical Snack #24: "Les Larmes" (Tears) by Alexei Stanchinsky

"Les Larmes" (Tears) by Alexei Stanchinsky, performed by Bruce Murray at the Oxford Community Arts Center (OH), March 27, 2021.

Wednesdays at noon wherever you are, take a break, a deep breath and enjoy a few minutes of exquisite music recorded in the beautiful ballroom of Oxford Community Arts Center.

Bruce Murray writes: The Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky, born in 1888, died at age twenty-six. He endured years of mental illness, and his death by drowning remains mysterious: suicide or something else? Nonetheless, in his brief life he produced a few hours' worth of expert piano music, including big sonatas and some experimental pieces that presage neoclassicism. He seems to have been fascinated by the innards of music composition, with a set of preludes in the form of canons, pieces written in old church modes, and works in exotic time signatures like 21/16. His music was essentially lost for decades, and scores have been available only since about 1990. The lovely, Romantic "Tears" must be an early work, probably from his teen years. On the other hand, his later music doesn't seem Romantic at all, with its rigor and grit, and it doesn't sound like anything else. You will hear more of Stanchinsky in the future.

The music is in the public domain.