(2026) Glière & Rachmaninov
Category(ies): Piano
Instrument(s): Piano
Main Composer: Various composers (see collections)
CD set: 1
Catalog N°:
CD 3163
Release: 25.09.2026
EAN/UPC: 7619931316321
(Will be sent some days before release date).
This album is now on repressing. Pre-order it at a special price now.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
This album has not been released yet. Pre-order it from now.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
CHF 18.50
VAT included for Switzerland & UE
Free shipping
This album is no longer available on CD.
VAT included for Switzerland & UE
Free shipping
This album is now on repressing. Pre-order it at a special price now.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
This album has not been released yet.
Pre-order it at a special price now.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
CHF 18.50
This album is no longer available on CD.
NEW: Purchases are now made in the currency of your country. Change country here or at checkout
Orders to the United States are once again available.
See more info on cart page.
GLIÈRE & RACHMANINOV
BETWEEN LYRICISM AND CLARITY: RACHMANINOV AND GLIÈRE FOR PIANO FOUR HANDS
This program brings together two cycles for piano four hands from the Russian tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the Six Pieces, Op. 11 by Sergueï Rachmaninov (1873–1943) and the Twelve Pieces, Op. 48 by Reinhold Glière (1875– 1956). The release of this CD also coincides with the 70th anniversary of Reinhold Glière’s death and provides an opportunity to present, for the first time in its entirety, this deeply poetic cycle.
Composed in 1909, Reinhold Glière’s Twelve Pieces, Op. 48 belongs to a period of full artistic maturity. At the age of 34, the composer had developed a musical language deeply rooted in the Romantic heritage, favoring clarity of form and balanced pianistic writing. Respected throughout his career under both the Tsarist and Soviet regimes, Glière occupies a singular place in Russian musical history, remaining faithful to a traditional aesthetic during a time of profound artistic transformation.
This cycle for piano four hands consists of twelve pieces of varied character, alternating dances, lyrical pages, and folk-inspired evocations. The writing is often lucid, at times close in spirit to pedagogical repertoire, yet always refined. The dialogue between the two pianists plays a central role, although the balance between primo and secondo remains flexible, allowing for subtle interplay of textures and colors. Despite its qualities, this opus has never before been recorded in its entirety.
Written in 1894, when Sergueï Rachmaninov was only 21 years old, the Six Pieces, Op. 11 already reveal a strongly defined musical personality. The cycle displays a keen sense of lyricism, remarkable harmonic richness, and pianistic writing of great breadth. Here, the piano four hands medium is conceived as a true orchestral space, unfolding a dense and highly contrasted sonic palette.
Each piece asserts its own distinctive character: from the dreamlike fluidity of the Barcarolle to the virtuosic brilliance of Slava, passing through more introspective or dance-like pages. The writing, often generous and expansive, stands out for its bold modulations, expressive intensity, and virtuosity that transcends mere technical display to attain genuine emotional depth.
Having been trained within the same musical environment, notably under Sergueï Taneïev and Anton Arenski, Glière and Rachmaninov shared a profound attachment to the Russian Romantic tradition: the primacy of melody, tonal grounding, and a taste for atmospheres inspired by folklore. Both composers explore the possibilities of piano four hands with remarkable inventiveness, drawing on rich textures, dialogic effects, and rhythmic layering.
Yet their aesthetics remain markedly distinct. Where Rachmaninov develops a passionate, at times dramatic style with an almost orchestral density, Glière favors a more measured expression characterized by clarity, balance, and a certain poetic restraint. One explores the tensions and surges of late Romanticism in all their intensity; the other offers a more serene interpretation, faithful to forms inherited from tradition.
The meeting of these two cycles thus highlights two complementary faces of a shared heritage. Rachmaninov’s ardor and expressive depth are answered by Glière’s elegance and transparency. Within this dialogue, Op. 48 emerges as an intimate and delicate space, while Op. 11 unfolds a more expansive and contrasted energy.
This pairing sheds light not only on the aesthetic affinities of two composers shaped by the same school, but also on the singularity of their respective voices. By restoring the Op. 48 cycle of Glière—rarely heard in its entirety—to its rightful place, this recording contributes to a deeper appreciation of a still little-known repertoire alongside one of the major works of the Russian piano four hands tradition.
Duo ELERIYA
THE ELERIYA DUO
“Music is a breath of the soul, yet every breath is unique and will never return.” – Paul Celan
Elena Soussi and Valeriya Berestneva are pianists and performers for whom dialogue with the composer and the score is essential. Together, they seek the implicit, what is written between the notes, what lies beyond the written page itself. They move toward a shared vision of interpretation.
They share the piano ; they become one with it. Hands cross, arms overlap upon the keyboard. It becomes a space of dance : correspondences, precision, continuity of movement. A single song emerges, carried by distinct timbres.
In these performers there is a genuine listening — to oneself and to the other — and a capacity to bring their playing into harmony. Communication becomes instinctive : scarcely a glance, a gesture.
The sonic richness of their musical expression gradually unfolds. It springs from within themselves, taking shape and extending to the furthest reaches of the body, the hand, the fingers, their very fingertips, imbued with emotion and sensitivity. Touch is fulfilled — skin-deep.
Upon the keyboard, their fingers sculpt the sound, shape resonance, and compose silence. An intimate dialogue takes place with the instrument. Beyond their hands, these musicians offer themselves entirely to the music. The delicacy and elegance of their touch open toward the Ideal they seek to embrace.
“It is your hands that bestow caresses here below; Believe they are sisters to lilies and sisters to wings: Do not scorn them, do not neglect them, And let them bloom like asphodels.” – Germain Nouveau
Michel Agus
Elena Soussi and Valeriya Berestneva first met through their shared commitment to piano pedagogy at the Conservatoire de Fribourg in Switzerland. Very quickly, this professional proximity led to numerous exchanges and collaborative projects between their classes, naturally encouraging them to explore together the repertoire for piano four hands.
From this collaboration, the ELERIYA Duo was founded in 2022. They subsequently developed an artistic approach centered on the search for a shared sound, mutual listening, and great precision of instrumental gesture. Their playing is founded on a constant balance between the two pianists, in which the piano becomes a shared space rather than a dialogue between two separate individualities.
Their work was rapidly recognized through several international distinctions, notably at the Concours International Léopold Bellan (First Prize, Prix d’Honneur, and Thomas Kreuzberger Prize), the Concours International de Piano de Paris (First Prize, piano four hands category), and the Carles & Sofia International Piano Competition (Gold Hands Award), highlighting both the cohesion and singularity of their artistic work.
VALERIYA BERESTNEVA
Born in Kaliningrad, Valeriya Berestneva began studying piano at the age of seven in her native city. After attending the Music School and later the S. Rachmaninov Regional Conservatory, she continued her studies in Moscow at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in the class of D. Burnshtein, where she also deepened her study of lyric singing. In 2006, she obtained her diploma as a concert pianist and collaborative pianist in instrumental piano performance.
Drawn from an early age to ensemble playing and accompaniment, she developed an artistic activity particularly focused on chamber music and collaboration with singers and instrumentalists. As a pianist and accompanist, she performs regularly in chamber music concerts. Alongside this, she has pursued artistic activities in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, France, and Germany.
After moving to Switzerland in 2012, Valeriya Berestneva began teaching piano while actively organizing and participating in numerous chamber music concerts. Since 2017, she has been a piano professor and collaborative pianist at the Conservatoire de Fribourg.
duoeleriya.com/valeriya-berestneva
ELENA SOUSSI
Born in 1990, Elena Soussi is a Franco-Swiss pianist whose artistic path bridges performance, chamber music, and contemporary creation. Trained in both France and Switzerland, she studied notably with Philippe Reymond, Pascal Jourdan, Paul Coker, and Fabrizio Chiovetta, while also benefiting from the guidance of pianist Roumiana Kirtcheva.
Chamber music occupies a central place in her artistic activity, leading her to perform regularly throughout Switzerlandand across Europe in a variety of ensembles. Her repertoire extends from the Baroque period to contemporary creation, with particular attention devoted to interdisciplinary projects and plural aesthetics.
Deeply committed to contemporary music, she is co-founder of the Avès Duo (piano and accordion), with which she develops projects focused on creation and transcription. The duo has commissioned works from several contemporary composers.
She is also a member of the S.A.M.P.L.E ensemble, participating in creative musical projects. In parallel, she pursues work centered on vocal repertoire within the MaNa Duo, formed alongside soprano Mathilde Rogé. Their research, particularly devoted to forgotten women composers, has given rise to several stage productions, including a performance dedicated to Pauline Viardot with Julie Depardieu.
Alongside her concert activities, Elena Soussi teaches at the Conservatoire de Fribourg and serves as co-artistic director of the musical and educational season of the Association Jeux d’Anches, where she develops projects combining artistic dissemination and pedagogy.
(2026) Glière & Rachmaninov - CD 3163
BETWEEN LYRICISM AND CLARITY: RACHMANINOV AND GLIÈRE FOR PIANO FOUR HANDS
This program brings together two cycles for piano four hands from the Russian tradition of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the Six Pieces, Op. 11 by Sergueï Rachmaninov (1873–1943) and the Twelve Pieces, Op. 48 by Reinhold Glière (1875– 1956). The release of this CD also coincides with the 70th anniversary of Reinhold Glière’s death and provides an opportunity to present, for the first time in its entirety, this deeply poetic cycle.
Composed in 1909, Reinhold Glière’s Twelve Pieces, Op. 48 belongs to a period of full artistic maturity. At the age of 34, the composer had developed a musical language deeply rooted in the Romantic heritage, favoring clarity of form and balanced pianistic writing. Respected throughout his career under both the Tsarist and Soviet regimes, Glière occupies a singular place in Russian musical history, remaining faithful to a traditional aesthetic during a time of profound artistic transformation.
This cycle for piano four hands consists of twelve pieces of varied character, alternating dances, lyrical pages, and folk-inspired evocations. The writing is often lucid, at times close in spirit to pedagogical repertoire, yet always refined. The dialogue between the two pianists plays a central role, although the balance between primo and secondo remains flexible, allowing for subtle interplay of textures and colors. Despite its qualities, this opus has never before been recorded in its entirety.
Written in 1894, when Sergueï Rachmaninov was only 21 years old, the Six Pieces, Op. 11 already reveal a strongly defined musical personality. The cycle displays a keen sense of lyricism, remarkable harmonic richness, and pianistic writing of great breadth. Here, the piano four hands medium is conceived as a true orchestral space, unfolding a dense and highly contrasted sonic palette.
Each piece asserts its own distinctive character: from the dreamlike fluidity of the Barcarolle to the virtuosic brilliance of Slava, passing through more introspective or dance-like pages. The writing, often generous and expansive, stands out for its bold modulations, expressive intensity, and virtuosity that transcends mere technical display to attain genuine emotional depth.
Having been trained within the same musical environment, notably under Sergueï Taneïev and Anton Arenski, Glière and Rachmaninov shared a profound attachment to the Russian Romantic tradition: the primacy of melody, tonal grounding, and a taste for atmospheres inspired by folklore. Both composers explore the possibilities of piano four hands with remarkable inventiveness, drawing on rich textures, dialogic effects, and rhythmic layering.
Yet their aesthetics remain markedly distinct. Where Rachmaninov develops a passionate, at times dramatic style with an almost orchestral density, Glière favors a more measured expression characterized by clarity, balance, and a certain poetic restraint. One explores the tensions and surges of late Romanticism in all their intensity; the other offers a more serene interpretation, faithful to forms inherited from tradition.
The meeting of these two cycles thus highlights two complementary faces of a shared heritage. Rachmaninov’s ardor and expressive depth are answered by Glière’s elegance and transparency. Within this dialogue, Op. 48 emerges as an intimate and delicate space, while Op. 11 unfolds a more expansive and contrasted energy.
This pairing sheds light not only on the aesthetic affinities of two composers shaped by the same school, but also on the singularity of their respective voices. By restoring the Op. 48 cycle of Glière—rarely heard in its entirety—to its rightful place, this recording contributes to a deeper appreciation of a still little-known repertoire alongside one of the major works of the Russian piano four hands tradition.
Duo ELERIYA
THE ELERIYA DUO
“Music is a breath of the soul, yet every breath is unique and will never return.” – Paul Celan
Elena Soussi and Valeriya Berestneva are pianists and performers for whom dialogue with the composer and the score is essential. Together, they seek the implicit, what is written between the notes, what lies beyond the written page itself. They move toward a shared vision of interpretation.
They share the piano ; they become one with it. Hands cross, arms overlap upon the keyboard. It becomes a space of dance : correspondences, precision, continuity of movement. A single song emerges, carried by distinct timbres.
In these performers there is a genuine listening — to oneself and to the other — and a capacity to bring their playing into harmony. Communication becomes instinctive : scarcely a glance, a gesture.
The sonic richness of their musical expression gradually unfolds. It springs from within themselves, taking shape and extending to the furthest reaches of the body, the hand, the fingers, their very fingertips, imbued with emotion and sensitivity. Touch is fulfilled — skin-deep.
Upon the keyboard, their fingers sculpt the sound, shape resonance, and compose silence. An intimate dialogue takes place with the instrument. Beyond their hands, these musicians offer themselves entirely to the music. The delicacy and elegance of their touch open toward the Ideal they seek to embrace.
“It is your hands that bestow caresses here below; Believe they are sisters to lilies and sisters to wings: Do not scorn them, do not neglect them, And let them bloom like asphodels.” – Germain Nouveau
Michel Agus
Elena Soussi and Valeriya Berestneva first met through their shared commitment to piano pedagogy at the Conservatoire de Fribourg in Switzerland. Very quickly, this professional proximity led to numerous exchanges and collaborative projects between their classes, naturally encouraging them to explore together the repertoire for piano four hands.
From this collaboration, the ELERIYA Duo was founded in 2022. They subsequently developed an artistic approach centered on the search for a shared sound, mutual listening, and great precision of instrumental gesture. Their playing is founded on a constant balance between the two pianists, in which the piano becomes a shared space rather than a dialogue between two separate individualities.
Their work was rapidly recognized through several international distinctions, notably at the Concours International Léopold Bellan (First Prize, Prix d’Honneur, and Thomas Kreuzberger Prize), the Concours International de Piano de Paris (First Prize, piano four hands category), and the Carles & Sofia International Piano Competition (Gold Hands Award), highlighting both the cohesion and singularity of their artistic work.
VALERIYA BERESTNEVA
Born in Kaliningrad, Valeriya Berestneva began studying piano at the age of seven in her native city. After attending the Music School and later the S. Rachmaninov Regional Conservatory, she continued her studies in Moscow at the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in the class of D. Burnshtein, where she also deepened her study of lyric singing. In 2006, she obtained her diploma as a concert pianist and collaborative pianist in instrumental piano performance.
Drawn from an early age to ensemble playing and accompaniment, she developed an artistic activity particularly focused on chamber music and collaboration with singers and instrumentalists. As a pianist and accompanist, she performs regularly in chamber music concerts. Alongside this, she has pursued artistic activities in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, France, and Germany.
After moving to Switzerland in 2012, Valeriya Berestneva began teaching piano while actively organizing and participating in numerous chamber music concerts. Since 2017, she has been a piano professor and collaborative pianist at the Conservatoire de Fribourg.
duoeleriya.com/valeriya-berestneva
ELENA SOUSSI
Born in 1990, Elena Soussi is a Franco-Swiss pianist whose artistic path bridges performance, chamber music, and contemporary creation. Trained in both France and Switzerland, she studied notably with Philippe Reymond, Pascal Jourdan, Paul Coker, and Fabrizio Chiovetta, while also benefiting from the guidance of pianist Roumiana Kirtcheva.
Chamber music occupies a central place in her artistic activity, leading her to perform regularly throughout Switzerlandand across Europe in a variety of ensembles. Her repertoire extends from the Baroque period to contemporary creation, with particular attention devoted to interdisciplinary projects and plural aesthetics.
Deeply committed to contemporary music, she is co-founder of the Avès Duo (piano and accordion), with which she develops projects focused on creation and transcription. The duo has commissioned works from several contemporary composers.
She is also a member of the S.A.M.P.L.E ensemble, participating in creative musical projects. In parallel, she pursues work centered on vocal repertoire within the MaNa Duo, formed alongside soprano Mathilde Rogé. Their research, particularly devoted to forgotten women composers, has given rise to several stage productions, including a performance dedicated to Pauline Viardot with Julie Depardieu.
Alongside her concert activities, Elena Soussi teaches at the Conservatoire de Fribourg and serves as co-artistic director of the musical and educational season of the Association Jeux d’Anches, where she develops projects combining artistic dissemination and pedagogy.
Return to the album | Read the booklet | Composer(s): Various Composers | Main Artist: Duo Eleriya
