Six Canonic Pieces Op 1 No 6 Tocka

Born; 12 July 1861, Novograd, Russia
Died; 25 February 1906
A set of pieces in canon form but very musical with the titles;
1. Fremdes leid
2. Widerspruch
3. Marsch
4. Sorglosigkeit
5. Geständniss
6. Sehnsucht (longing) or Tocka (unexplained angst).

Little known today, Anton Arensky was one of the brightest stars of the late nineteenth century Russian music scene. Arensky was born in 1861 to a pair of devoted amateur musicians under whose guidance he began his training. Arensky entered theMoscow conservatory in 1879, taking lessons from Rimsky-Korsakov. he graduated with a gold medal and in 1882 he became one of the youngest professors ever hired by the Moscow Conservatory.

Arensky's years at Moscow were fruitful; between 1882 and his resignation from the Conservatory's faculty in 1895 he completed most of his larger works (including the early Piano Concerto of 1882 and both Symphonies: B minor 1883; A major 1889).

Asked to replace Balakirev as director of the imperial chapel in St. Petersburg, Arensky returned to his home city in 1895; save for occasional national and international tours, he remained there for the rest of his life. By the mid-1890s Arensky's somewhat diminished stature as a composer was replaced by an increased public awareness of his gifts at the keyboard and on the podium.Death came prematurely in 1905 when Arensky, after decades of hard living and overindulgence, succumbed to tuberculosis.

Save for the well-known Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky for string orchestra, little of Arensky's substantial output has maintained a place on contemporary concert programs. He was essentially a miniaturist, and his finest music is to be found in the shorter works for solo piano and his melodious songs (which seem to have influenced Rachmaninov's conception of Russian song).

Listen here; https://tinyurl.com/3jrmzbax
Music attached