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Pyotr Tchaikovsky
(1840 - 1893) created a great number of piano works. These compositions
were intended to serve specific purposes and be performed in certain environments.
Works like the First Piano Concerto were created for big concert halls,
to celebrate solemn moments of Russian history and unify the national spirit
of Russian society. Miniatures usually were performed at home, in
a circle of friends and family. They are a symbol of many Russian homes
privacy and comfort reflecting the Russian lifestyle of the 19th century. Though
Tchaikovsky's piano miniatures were addressed
mostly to nobles and prosperous townsfolk, his music speaks to everyone.
Intimate and sincere, with rich melodies and simple to perform, the music
gained great popularity for the composer.
Op. 40 was composed in 1878 and dedicated to Pyotr's
brother Modest. No. 9 is a revised version of the Waltz written in
1876. No. 10 is based on the Danse Russe in the ballet Swan Lake.
Mikhail Pletnev
spoke of performing the cycle: "When I play this music I seem to
become immersed in the atmosphere in which the composer lived, as if I
am reading his diary or memories. And a new facet reflected in Tchaikovsky's music opens up to me". Pletnev's respect for Tchaikovsky's
music can be sensed in his meticulous adherence to the most minute details
of the text. However, this is not pedantry; it is the insight of
a musician, which brings to mind Arthur Rubinstein's words:
"Performance is the second creation". The pianist reveals
to us a new understanding of
Tchaikovsky's music Pletnev's Tchaikovsky is a great artistic event,
not only in the pianist's
own biography, but in the history of interpretation of Tchaikovsky's piano
works.
Pletnev was born in Archangelsk, Russia, in a family
of musicians and displayed exceptional musical talent from a very
early age. Growing up in Kazan, he entered the Moscow Central School
of Music at the age of 13 and, in 1974 - the Moscow Conservatory,
where he studied piano under Jakob Flier and Lev Vlasenko. Pletnev
was the Gold Medal and First Prize winner of the 1978 Tchaikovsky International
Competition in Moscow when he was only 21. His prize earned him early
international recognition and, in 1988, an invitation from President Gorbachev
to perform at the Russia - USA summit in
Washington.
Tchaikovsky most probably is Pletnev's favourite
composer. His transcriptions for piano
of Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty Suites (both works he also performs
as a conductor) were selected along with his performance of The Second
Piano Concerto and The Seasons for the 1998 anthology "Great Pianists
of the 20th Century".
BBC Music Magazine called his interpretations "piano
playing at its greatest... this performance alone would be enough
to secure Pletnev a place among the greatest pianists ever known".
©2003
Evgeni Kostitsyn
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
(1840 - 1893)
Twelve Pieces for Piano, Op. 40
1. Etude - 1:30
2. Sad Song - 2:55
3. Funeral March - 8:54
4. Mazurka - 3:05
5. Mazurka - 3:37
6. Song Without Words - 2:11
7. In the Village - 4:26
8. Waltz - 3:01
9. Waltz (second version) - 5:40
10. Russian Dance - 3:06
11. Scherzo - 3:34
12. Interrupted Dreams - 4:26
13. Romance, Op. 5 - 6:22
14. Waltz-Scherzo, Op. 7 - 4:24
15. Capriccio, Op. 8 - 5:00
Total time - 63:40
Mikhail Pletnev, piano
Cover painting "Girls at the Piano" by Renoir
Design by Evgeni Kostitsyn