Boris Tchaikovsky Edition, Vol. 2

Track Listings

1. Piano Sonata No. 1

2. Piano Sonata No. 2

3. Eight Pieces for Children

4. Pentatonica

5. Natural Modes

6. Sonatina

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
The pianist Olga Solovieva writes about the piano music of Boris Tchaikovsky. "If I were to formulate what is most important to me in this music, I would say: sincere, straightforward, and simplicity in expressing ideas, feelings and states of mind that are far from being simple, unambiguous or superficial. A remarkable feature of his works is their saying just what is needed to be said, without any regard for the conventions of music." Once Boris Tchaikovsky was asked about his favorite composer. Having a chance to avoid the question, he nevertheless answered: "If I had to choose, I would choose Mussorgsky." Olga Solovieva graduated from the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnessins (Moscow) in 1998 and took a post-graduate course in the same Academy as an assistant to Professor Leonid Blok in 1998-2000. At the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, she won a special prize and was awarded a special diploma "The Best Accompanist" (accompaniment to cello). Currently she teaches at the Gnessins Musical College and works at the Moscow Conservatory.

Boris Tchaikovsky Edition, Vol. 2, Music, Boris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky, Olga Solovieva, Chamber Music & Recitals, Classical, Classical Composers, Keyboard, Music for Keyboard

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Excellent performance

Boris, Not Pyotr Ilyitch

Boris Tchaikovsky Edition, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Classical (c.1770-1830) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

Piano Sonata No. 1
Piano Sonata No. 2
Eight Pieces for Children
Pentatonica
Natural Modes
Sonatina

Product Description

The pianist Olga Solovieva writes about the piano music of Boris Tchaikovsky. If I were to formulate what is most important to me in this music, I would say: sincere, straightforward, and simplicity in expressing ideas, feelings and states of mind that are far from being simple, unambiguous or superficial. A remarkable feature of his works is their saying just what is needed to be said, without any regard for the conventions of music. Once Boris Tchaikovsky was asked about his favorite composer. Having a chance to avoid the question, he nevertheless answered: If I had to choose, I would choose Mussorgsky. Olga Solovieva graduated from the Russian Academy of Music named after Gnessins (Moscow) in 1998 and took a post-graduate course in the same Academy as an assistant to Professor Leonid Blok in 1998-2000. At the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 2002, she won a special prize and was awarded a special diploma The Best Accompanist (accompaniment to cello). Currently she teaches at the Gnessins Musical College and works at the Moscow Conservatory.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent performance.......2005-09-01

Noble, accurate and sensitive performance of outstanding music. Second Piano Sonata is a real masterpiece. One should know better other Boris Tchaikovsky works to understand the real uniqueness of his stile. Put your attention on small pieces for children! You could find a lot of hidden treasures there both in terms of music and playing. Olga Solovieva deserve real appreciation for hard-hitting simplicity of her performance.

Boris, Not Pyotr Ilyitch.......2005-06-11

Boris Tchaikovsky (1925-1996) was no relation to his illustrious fellow-composer, P. I. Tchaikovsky. But he was a talented composer nonetheless. He trained at the Moscow Conservatory during the worst of the Stalin years, studying under Shostakovich, Shebalin and Myaskovsky. He wrote relatively little piano music as an adult, although he first published some piano pieces at the age of 13. The First Piano Sonata, presented here, was written while still at the conservatory in 1944, at the height of the War. The most obvious influence on the sonata's style is that of Shostakovich. There is humor, caustic at times but generally fairly boisterous and naïve, and inexhaustible invention. The first movement is a dramatic sonata-allegro and it is followed by a slow middle movement that is rather like one of Shostakovich's passacaglia movements, although the dramatic tension is nowhere near as wrenching. Indeed, this movement is most notable, in its ten variations, for emotional arch it outlines and the limpid polyphony. The finale is an onrushing allegro molto which slams straight into a coda that recapitulates some of the opening movements elements. For a student work, this sonata is astonishingly assured.

The Second Piano Sonata, written in 1952, was never played during Tchaikovsky's life partly because the composer remained dissatisfied with some parts of it. It was first played a year after his death. Throughout there is emphasis on the lyrical line, but rhythmically it is more complex than its predecessor and indeed there are some jazzy effects, especially in the outer movements. Much of the writing is in two- or three-voices, again reminding us of Shostakovich's piano style. There are more obviously 'public' utterances in this sonata and one has the sense at times that Tchaikovsky is making some sort of 'statement' although its import is not clear.

The Sonatina (1946) is a one-movement work that reminds one rather of the first sonata's first movement. It has both inventive two-part polyphony and faux-naïve harmonies, complete with Alberti basses, at times that make one wonder if the composer was cocking a snook at the edicts about 'composition for the people' that were rife at that period of Soviet music. One hears a definite tongue-in-cheek quality. Whatever the case, it is clearly and yet cunningly concocted.

The remaining works on this disc -- 'Eight Pieces for Children,' 'Pentatonica' (subtitled 'Six Light Piano Pieces') and 'Natural Modes,' the three sets comprising 20 miniatures, most of them very brief -- are of a lesser order. Presumably they are meant rather as Bartók's miniatures were, for pedagogic purposes. Interestingly, 'Pentatonica' was written for a Korean Children's Music Festival, a fitting use of pentatonic scales and harmonies in their natural habitat. These works are modestly charming but of little import.

Our pianist is a young Russian, Olga Solovieva, a product of the Gnessin Academy in Moscow where she now teaches. Her playing is limpid and musical. This CD apparently is the second in a series on the Albany label devoted to the music of Boris Tchaikovsky, the earlier issue containing a piano trio, cello concerto and suite for solo cello; I have not heard that release.

TT=55:00

Scott Morrison

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