Tchaikovsky - Complete Piano Works + Presentation (recording of the Century : Viktoria Postnikova)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) - Complete Piano Works by Viktoria Postnikova.
Activate the English subtitles for the early piano pieces presentation (00:00-03:17)
COMPLETE TIME STAMPS/PLAYLIST : LOOK THE FISRT COMMENT.

Viktoria Postnikova : « The immense virtuosity of Tchaikovsky's piano pieces makes them hard to interpret. And not without good reason. They were written for performers such as Anton and Nikolay Rubinstein, Vasily Il'ich Safonov, Alexander Ziloti, Alexander Ivanovich Dubuque and Karl Klindworth, with the result that Tchaikovsky could allow himself total freedom in his compositional approach, creating works that verge on the unperformable. His remarks on pianistic technique are of particular interest here; of Hans von Bülow, for example, he once said: "He has hands as elastic as rubber, as light as air and, where need be, as heavy as granite."

A whole series of pieces is dedicated to women, including Mariya Sergeyevna Kondratyeva, Anna Lvovna Davidova, Anna Petrovna Merkling, Nataliya Andreyevna Pleskaya and Vera Lvovna Rimskaya-Korsakova. They form a garland of elegant portraits reminiscent of the work of such great Russian painters as Feodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Karl Pavlovich Brüllov and Paul Andreyevich Fedotov. The op.5 Romance is dedicated to the singer Désirée Artôt, who had captivated the young composer's heart at a time when he was orchestrating Glinka's romance, "The Lark", for insertion in the lesson scene in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia. Tchaikovsky's piano literally sings, and the sense of enchantment that it provides can be explained in no small way by its melodic character and by its reference to such operatic masterpieces as Eugene Onegin and The Maid of Orleans. It is not surprising that Tchaikovsky's piano transcriptions of his own romances are so expressive and so successful.

The world of dance - the rhythm, plasticity and expressivity of the dancer's movements, the magic of gesture and the profusion of elements found in Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker -
returns in microcosmic form in a large number of short pieces, like miniature ballets, in which the waltz finds pride of place, a genre much admired by the composer and notable, not least, for its charm. The waltz might be likened to a queen surrounded by a whole retinue of mazurkas, polonaises and characteristic dances, a brilliant Pleiad or precious necklace.

It is interesting to note that a number of Tchaikovsky's piano pieces took on a new lease of life and assumed new sonorities in the form of orchestral transcriptions: the op. 10/2 "Humoresque", for example, returns in Stravinsky's ballet Le baiser de la fée, while the "Mélodie antique française" from the Album pour enfants op. 39 reappears in the music that Shostakovich wrote for the film New Babylon.

It has been a pleasure for me to record all Tchaikovsky's piano works in France, since it was here that the composer's pianistic heritage was recognised during his lifetime.

Tchaikovsky's diary for 1888 contains the following entry: ‘’Louis Diémer has organised a celebration in my honour. He and his pupils played around forty of my pieces…’’ »

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky PLAYLIST (reference recordings) : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3UZpQL9LIxMf4wYhD_ikxVVtRtYf-Azi