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Nikolai Lugansky dedicated several solo
recordings to Russian composers.
Especially, his Rachmaninov Sonatas
disc released in 2013 got a huge success
in a few months. Yet, this new recording
is Nikolai Lugansky’s first
Tchaikovsky recital on record.
Though less well-known than his operas
or his orchestral compositions,
Tchaikovsky’s piano music nonetheless
contains essential works of his,
such as the cycle The Seasons and
the Grand Sonata. Composed at a period
of crisis in the composer‘s personal
life, they illustrate two quite different
aspects of his style: on the one hand
we have the fashionable worldliness of
The Seasons, pieces that almost belong
to the genre of salon music; on
the other hand, we see him ambitiously
grappling with the classical sonata, in
the tradition of his illustrious predecessors
- Liszt, Schumann, Chopin.
For Nikolai Lugansky, “one of the most
trailblazing performers of our time” as
for Gramophone, this recording is like
“having a new encounter with Tchaikovsky,
almost like falling in love with
someone new…”
pyotr ilyich tchaikovsky 1840-1893
sonata no.2 in g major, op.37, ‘grand sonata’
1 Moderato e risoluto 14’55
2 Andante non troppo quasi moderato 10’14
3 Scherzo. Allegro giocoso 3’02
4 Finale. Allegro vivace 6’59
the seasons, 12 characteristic pieces, op.37b
5 January – At the Fireside 5’53
6 February – Carnival 2’56
7 March – Song of the Lark 2’36
8 April – Snowdrop 2’52
9 May – White Nights 4’56
10 June – Barcarolle 4’59
11 July – Song of the Reaper 1’51
12 August – Harvest 3’39
13 September – The Hunt 2’52
14 October – Autumn Song 5’36
15 November – Troïka 3’19
16 December – Christmas 4’47 |
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