Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op.37a (Primakov, Pletnev)

Most pianists who play The Seasons do them a pretty big disfavour -- you get the sense that they don't take the pieces seriously, and so the suite's melodic invention, its harmonic tangents and deliciously orchestral articulation, all get lost in a rather lazy sentimental soup. It's easy to understand why this suite is played this way -- we know for certain that Tchaikovsky didn't really put much effort into them (he was more preoccupied with Swan Lake and Francesca da Rimini at the time), and they were composed to order (hence the rather odd title "The Seasons" instead of "The Months" -- the title and epigraphs were provided by the commissioner.)

Pletnev's recording of the suite is rightly regarded as a classic -- even a reference recording, and so I'll not waste time lavishing it with even more praise. What I want to draw attention to is Primakov's recording, because it's both relatively unknown and (to my ear) some distance ahead of Pletnev's. If there's one standout quality of Primakov's playing it's his ability to revel in the most microscopic details: it might be the harmonic turns in January or the counterpoint in February, the rubato in the countless melodic retardations/suspensions so typical of Tchaikovsky's style or the voicing in the apparently prosaic passage at 28:41 -- but it's all utterly surprising and totally persuasive. Primakov's playing highlights one of the most alluring qualities of Tchaikovsky's piano music: its orchestral nature. The piano was never Tchaikovsky's element, and he struggled mightily when composing for it. Even the simplest Tchaikovsky pieces are hard to play, because he wasn't a pianist and the pieces sit awkwardly under the fingers. So it's not so surprising that when listening to these pieces, it's almost ridiculously easy to imagine them as pieces scored for orchestra, Tchaikovsky's natural element -- there'll be a passage when you might say, "Oh, this is where the French horns come in," or, "Ok, I see, the second violins would take up this pizzicato line, and this bit goes to the woodwinds", and so on. Try it: it's weirdly fun, and Primakov's colouration is absolutely spot-on for the exercise.

Primakov:

00:00 – January
04:48 – *February
07:42 – March
10:27 – April
13:01 – May
17:21 – *June
22:08 – July
23:55 – *August
27:20 – September
30:05 – *October
35:01 – November
38:15 – December

Pletnev:

42:07 – January
48:26 – February
51:19 – March
54:12 – April
56:41 – May
1:01:04 – June
1:06:24 – July
1:08:21 – August
1:11:56 – September
1:14:47 – October
1:20:40 – November
1:23:48 – December

Видео Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op.37a (Primakov, Pletnev) канала Ashish Xiangyi Kumar