In 1875 the St. Petersburg music magazine Nouvellist commissioned Tchaikovsky to contribute 12 piano pieces, one for each month of the year. Although the composer evidently tossed them off with little effort, the music’s melodic charm and emotional directness still hold appeal for today’s audiences and the increasing number of pianists who’ve committed the complete Seasons cycle to disc.
Directness is the operative word concerning Pavel Kolesnikov’s subtle and sensitive performances. True, he doesn’t always observe the composer’s dynamic and expressive markings, and generally contains everything within the parameters of mezzo-piano and mezzo-forte. On the other hand, the pianist avoids Olli Mustonen’s exaggerated detaché articulation and Yakov Kasman’s milking of lyrical episodes. In this sense one might consider Kolesnikov’s interpretation as a smaller-scaled replica of Vladimir Ashkenazy’s superb 1999 Decca traversal, albeit without the latter’s overly reverberant sonics.
I sometimes miss the appropriately balletic quality of Pletnev’s phrasing; compare his edgy and excitingly soaring “April” to Kolesnikov’s more measured rendition. Then again, Pletnev’s repeated chords and left hand passagework in “August” yield to Kolesnikov’s supple textural differentiation and characterful lightness.
Kolesnikov mostly distinguishes himself well in the six Op. 19 piano pieces. He anchors the Scherzo Humoresque’s dazzlingly rapid right-hand lines with sharp attention to the left hand’s pointed cross rhythms, while the Nocturne’s wistful melodies convey a floating, almost disembodied quality that is better heard than described.
The pianist’s intelligently unified tempo relationships ensure greater continuity to the Theme and Variations (one of Tchaikovsky’s most overlooked and challenging keyboard masterpieces) than other pianists of note, although I still prefer Andrei Gavrilov (his EMI recording, reissued as part of Philips Great Pianists of the 20th Century series) for his heightened bravura in Variation 4’s staccato chords and throughout the taxing coda, as well as his greater attention to inner voices. For example, Gavrilov deftly contours Variation 2’s “cantando” left hand against the right hand’s decorative filigree, whereas Kolesnikov creates a more generalized textural impression. David Fanning’s booklet notes and Hyperion’s engineering are on the highest level.
