Most piano collectors are aware of Tatiana Nikolayeva’s 1987 Melodiya and 1990 Hyperion cycles devoted to Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, together with a recently released video presentation. However, her 1962 Melodiya cycle never has been reissued until now, and it comprises what promises to be Doremi’s first in a series of historic releases featuring Nikolayeva.
Doremi’s transfers appear to have been effected from mint copies of the original vinyl pressings, and heavily filtered at that, judging from the altogether brighter patina I still glean from an old, wobbly non-professional cassette dub made from scratchy LPs. In any event, this was the cycle’s first complete recorded version, and the only one to be supervised by the composer (he recorded several of these works himself, for both Melodiya and French EMI). It easily surpasses Nikolayeva’s later efforts technically and interpretively.
For example, the pianist’s later versions of the G major Fugue find her slowing down at times to accommodate her hands, whereas the 1962 reading is brisker, steadier, and suppler on every level. The occasional protruding accents that wrinkle the D major Prelude’s delicate chordal lines in 1987 and 1990 are nowhere to be found in 1962, while the E-flat minor Fugue reveals a consistently calm lilt that contrasts to the later versions’ occasional sagging. Although each of Nikolayeva’s A-flat Fugues slows down from its original tempo, the fault is less obtrusive in 1962.
This release includes a bonus DVD featuring Nikolayeva, Kurt Masur, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in a live 1990 Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. While the interpretation is mostly slow, sober, and not terribly exciting, Nikolayeva compensates by way of beautiful dynamic nuances and tonal shadings.