Est 1923

Tchaikovsky and his Circle

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Sergey Rachmaninov, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev

Label: Chandos

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 78

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: CHAN9218

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(24) Characteristic Pieces, Movement: Intermezzo in F minor Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(24) Characteristic Pieces, Movement: No. 15, Le ruisseau dans le forêt Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(6) Pieces, Movement: Romance Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Anton Stepanovich Arensky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(3) Etudes, Movement: No. 1 in C minor Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Composer
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(3) Etudes, Movement: No. 2 in E minor Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Composer
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Prelude and Two Mazurkas Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Composer
Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(2) Bagatelles, Movement: Stradaniye, B flat minor Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Composer
Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(3) Pieces, Movement: Prelude, B minor Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Composer
Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
(4) Preludes, Movement: No. 4 in F sharp minor Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Composer
Anatole Konstantinovich Liadov (Lyadov), Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Canon Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 1, Elégie in E flat minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 3, Mélodie in E Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 4, Polichinelle in F sharp minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Scherzo Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev, Composer
Andante semplice Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev, Composer
(2) Morceaux, Movement: Humoresque, E minor Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
(6) Morceaux, Movement: No. 4, Nocturne in C sharp minor Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
(12) Morceaux, Movement: No. 7, Au village (A minor) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Dumka (Russian rustic scene) Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
Margaret Fingerhut, Piano
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Composer
The title is a reasonable one, for the younger five composers here were Tchaikovsky's musical friends as well as known to him and greatly admiring of him. The Russian salon piano piece, owing a good deal to song and therefore to French example, was an immensely popular genre in Moscow and St Petersburg circles, and Tchaikovsky set examples both good and risky. The lively pieces, such as his wonderfully catchy Humoresque, not only put Russian folk idioms into currency, but could seize the sharpest of twentieth-century Russian ears, Stravinsky's, and go into The Fairy's Kiss with his own rhythmic bounce. The tender ones could veer in the direction of sentimentality, and sometimes lurch over the margins of good taste. A good variety is represented here.
Margaret Fingerhut has chosen intelligently. She has not spared herself, for there are one or two occasions where her technique is fully stretched. However, she has a real understanding of the genre, and can knock off the rapid fancy (such as Taneyev's Scherzo) and the sudden, almost manic burst of energy (uncharacteristically in the indolent Liadov's F sharp minor Prelude), as well as the dreamy meditation (Liadov's first Op. 17 Bagatelle, ''La douleur'' or Tchaikovsky's own Nocturne or Rachmaninov's Melodie) and a genre piece such as Arensky's pretty little picture of a brook running through a forest. Her greatest talent is for a flexibility of phrasing that always sings. These are in the best sense sympathetic performances, and should give pleasure.'

Tchaikovsky and his Circle

(24) Characteristic Pieces, Movement: Intermezzo in F minor

(24) Characteristic Pieces, Movement: No. 15, Le ruisseau dans le forêt

(6) Pieces, Movement: Romance

(3) Etudes, Movement: No. 1 in C minor

(3) Etudes, Movement: No. 2 in E minor

Prelude and Two Mazurkas

(2) Bagatelles, Movement: Stradaniye, B flat minor

(3) Pieces, Movement: Prelude, B minor

(4) Preludes, Movement: No. 4 in F sharp minor

Canon

(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 1, Elégie in E flat minor

(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 3, Mélodie in E

(5) Morceaux de fantaisie, Movement: No. 4, Polichinelle in F sharp minor

Scherzo

Andante semplice

(2) Morceaux, Movement: Humoresque, E minor

(6) Morceaux, Movement: No. 4, Nocturne in C sharp minor

(12) Morceaux, Movement: No. 7, Au village (A minor)

Dumka (Russian rustic scene)

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