Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Пётр Ильич Чайковский (1840-1893)
Les Saisons, Op.37 A
I.Janvier : Au coin du feu (00:00)
II.Février : Carnaval (04:04)
III.Mars : Chant de l’alouette (06:42)
IV.Avril : Perce-Neige (08:45)
V.Mai : Les nuits de mai (11:17)
VI.Juin : Barcarolle (14:38)
VII.Juillet : Chant des moissonneurs (18:48)
VIII.Août : La moisson (20:21)
IX.Septembre : La chasse (23:17)
X.Octobre : Chant d’automne (25:45)
XI.Novembre : Course en Troïka (30:20)
XII.Décembre : Noël (33:09)
Dumka, Op.59 (36:45)
Humoresque, Op.10 No.2 (44:30)
Nocturne, Op.19 No.4 (47:01)
Chant sans paroles, Op.2 No.3 (50:31)
Valse Sentimentale, Op.51 No.6 (53:14)
Piano : Brigitte Engerer
Stéréo recording in 1982, at Paris
Label : Decca
The charming, very romantic story « Les Saisons » enabled Tchaikovsky to submit to the discipline of the small format at the very moment he was writing his Violin Concerto. The idea for this collection had been suggested to him by the publisher Nikolai Bernard who ran a periodical entitled ‘The Nouvelliste’. Beginning in the month of December 1875, Bernard enticed his readers with this announcement : « Our famous composer P.I. Tchaikovsky is contributing to the review; every month, he will provide a work for piano illustrating by its title and content an event of the seasons. »
Throughout the year 1876, Tchaikovsky would thus, more or less regularly, carry out his monthly task with real pleasure and a constant concern for maintaining himself technically up to his readers! And to enliven the picturesque aspect, each piece was preceded by a strophe borrowed from such and such a Russian poet in vogue. These 12 tableaux do not aspire to complete with the finest sound paintings of the Russian master, nor do they conform to the fashion of the vignette clumsily enhanced with garish colours. Rather, they fall into the category of naïve evocations where the precision of line and the sentimentality of the scene depicted combine to give the illusion of authenticity. Thus guided by the title or epigraph, the listener’s imagination can run according to the composer’s fantasy, he suggesting more than he describes.
The collection’s diversity stems as much from chosen for each piece as from the multitude of harmonic hues deployed. in that, Tchaikovsky owes a debt to Schumann, but his piano maintains an ease that is the mark of his genius.