SHOSTAKOVICH 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87 & • Tatiana Nikolayeva (pn) • DOREMI 7991-3 (2 CDs: 143:55) & TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in...

SHOSTAKOVICH 24 Preludes and Fugues, op. 87 & • Tatiana Nikolayeva (pn) • DOREMI 7991-3 (2 CDs: 143:55)


& TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in b?, op. 23 • Tatiana Nikolayeva (pn); Kurt Masur, cond; Leipzig Gewandhaus O • (DVD: 40:34)


Tatiana Nikolayeva’s importance to the development of the Shostakovich Preludes and Fugues has never been subject to dispute. It was her performance as a contestant at the International Bach Competition in East Germany in 1950, where Shostakovich was among the judges, that initially inspired the composition. According to the writer Lyubov Rudneva, who witnessed the pile-on of apparatchiks when Shostakovich first performed the finished work before the Committee for the Arts, Nikolayeva was one of the very few to speak about it positively: “Having listened to this work several times, on each hearing it produced a deeper and deeper impression. The work was striking for its variety and multifaceted qualities, and also for the unusual sense of unity it conveyed.” She received its dedication, gave its first performance, discussed it repeatedly with Shostakovich, and recorded it three times—in Moscow in 1962 and 1987, and finally, three years later, in London.


That final set (Hyperion 66441/4) has the best sound, but arguably the weakest performance: not as expressive as the other sets, and the most technically challenged. The 1987 set has been my default recommendation to friends seeking Nikolayeva’s Preludes and Fugues on CD, simply because the earliest reading, originally released on a Melodiya LP, was not available. Fortunately, that situation has just changed.


Where to start? The 1987 version is more vivid than the 1990 one, but that of 1962 is elemental. There is a sense of “taking stage” that never fails, from the pastoral, feather-light Prelude in D Major, to the somber, carefully controlled colors of the Fugue in F?-Minor, to the implacable majesty of the Prelude in D Minor. Each piece has its own emotional weight, and there isn’t a moment of routine, of skating on the surface, in the playing of any of them.


This recorded version is also the pianist’s most technically assured. Whether this factor led Nikolayeva to take more chances in 1962 than she did later, it is true there’s an exuberance that was missing 25 years on. The Fugue in D?-Major is recklessly fast but extremely clear in its voicings, conveying a drunken vivacity that recalls the joy Shostakovich got out of madcap silent-film cartoons and comedies. The B?-Prelude is quite as fast as Scherbakov (168 bpm) but more sharply accented, typically so in the passage where the bass suddenly scampers away from its barcarolle-like tonic-dominant pair of chords. The Fugue in E Major’s galloping aggressiveness provides yet a third example; and the octaves of the G-Major Prelude, which would give some trouble in the 1987 recording, offer fewer problems here.


As for the final Fugue in D Minor, the first section combines brooding intensity, slow pacing (roughly 78 bpm), and a subtle, almost romantic ebb and flow to the pulse. The second section rises to a powerful conclusion every bit worthy of the series.


However, I find as much frustration in this rerelease due to its audio quality, as I take pleasure in Nikolayeva’s brilliant vision of the work. The source for this recording—either the original LP, or a copy of it—has been filtered at some point to remove nearly all of the treble. Now, Melodiya exports of the period in question employed barrel-scraped vinyl, layering a tar of grit over the sound of most of its LPs—as I can attest from several in my own collection—but there’s also some musical signal in there, too. If you remove the grit through a blanket filter, you also get rid of some of the sound of the instrument. Given a choice, I’d rather have that treble, fierce crackle and all, to filter as I wish.


Doremi has provided a third disc with this set, a DVD of the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto that includes Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Recorded live in 1990, Nikolayeva was in excellent technical shape, and Masur’s very moderate tempos helped. Her performance reveals a great deal of flexibility in phrasing, along with plenty of color; far more than the orchestra, in fact. The camera, which spends a lot of time behind and to the right of the pianist, and sometimes moves in for close-ups of her hands, furnishes an excellent opportunity to watch how Nikolayeva balances with her forearms—upper arms close to her body—and “rolls from the wrists.” It’s also instructive to watch how her small hands manage the octaves for the most part without problem. The sound is good, the video likely a direct digital dub of an analog original: very clear, except in distant shots of the hall where fuzzy imaging is apparent.


The DVD is a bonus that’s great to have, but it’s the 1962 Preludes and Fugues that are truly self-recommending in this album. Despite the sound, they should be heard by anybody who wants a dramatic yet detailed version of this work, and one that explores the coloristic resources of the piano.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal


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.

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com