Sergei prokofiev : Five Sarcasms, Op. 17 (1912-1914)
Alexander Tchrepnin : Eight Pieces for Piano Op. 88 (1954/55)
Alexander Tchrepnin : Twelve Preludes, from: op. 85 (1952/53)
Alexander Tchrepnin : Quatre Préludes Nostaligiques for Piano Op. 23 (1923)
Sergei prokofiev : Visions fugitives, Op. 22 (1915-1917)
Nicolai Tcherepnin : Six Musical Illustrations to Alexander Pushkin’s Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, Op. 41 (1917)
A newcomer and a very prudent young guy, phe Nomenal technique und musicality who
selected quite a bunch of small pieces from the Russian repertoire, small tales
and stories. (see also his Interview in the album booklet)
He won many competitions, especially Sydney and Warsaw were highlights of
Gadjiev’s young career. Around the world his name is handled as a secret tip –
attention, he will become a great player!
Exciting Journey
In the booklet interview the italian/slovenic pianist speaks about his program:
CdR: Now let’s talk about your CD. What is the idea behind it?
AG: This is a special CD that exclusively features brief pieces taken from short
anthologies or collections. For me it’s like a journey without a chro Nology: I
just wanted to choose an interesting itinerary. We start with a jolt: a brutal
gesture in Prokofiev, almost entirely lacking a melody. From that point on, the
moods in the pieces blend into one a Nother.
CdR: What made you thinking that The Bark of Yearning would be a good CD’s title?
AG: I found it in a poem by Konstantin Balmont. One evening in Saint Petersburg
in 1917, Balmont heard music by Prokofiev, who was also present, and he wrote a
poem on the spot. Prokofiev was so taken with Balmont’s poem that he
spontaneously chose the quote Visions fugitives as the title for his collection
of miniatures. After I discovered that poem, I read more by the same author to
get a feeling for the atmosphere, and The Bark of Yearning was my favorite. All
these pieces seem to evoke a “dark meditation”. Even in lively passages there is
an underlying mood of brooding: it is the atmosphere of the early 20th century
and the cultural milieu of Symbolism. These are brief, abstract visions of
different worlds. You can sense that a single chord or series of sounds could
escalate to evoke an entire universe. Or take the Sarcasms, with which I begin
the CD: they stand for an experimental avant-garde, a quasi-scientific
investigation, probably connected with the mood in Saint Petersburg immediately
prior to the October Revolution in 1917. The passages are brutal, thus sarcastic.
Two different worlds always coexist in Prokofiev: one is full of fantasy,
imagination, and wonder; the other is eerie and grotesque. In the end we left
the title off as the program says it all.
CdR: What brought you to the following works by father and son Tcherepnin
featured on this CD?
AG: On the Internet, I came across these pieces by chance. Nikolai Tcherepnin,
the father, was a widely respected composer, mainly k Nown as a conductor. He was
also Prokofiev’s conservatory professor in orchestral conducting (and in his
diary Prokofiev wrote that he had learned more about the orchestra from
Tcherepnin than from Rimsky-Korsakov, who was his actual orchestration professor
and a legend in his own time). And as far as the works of Nikolai Tcherepnin
were concerned, Prokofiev was full of praise (a rare event). From the works of
Nikolai Tcherepnin, I have chosen the musical tale The Fisherman and the Fish, a
series of brief pieces in a fairytale-like atmosphere. The fish, who has been
caught, can give the fisherman anything he desires. But the fisherman’s evil
wife is never satisfied and always wants more. Full of patience and compassion,
the fish goes on giving. But when the wife wants to become the queen of the sea,
the fish says “ No!” I have chosen to close the CD with this cycle: my listeners
are thus left in a tranquil atmosphere brimming with colorful so Norities.
Alexander Gadjiev, piano
At the 2021 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Italian-Slovenian pianist Alexander
Gadjiev Not only won Second Prize, but also
the prestigious “Krystian Zimerman Prize for the best performance of a Chopin
Sonata”.
Just a few months previously, Alexander was awarded the First Prize and several
Special Prizes at the 2021 Sydney
International Piano Competition.
In 2019 Gadjiev was Nominated by BBC Radio 3 to join the “BBC New Generation
Artists” series, which offers a recording in
London and concerts at prestigious British festivals and venues in collaboration
with BBC orchestras throughout the United
Kingdom.
Over the last few years, Alexander Gadjiev has been invited to perform in Japan
as well as at major concert halls and piano
festivals in Europe, including
Wigmore Hall, Salzburg Chamber Music Festival,
Verbier Festival, the “Chopin” Festival in
Poland, Salle Cortot in Paris, Sapporo Concert Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Hyogo
Performing Arts Center in Osaka, Moscow
Conservatory, Barcelona, Rome, and Milan.
In December 2021, Gadjiev perfomed
with the Orchestra of the Mariinsky
Theater under Vladimir Gergiev.
Born in Gorizia in Italy close to the Slovenian border, in a region with
multiple cultural influences from Italy over to the
Western Balkans, Alexander Gadjiev had his first lessons with his father Siavush
Gadjiev, a well-k Nown Russian teacher.
He
played for the first time with an orchestra at the age of nine, and held his
first solo recital at the age of ten.
Gadjiev obtained his first music diploma at the age of seventeen, before
participating in the Premio Venezia – a competition
reserved for the best young talents in Italy – and winning the 30th edition of
the award.
Gadjiev completed his Masters Degree at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and will
finish his Konzertexamen studies in 2022 at
the Hanns Eisler Hochschule in Berlin with a recital at the Konzerthaus Berlin.