Gramophone Magazine
October 2022
Editor's Choice
Alexander Gadjiev
Prokofiev: Sarcasms, Op. 17
Tcherepnin: Pieces for piano, Op. 88
Tcherepnin: Twelve Preludes, Op. 85: No. 1, Adagio
Tcherepnin: Twelves Preludes, Op. 85: No. 2, Allegro
Tcherepnin: Préludes nostalgiques, Op. 23
Prokofiev: Visions fugitives, Op. 22. No 1-4, 7, 9, 11-12, 14-18, 20
Tcherepnin, N: The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, Op. 41
This CD exclusively features brief pieces taken from short anthologies or collections.
"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 another. 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 favourite. 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." - Alexander Gadjiev
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.
"Even knowing what’s in store from Prokofiev’s Sarcasms doesn’t entirely prepare you for the sheer venom he unleashes at the opening, nor for the intelligence with which he moderates that attack thereafter." - Gramophone Magazine, October 2022.
