International Classical Music Awards
2019
Nominee - Historic Recording

Maria Yudina (piano)

Bach, J S: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, Otteita
Bach, J S: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2, Otteita
Bach, J S: Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV903
Liszt: Prelude and Fugue in a minor, BWV 543 (J.S. Bach), S. 462 / 1
Liszt: Variations on a theme from 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' (J S Bach) for piano, S180
Glazunov: Prelude And Fugue In D Minor Op. 62
Bach, J S: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2: Prelude and Fugue No. 18 in G-Sharp Minor, BWV 887 [Bonus Track]
Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 6 in D, K284 "Dürnitz"
Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K331 'Alla Turca'
Mozart: Variations (9) in D on a Menuet by Duport, K573
Beethoven: Variations (12) on a Russian Dance, WoO 71
Beethoven: Variations (32) on an Original Theme in C minor, WoO 80
Beethoven: Piano Sonata C Minor No. 5, Op. 10 No. 1
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 12 in A flat major, Op. 26 'March Funebre'
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major, Op. 101
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat major, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Schubert: 4 Impromptus, D899
Schubert: 4 Impromptus, D935
Franz Schubert, Franz Liszt: Schwanengesang, D. 957: No. 12, Am Meer
Mussorgsky: Meditation
Mussorgsky: Une Larme (A Tear)
Mussorgsky: Duma
Mussorgsky: Scherzo in C Sharp minor
Miaskovsky: Vergilbte Seiten ("Yellowed Pages") op. 31
Szymanowski: Variations in B flat minor, Op. 3
Szymanowski: Preludes (9), Op. 1
Webern: Variations, Op. 27
Andrei Volkonsky: Musica Stricta, Op. 11
Prokofiev: Things in Themselves, Op. 45: I. Allegro moderato
Debussy: Cello Sonata
Prokofiev: Flute Sonata in D major, Op. 94
Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 119
Serocki: Sonatina for Trombone & Piano
Stravinsky: Circus Polka
Scriabin: Preludes (24), Op. 11, Otteita
Jolivet: Mana for Piano
Stravinsky: Septet
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23

This is not at all what I wrote, but play it like this. Do play it this way! exclaimed Dmitri Shostakovich after Yudina performed the freshly written 24 Preludes and Fugues. This exclamation contains the key to understanding of Maria Yudinas performing art a controversial and disputable one that left a profound imprint on the cultural environment of the twentieth century.

The 10-album set is the biggest part of Maria Yudinas surviving studio and concert recordings from the Melodiya archive made between 1948 and 1969. Her best-known interpretations (Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier, Beethovens early and last sonatas, Schuberts impromptus, Mozarts pieces) are found here side by side with twentieth-century pianistic rarities (Glazunovs Prelude and Fugue, Prokofievs Things in Themselves, Lutoslawskis Variations on a Theme of Paganini).

Her recordings of Andrei Volkonskys Musica Stricta, the work from which the history of Russian avant-garde music began (the composer dedicated it to Yudina), Weberns Variations and Scriabins Preludes, Op. 11, are released for the first time. The live (not studio!) recordings of Bach's preludes and fugues made at the concerts in 1950 and dedicated to the memory of the great cantor will be a real gift for the listeners. The major bonus of the set is Tchaikovskys First Concerto recorded by Yudina on a tour in Kiev in 1954 with the State Orchestra of the Ukrainian SSR conducted by Nathan Rachlin.

The thinker musician, preacher, medium are the epithets that accompanied Yudina in her lifetime. As for her, she disliked being called a pianist. Playing and teaching, enlightenment, poetry, philosophy, religious devotion all aspects of Maria Yudinas personality constituted an inseparable synthesis. Whatever she played her beloved Bach, Mozart, Schubert or serialist Webern, or Stravinsky, Beethoven, Debussy or the composers who lived in Leningrad during the siege everything sounded unexpected, paradoxical, but extremely convincing.