Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, Op. 37a

Pavel Kolesnikov is both a fine pianist and sensitive musician—here he transforms two unpretentious Tchaikovsky suites into pure gold. Tchaikovsky composed The Seasons in 1876 to fulfil a commission to provide a piece for each month’s issue of the periodical Nouvelliste. Yet Kolesnikov reveals this as a vivid and varied series of vignettes, each with its own arresting ideas, some anticipating Tchaikovsky’s poignant music for his opera Eugene Onegin (started the following year). Lesser known are the Six Morceaux of 1873, though beloved by Stravinsky who arranged several of them for his 1928 ballet The Fairy’s Kiss. Again, Kolesnikov effortlessly reveals the personality of each piece, whether the charmingly playful “Scherzo humoristique” or the wistfully melancholic “Nocturne” whose mood is enhanced by his artfully expressive use of rubato.