Pro Piano notes that
these are the first ever recordings
of the piano transcriptions of The Seasons
and the Concert Waltz for Orchestra
No. 1 – not to be confused with the
Grande Valse de Concert, his. Op 41
and written in the same year. The former
is in the composer’s own transcription
whilst the latter was entrusted to that
transcriber supreme Felix Blumenfeld
– he was also, in addition to his high
status as a concert pianist, a loyal
proponent of Glazunov’s piano music
and was the most suitable candidate
for the job. The pianist entrusted to
record these two works by Pro Piano
is Swedish born Per Tengstrand, a Geneva
prizewinner in 1996 and a laureate in
the previous year’s Long-Thibaud Competition.
The Concert Waltz emerges
full of nice right hand roulades and
fine style – a splendid transcription
of appositely idiomatic charisma. As
for The Seasons I can’t really imagine
anyone preferring it in this guise but
its utility as a domestic or recital
item can’t be undervalued and nor can
the real pleasure it gives one to hear
it newly unclothed. Tengstrand is on
his mettle here, contributing an excellently
voiced First Tableau, and filigree right
hand in the third Variation where his
command of balletic-concert drive is
optimum. I liked his stylish and unaffected
playing and his technical eloquence.
In a variation such as this he brings
out the poetry and also the staunch
underpinning left hand harmonies. And
in the Valse des Bluets et des Pavots
he evinces real verve and rhythmic élan,
as indeed he mines a rich romanticism
in the Barcarolle. And yes he’s suitably
openhearted and joyful in the Fourth
Tableau, the Autumn Bacchanal, and expert
at keeping a rein on contrastive material.
Throughout his chording is carefully
but frequently beautifully voiced.
Pro Piano’s disc comes
in a slim line fold affair with succinct
notes. The acoustic in their hall is
first class – it may seem big at first
but it catches detail without clinical
precision and expands naturally and
warmly at the climaxes. At forty-seven
minutes this may seem poor value but
there are premiere recordings here and
I think in Tengstrand we may just have
the makings of a real talent.
Jonathan Woolf
Per Tengstrand (piano)