I always regard miniatures in the same way I do short stories:
for them to be successful and satisfying musically is extremely
difficult. Greater length allows scope for development which
is much trickier to achieve when one goes for brevity. The history
of literature is full of those who tried to write successful
short stories and failed and it is likely to be the same in
music. This disc, however, is proof that the art of writing
musical miniatures was achieved by these three Russians and
there are plenty of other examples in music of other successes.
Indeed Tchaikovsky, who wrote to his patroness Nadezhda von
Meck in 1878 that he had for some time felt there was a need
to add to the relatively small repertoire of pieces written
with children in mind, was following in the footsteps of Schumann
whose Kinderszenen and Album für Jugend were already
well known. He set about writing the 24 piano miniatures on
this disc following his letter to her in April and had completed
them during the month of July, dedicating them to his nephew
Vladimir Davydov (‘Bobik’) who was a child of 7 at the time.
The whole cycle is delightful, charming and very memorable,
and shows a master craftsman at work. However brief, and some
of them are extremely so with a number lasting less than a minute,
they are, nevertheless, complete in every way, presenting a
musical statement that requires neither a note more nor less.
Just listen to track 6 La poupée malade, a beautifully
plaintive tune that embodies really powerful feelings of sadness
that are further explored in the following track Enterrement
de la poupée. Tchaikovsky’s ability musically to describe
other countries by way of incorporating folk rhythms is more
than amply demonstrated in tracks 15-18. Track 17 for example
could not be other than connected with Germany, nor could track
18 be associated with anywhere else than Naples to the extent
that you can hear Neapolitan love songs in it. These are pieces
that warrant listening to over and over and you find yourself
wanting to do just that; they are so compulsive in their deliciousness.
Tchaikovsky showed that he did not dismiss these pieces as mere
trifles by using a theme from Swan Lake in the Chanson
Napolitaine and conversely to reuse the Ancienne chanson
Française as a minstrel’s song in his opera The Maid
of Orleans a year later. The liner-notes state that these
pieces are by no means infantile but they are also not pieces
that can be played and played successfully by a mere novice.
They are miniatures that an artist of promise might play and
if they manage to achieve that then they are clearly on their
way to becoming a fully formed pianist.
The above observation goes equally for many of the other pieces
on the disc. It is perhaps even more the case in respect of
Prokofiev’s Music for Children, Op.65. He was one of
several Soviet composers who wrote music for children, Kabalevsky
and Miaskovsky among them, along with Shostakovich. The pieces
on this disc were written in 1935, the year after his return
to the USSR, as a distraction from the major works he was composing
at the time, namely Romeo and Juliet and the 2nd
Violin Concerto. He explained that he had been drawn back to
his love of the style of the sonatina. The cycle is a child’s
day from morning ’til evening; descriptive with Le matin,
Cortège des sauterelles, Le pluie et l’arc-en-ciel, Le soir
and Sur les prés la lune se promène, narrative with
Historiette, activities as in Promenade , Attrape-qui-peut
and Marche, interspersed with Prokofiev’s love of
dance rhythms as demonstrated by Valse and Tarentelle,
apart from which the only odd one out would seem to be Repentir,
but then, when does a day go by, without a child having to say
they’re sorry! As stated above these pieces are not easy but
demand a level of proficiency way beyond the beginner, apart
from the odd one such as track 27 Historiette, though
they are wonderful whether easy or difficult as track 28 Tarentelle
must surely be, along with track 33 Attrape-qui-peut.
They are all also so typical of Prokofiev, and his style is
very evident throughout, but it is his imagination that really
staggers – how can anyone musically describe the moon flitting
across the sky while its going in and out of clouds casts a
kind of strobe effect over a meadow – well listen to track 36
to find out how he does it and in only 1:39!
The disc proceeds with Shostakovich but what to say about the
first set, described as “Five pieces for children”? Firstly
and most importantly they were not written by Shostakovich
for children but arranged by Lev Atovmian from orchestral music
written for The Human Comedy (1933-34) and for the films
Michurin (1948) and The Gadfly (1955). I’m not
suggesting that this shouldn’t be done and they certainly work
as pieces children could attempt but it is, nevertheless, misleading.
That said they still exemplify the brilliance of Shostakovich
as a composer of beautifully simple and disarmingly gorgeous
music. Just listen to the first of these pieces on track 37
and if you are a Shostakovich fan as I am I’m sure you’ll recognise
the tune and I have to admit how well it works for piano, but
then again no doubt it was at a piano that he composed it in
the first place. The second of the set is typical Shostakovich,
hair down and tongue firmly in cheek for a 36 second whistle-stop
dance. As with Prokofiev Shostakovich’s distinctive voice is
evident in every note – just listen to Danse Espagnole
on track 40 (another immediately recognisable one of his melodies)
and it is 100% Shostakovich while perfectly encapsulating the
Spanish idiom of its title and the same time. A lovely tune
to finish entitled Nocturne - presumably Atovmian came
up with the titles. Atovmian was a great champion of Shostakovich
and I’m sure these arrangements have done nothing but good in
encouraging any children who have attempted to play these to
further explore the great man’s work. The last seven pieces
on this excellent and enjoyable disc are, however, Shostakovich’s
own pieces for children to play and were written for his daughter
Galina - his son Maxim had the second piano concerto written
with him in mind - and are lovely and very much more approachable
for children at the early stages of their piano lessons. They
are all again uniformly delightful and so typical of the composer’s
sense of fun that so belies what often seemed an extremely serious
exterior. As an example of his enjoyment in turning things on
their head musically try tracks 45 and 46 where he deliberately
writes a ‘Merry story’ in E minor and a ‘Sad story’ in G major,
usually seen as being the other way around in terms of happiness
and sadness in musical terms.
The pianist on the disc is Rimma Bobritskaya born in 1937, so
why hadn’t I heard of her before and why does it seem she has
recorded so little! In any event she’s a perfect advocate for
these wonderful pieces and the result is a very satisfying one
which anyone who loves piano music will thoroughly enjoy.
Steve Arloff
Rimma Bobritskaya (piano) 
