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Pyotr Il’yich TCHAIKOVSKY
(1840-1893)
Marche slave, Op 31 (arr. Hanke) [11:06]
Potpourri on Themes from The Voyevoda (arr. Tchaikovsky)
[13:51]
Theme and Variations from Orchestral Suite No 3 (arr. Lippold
and Goldstone) [19:04]
Serenade for Strings, Op 48 (arr. Lippold and Goldstone) [29:00]
Anthony Goldstone ( piano)
rec. 2012, St John the Baptist Church, Alkborough, North Lincolnshire,
England
DIVINE ART DDA25093 [63:12]
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Anthony Goldstone is unofficially something like the U.K. professor emeritus
of piano. After a successful concert career which included a
letter of thanks and praise from Benjamin Britten himself, Goldstone
has settled in to spend the past few years arranging, transcribing,
completing, discovering and otherwise generating new works for
the piano repertoire, then recording them for the Divine Art
label. One can hear his arrangements in ‘The
Piano at the Ballet’, an homage to gypsy
music, and world premieres of numerous works of the Russian
romantics.
Here he presents arrangements of Tchaikovsky, both familiar
works (Marche slave, Serenade for Strings) and
perhaps somewhat less so: the finale of the third orchestral
suite, a ‘Potpourri’ on themes from The Voyevoda.
It’s a pleasant program but probably only of interest
to the serious Tchaikovsky fan. I am one of those sad people
who don’t much like the Marche slave, and “naked”
in a piano transcription it doesn’t grow any warmer, but
the virtuosity required is considerable and Goldstone has all
of it. The transcriber, someone named Hanke, is a bit of a mystery,
and even Goldstone’s impressive detective work couldn’t
crack the case. Tchaikovsky himself arranged the Potpourri on
themes from his opera The Voyevoda, and published it
under a pseudonym. Goldstone has cleared the composer of responsibility
for the piano Marche. The pen name was a good idea in
this case; the potpourri is structurally just that, jumping
from tune to tune with little order, though it all sounds very
pretty.
The two transcriptions by Anthony Goldstone himself with Max
Lippold are the most successful. The first is of the variations
from Orchestral Suite No 3, and although one can miss
certain orchestral colors, like the cor anglais solo, the piano
version is surprisingly effective, and definitely a great pleasure
to hear. Goldstone’s fingers can really fly at moments
like the incursion of the ‘Dies irae’ tune. The
Serenade for Strings is the CD’s highlight for
me: it’s one of my favorite works, and the transcription
by Goldstone and Lippold is both exceptionally good and blessed
with its own witty little touches. I approached with trepidation,
because a piano’s sustaining power has nothing on the
polish of orchestral strings, but the transcribers know this
and have accounted for it, and the playing here transcends all
such qualms. It’s indeed an extremely good performance,
the waltz a delight and the trickiest bits to make work on a
piano - the introduction and élégie - are handled
beautifully.
Curious Tchaikovsky fans should therefore check this out. Aficionados
and connoisseurs will enjoy a great deal, especially thanks
to Goldstone’s sympathetic pianism and his ability to
deploy considerable virtuosity when necessary. He would be even
better-flattered by more state-of-the-art sound; this is a bit
glassy, and so closely miked that the church acoustic sounds
more like a sitting room. Still, it’s not something that
will impair your enjoyment. Volume 2 will contain excerpts from
the three ballets; as a previous
recording has hinted, these pieces have potential on the
piano. I very much look forward to hearing Goldstone take them
on.
Brian Reinhart
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