Maria Yudina was one of the most individual of pianists in the history of
music.
Her idiosyncratic interpretations often shocked other pianists who,
nevertheless,
greatly admired her. Sviatoslav Richter summed it up when he said
“...when
she played Romantic music, it was impressive - except that she didn't play
what
was written.
Liszt's
Weinen Klagen was phenomenal, but
Schubert's
B flat major Sonata, while arresting as an interpretation, was the exact
opposite
of what it should have been, and I remember a performance of the
Second
Chopin Nocturne
that was so heroic that it no longer sounded like a piano but a trumpet.
It
was no longer Schubert or Chopin, but Yudina."
Maria Yudina was her own woman who remained resolutely true to her own set
of
principles and who refused to be conveniently moulded into what the State
wished.
She was born into a Jewish family but converted to the Russian Orthodox
Church;
she was a passionate opponent of the Soviet regime who suffered many bans
from
performance and sackings from posts as a result. She embraced modern music
and
championed various banned composers such as Bartók and Krenek with
whom
she became friends and even dared to recite the poetry of Boris Pasternak
as
an encore at one of her recitals for which she received a five year ban
from
performing. Despite all this she escaped the worst case scenarios that
were
played out for so many others because she was Stalin’s favourite
pianist.
Even so she was prepared to donate the monetary portion of her Stalin
Prize
to the Orthodox Church asking that they said "perpetual prayers for
Stalin's
sins".
One particular story which shows the absolute fear that Stalin engendered
tells
of a night when he heard her playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23
on
the radio and asked the radio authorities to get him a copy. Unfortunately
it
had been a live concert and there was no recording but no official was
prepared
to admit that so they woke Maria Yudina up in the middle of the night,
assembled
an orchestra in a studio, and recorded the concerto pressing a single copy
to
present to Stalin. During the recording they were obliged to change the
conductor
three times, two of them so fearful they couldn’t complete the job.
According
to Shostakovich that record was the last thing Stalin listened to the
night
he died and was found on his turntable. Apparently the matrix survived and
the
recording is available on CD - I’d love to hear that!
It is then with considerable anticipation that I turned to her
interpretations.
The first disc opens with the oldest recording made in 1948 of
Bach’s
Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue and I was struck with how gentle a
sound
it was with her hands fairly skipping across the keys producing a
wonderfully
fluid account. The
Six Preludes and Fugues from the first book of
Bach’s
The Well Tempered Clavier are played with obvious reverence coupled with
intelligence
while Bach’s
Violin Sonata No.3 is a thing of beauty with
Maria
Yudina providing a wonderfully solid accompaniment to Marina
Kozolupova’s
beautifully sweet sounding violin.
The second cd of the set begins with one of Liszt’s arrangements of
Bach
in the shape of his
Prelude and Fugue in A minor. It’s a
wonderfully
grandiose affair in which Liszt emphasises the towering majesty which was
the
hallmark of so much of Bach’s writing, placing it at the very
pinnacle
of musical art. Shostakovich wrote that: “Externally, there was
little
in Yudina’s playing that was feminine. She usually played
energetically
and forcefully, like a man. She had powerful and rather muscular hands
with
long sturdy fingers. She held them in a unique way so that they resembled
an
eagle’s claw [...] Whatever she played, she played “not like
everyone
else”.” However, I find plenty of feminine touches if by that
it
means with a gentility that matches the mood of the music when required.
Music
is open to interpretation but nevertheless one must keep the
composer’s
intentions to the fore. I’m clear in my own mind that Liszt would
certainly
have been happy with Yudina’s playing of this work just as Bach
would
have been pleased with her playing of the works on disc one. Liszt would
have
been just as pleased, if not thrilled, at her interpretation of his
Variations
on Bach’s ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’ that
explains
the aforementioned Richter quote. The contrast she manages between thunder
and
radiant light are quite breathtaking and the fact that she objected to
being
called ‘a performer’ preferring the description
‘artist-performer’
explains her approach which goes beyond mere playing. However, one has to
dispute
her contention that “Listening to music is not a pleasure. It is a
response
to the grandiose efforts of the composer and the enormously important work
of
the artist-performer”. On the contrary I found listening to her
recordings
an intense experience full of pleasure and of awe at her abilities.
The two Beethoven sonatas nos. 5 and 32 are full of brilliance which
highlights
her aim of serving the composer and their music before anything else. I
found
the phrasing in the second movement of the fifth simply wondrous with a
pacing
and a touch that draws out every nuance while the last,
Prestissimo,
is a delight in every sense of the word. Sonata No.32 is an interpretation
that
Beethoven himself would surely recognise as being close to one he might
have
given with a first movement that is magisterial and passionate and a
contrasting
restrained opening to the second that proceeds to some wonderfully phrased
passages.
The whole sonata fully justifies Hugo Leichentritt’s description as
ranging
‘from
inferno to
paradiso’. The booklet notes
also
quote a passage from Thomas Mann (in
Doctor Faustus) that the
Sonata
No.32 had taken the form of the Classical sonata to its ‘end’
and
that it ‘had fulfilled its destiny, reached its goal, beyond which
there
was no going’ and you can’t help agreeing with that sentiment
at
the conclusion of Yudina’s fine performance.
When I listen to Yudina I feel that I’m listening to a hugely
important
document that speaks to me across the years and that is quite unique in
its
attention to detail and desire to serve the composer at every turn. That
she
may have had her own unique voice is not only to be expected but, surely,
desirable,
for who wants to hear umpteen interpretations that all sound similar to
each
other.
What is important to me when listening is the overall impression of the
piece
and while I may, like everyone, prefer one performance over another and
one
pianist over another, initially I try to hear the interpretation in
isolation
from any preconceived ideas about preferred performances, and judge it on
its
own merits. Applying that to these discs gave me enormous pleasure and
delight
in hearing a pianist whose main aim in life was to produce the best
interpretation
that
she could according to her own extraordinarily exacting
standards.
Shostakovich remarked that it was his impression that Yudina wore the same
old
dress all the time and when Stalin sent her 20,000 roubles following
receipt
of the aforementioned recording of the Mozart piano concerto she wrote a
letter
to Stalin in which she said words to the effect that "I thank you, Joseph
Vissarionovich,
for your aid. I will pray for you day and night and ask the Lord to
forgive
your great sins before the people and the country. The Lord is merciful
and
He'll forgive you. I gave the money to the church that I attend."
There are many and varied stories about Maria Yudina all of which show
that
she had no interest in the worldly pleasures that could be afforded by her
income;
her art was all that mattered and it shows.
The final CD in this important set begins with Brahms and first up is the
second
of his two rhapsodies op.79 and what a great performance it is with light
and
shade in abundance. Moving on we are tantalised with only a single
movement
from his
7 Fantasien the
Intermezzo Op.116 No.2 - cruel! The
Intermezzi
Op. 117 and 118 are all imbued with an illuminating clarity with power in
abundance
when required and fairy-like touches at other times. The last items here
are
three of Schubert’s impromptus that are such fabulously gorgeous
pieces
one can never tire of hearing them. In the hands of Maria Yudina that is
particularly
true; her renditions are beautiful. Schumann is quoted in the booklet
notes
as saying of these works ‘Every page [...] whispers “Franz
Schubert”
- as we know him in his numberless moods, as he charms us, deceives us,
and
captivates us again, so we find him here’ and Yudina’s
interpretations
can be truly said to embody that very essence.
Brilliant Classics have done the listening public a huge service in
presenting
at budget price a wealth of fantastic archive recordings of some of the
twentieth
century’s most amazing musicians that include Gilels, Oistrakh,
Rostropovich,
Sofronitsky, Richter, Kissin, Barshai, Gauk, Mravinsky, Rozhdestvensky,
Tretiakov,
Kremer, Shafran, Knushevitsky, Svetlanov, Kogan, Berman … the list
goes
on. This release of Maria Yudina in that series enables those who may not
have
come across her playing before to get to know an artist for whom playing
was
her life and who remained a passionate advocate of the music of her
heroes.
Steve Arloff
Track listing & performance details
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
CD 1
1. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV903 [11:32]
2-7. The Well Tempered Clavier: Book I (selection) [34:19]
8-11. Violin Sonata No.3 in E BWV1016* [19:46]
*Marina Kozolupova (violin)
CD 2
Johann Sebastian BACH/Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
1. Prelude and Fugue (after BWV543) in A minor S462 No.1 [9:54]
Franz LISZT
2. Variations on Bach’s ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’
S180 [16:43]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
3-5. Piano Sonata No.5 in C minor Op.10 No.1 [18:37]
6-7. Piano Sonata No.32 in C minor Op.111 [23:10]
CD 3
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
1. Rhapsody in G minor Op.79 No.2 [5:03]
2. Intermezzo Op.116 No.2:Andante [2:48]
3-5. Intermezzi Op.117 1-3 [12:11]
6-10. Intermezzi Op.118 1-4,6 [15:18]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)
11. Impromptu in E flat D899 No.2 [4:05]
12. Impromptu in A flat D899 No.4 [6:51]
13. Impromptu in A flat D935 No.2 [6:44]
CD1: 4 September 1948 (track 1), 15 January 1951 (tracks 2-7), 6
May 1950 (tracks 8-11)
CD2: 10 April 1952 (track 1), 28 February 1950 (track 2), 3 May 1950
(tracks 3-5), 26 June 1958 (tracks 6-7)
CD3: 18 March 1952 (tracks 1,10), 17 July 1953 (track 2), 18 May 1951
(tracks 3-5,7), 6 March 1952 (tracks 6,8), 4 July 1952 (track 9),
15 January 1956 (tracks 11-13). Venues not stated.
