Medtner; Mussorgsky; Prokofiev
Georgy Tchaidze
Honens
honens.com
Laureates of the Honens International Piano Competition are fascinating to follow as they begin to make their way in the world. The competition is a prestigious career launcher and offers wide public exposure as well as the promise of a performance recording on which to build a growing discography.
It’s easy to understand why Russian Georgy Tchaidze emerged victorious from the 2009 crop of gifted competitors. On this, his first major recording, he plays with articulate clarity and an enormously expressive technique, and considering his youth, his interpretive maturity is truly surprising.
Recorded at the Banff Centre in May 2012, Tchaidze plays Prokofiev, Mussorgsky and the somewhat lesser known Nicolai Medtner. The four Medtner Fairy Tales, Op.34 are a diverse and well-crafted collection of programmatic works. They demand much of their performer, especially the final one of the set where Tchaidze succeeds in making Medtner sound more of a modernist than even he may have realized.
Moving from the poetry of Medtner to the intellectual discipline of his contemporary Prokofiev, Tchaidze is fully at ease in the Sonata No.4 in C Minor, Op.29. He seems, in some way, to understand the music better than the composer himself and to convey this youthful confidence quite convincingly, never pushing this understated composition beyond credibility — even in the brief but highly charged final movement.
Mussorgsky’s Pictures are so well known and frequently recorded that including them on a first CD is a courageous choice. Tchaidze truly makes “Pictures” an exhibition.
For a closer look at this amazing young pianist, watch his several YouTube interviews and performances.
