Dear All
Please see below message from Robert about his next fabulous sounding concert!
All Saints’ Church, Putney Common
Sunday, June 29th at 6pm
The Seasons – Tchaikovsky
(readings by Galina Gorskaya)
Concert Paraphrase on themes from Glinka’s Life for the Tsar – Balakirev
This is going to be a terrific programme – well, that is unless you feel really awkward around full-blown lush Romantic piano music and/or have a moral objection to outrageous high-wire piano virtuosity… If you tick either or both of those boxes this is definitely not your dream evening.
For anyone else please expect 40 minutes of the finest piano writing that Tchaikovsky ever composed – soaring, heartfelt lyricism and beautifully crafted piano writing – and an extraordinary audition piece by a cocky 18-year old looking to woo the attention of the original godfather of Russian music.
Tchaikovsky wrote The Seasons over a six-month period from the end of 1875 to the middle of 1876. There are twelve pieces, each named after a month in the year. You may feel that the title is inapt. You would not be the first person to raise that point. Each piece depicts a scene, from the harshness of Russian winter to the brilliance of the White Nights, through to harvesting and sleigh rides. Written during the composition of Swan Lake these pieces are a pocket version of the ballet. Tchaikovsky supplied some verses to preface the first couple of movements and then his publisher took over and produced texts for all twelve movements, short snatches of poetry from Pushkin, Tolstoy and others. I am delighted that Galina Korskaya, Russian language teacher and former journalist, will be reading these texts, both in Russian and in their English translation, in between the music.
Balakirev was just a couple of years older than Tchaikovsky and largely self-taught. Growing up in relative cultural isolation in the midst of Russia in the 1840s he was keen to study with Mikhail Glinka, composer of Ruslan and Ludmila and the first Russian composer, in the 1830s, whose music had been heard and celebrated in European concert halls thereby putting Russian music on the map. Balakirev secured an introduction to Glinka. In an audacious move he concocted a piano version of themes from one of Glinka’s most successful operas, Ivan Susanin or A Life for the Tsar. Imagine being the most fêted composer in Russia and an 18-year old upstart brings you his cover version of your greatest hit. Well the ploy worked – the writing is astonishingly confident – and Balakirev got his lessons. This is a piece that is rarely played, for good reason: the pianistic demands are pretty savage. So all the more reason to come along on June 29th.
As ever the concerts are free, you can drink as much wine as you like and you can bring something to do whilst you listen, if you want to: if you are an eponymous knitter then please arm yourself with bamboo needles rather than the metal ones which produce a rhythm section all of their own.
There will be an opportunity at the end to contribute, if you can, to a retiring collection to cover the costs. Any proceeds will go to Trinity Hospice, always a worthy recipient but particularly apposite for me, at this time, because they provided a sanctuary and final resting place for a friend of mine who passed away last weekend.
Looking forward to it!
Robert
<June 2025 poster.pdf>
