Presents
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
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The Seasons Op.37b for Piano Trio
Tchaikovsky began work on The Seasons at the same time he was working on the ballet Swan Lake as the result of a commission he received. In 1875, Nikolai Bernard, the editor of the St. Petersburg musical periodical Nouvellist gave him a commission to compose 12 short piano pieces, one for each month of the year. Bernard suggested a subtitle for each month which Tchaikovsky accepted and hence the subtitles which appear after each month were not chosen by Tchaikovsky. The famous Moscow Imperial publisher Pavel Jurgenson acquired the rights to the music in 1886. Its tremendous popularity led to it being reprinted numerous times. Several of the pieces in various arrangements have achieved tremendous fame on their own and are often played as encores, among them are the Barcarolle of June, the Autumn Song of October and In the Troika of November, a favorite of Rachmaninov. The 12 pieces bear the following subtitles: January: At the Hearth sometimes translated as Fireside, February: Carnival Time, March: Song of the Lark, April: Snowdrop, May: White Nights sometimes translated as Starlit Nights, June: Barcarolle, July: Reaper’s Song, August: Harvest, September: The Hunt, October: Autumn Song, November: In the Troika, and December: Christmas.
The emotive excellence and tremendous popularity of the music has led to it being orchestrated by a number of people and the work is best known and most often heard in one of its many orchestrated versions. But with such a large ensemble as a modern orchestra, the wonderful intimacy of the music is lost. Not so with a piano trio, which when well done is far more effective than the original for piano alone. And without question, it is the superb arrangement for piano trio of each month by the important Russian composer Alexander Goedicke (1877-1957) that achieves this. Long unavailable and never published as collection, Goedicke's arrangements for each month were only sold individually. We are pleased to make them available for the first time as a single set.
Parts: $49.95
