Miniatures for Young Pianists
Berceuse[a], Dance[b], Contradance[c], Spanish Dance[d], Nocturne[e] (from The Human Comedy, Op. 37[a], Michurin, Op. 78[b], and The Gadfly, Op. 97[c,d,e], arr. for piano by Lev Atovmyan); A Child's Exercise Book, Op. 69; Tchaikovsky: Children's Album, Op. 39; Prokofiev: Music for Children, Op. 65.
Rimma Bobritskaya (piano).
Saison Russe RUS 788034. DDD. TT 60:15.
Recorded Moscow Conservatory, February 1991.

Hats off to veteran Russian pianist Rimma Bobritskaya, graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and ex-Neuhaus student, for investing in these Russian miniatures, which, while being within the technical grasp of the young music student, brim over with the distinctive musical personalities of their authors.

The first five Shostakovich movements on this new release are straightforward piano arrangements of music from three stage and film scores. The Berceuse is a pretty transcription of a theme from incidental music he wrote in 1933-34 to an adaptation of Balzac's The Human Comedy. Shostakovich recycled the same music in 1952 as the Elegy of Ballet Suite No. 3. The irresistibly bouncy theme of the second piece, Dance, will be familiar as Dance 2 from the eight-movement Suite for Variety Orchestra, an arrangement of film and light music scores which is often misidentifed as the lost Jazz Suite No. 2 of 1938. The last three pieces come from The Gadfly, with Contradance and Nocturne from the movements with the same name in the suite (Op. 97a). The Spanish Dance is better known as Folk Festival or Fair. Bobritskaya is flexible with the beat, and derives a range of moods from these short works. Beginners should not expect to be able to emulate her bravura performance of the whirlwind Spanish Dance anytime soon!

A Child's Exercise Book, which Bobritskaya previously recorded for a 1983 Melodiya LP, is more obviously didactic. To encourage his daughter, Galina, in her piano studies, Shostakovich promised her a collection of piano pieces, with a new one to be given to her each time she had mastered the previous one. He completed the first six pieces in December 1944, and Galina premièred them soon afterwards at a concert of the Children's Music Section of the Moscow Union of Soviet Composers. The seventh piece, entitled Birthday, was written in time to present to Galina on her ninth birthday on 30 May 1945. It opens with a fanfare that Shostakovich elaborated in his Festive Overture of 1954.

Owing to the process of their creation, these miniatures increase in complexity - and in interest for the listener - from first to last. The March and Waltz that begin the set are quite bland, while the third piece, The Bear, is only weakly evocative of its namesake. Even in a pedagogical opus like this, however, Shostakovich couldn't suppress his wry sense of humour, submitting, as Nos. 4 and 5, a Merry Story in E minor and a Sad Story in G Major!

The composer was the first to record A Child's Exercise Book, in 1946, announcing the title of each piece in turn. That recording was reissued on the sixth entry of Revelation's Shostakovich Plays Shostakovich series (RV 70007), which saw very limited distribution before being withdrawn from the catalogue. As was typical for him, especially in light repertoire, Shostakovich tore through these pieces, taking most of the movements very nearly twice as fast as Bobritskaya on the current CD! Bobritskaya's performance is greatly to be preferred for its superior dynamic variety and expressive range. Still, Shostakovich's own reading of the sixth piece, Clockwork Doll (an adaptation of the first theme of his Opus 1 Scherzo), does indeed sound far more like a mechanical contrivance than hers, which she perhaps unwisely spins out over fifty percent longer. Still, in Clockwork Doll and the other pieces, by applying colour and texture Bobritskaya makes a persuasive case for the musical value of these miniatures, and I see little scope for improvement on her account. In any case, it is the only one currently in the catalogue, and would have been the CD première but for the brief appearance of the Revelation disc.

I can't sum up Tchaikovsky's Children's Album any better than annotator André Lischke, who writes that, "this music for children is by no means infantile. Its most striking feature is its sensitivity, the sensitivity of the adult who understands the world of childhood with a tenderness enhanced by a touch of nostalgia." Such understanding is evidenced by the delightful triptych of The Sick Doll, Burial of the Doll, and The New Doll. While the degree of difficulty of the twenty-four pieces in Children's Album varies, all offer scope for expressive adornment, which Bobritskaya applies with discretion.

Also here are the twelve miniatures of Prokofiev's Opus 65, sparkling with all of the wit and intricate inventiveness one would expect from this composer. On average, these call for a higher level of skill from the student than do Tchaikovsky's pieces, and Bobritskaya is able to inject even more of herself into them.

Closely and warmly recorded, the disc is self-recommending to Shostakovich completists, and would also make an excellent present for any young pianists on one's shopping list.

W. Mark Roberts
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DSCH No. 11.
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