Elena Kuschnerova is
a name that will be familiar to pianophiles. Born and raised in
Moscow, she started lessons with her mother, a trained concert
pianist, at the age of four. Subsequently she studied with Tatiana
Kestner at the Moscow Central School of Music (the pedagogue also
taught Andrei Gavrilov and Nikolai Petrov) and completed her
training at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
This all-Mussorgsky disc was recorded by the Bavarian Radio in
Munich and features, besides that rarely played masterpiece,
Pictures at an Exhibition, 13 other short piano works by
Mussorgsky.
 A stream of grace pervades
Kuschnerova's playing, complementing her
piano technique, which is well-nigh perfect. Her playing is
powerful, and she is in possession of a good range of tonal colour
when she wants to, but the dramatique evades her, as well
as propulsion. Where other pianists have taken risks, Kuschnerova
remains firmly in safe territory as far as tempi are concerned.
The return of the Promenade theme is not
well-differentiated enough; The Hut with Fowl's Legs isn't
quite the dramatic, menacing affair other such as Richter and
Horowitz have made it; the Great Gate concluding the cycle
is shorn of finality and majesty by her releasing the final note
earlier than I would have liked her to. Still there is much to
like - The Market at Limoges is taken at a good speed and
the bustle is clearly enunciated rather than the mess of notes
some pianists make out of it. Bydlo is powerfully played,
and there is much to enjoy elsewhere.
Altogether, this is a prosaic, rather than dramatic account of
this much-loved work, but Kuschnerova's technique is never in
doubt. If in the end this can't be recommended with the heap of
great performances of "Pictures", that will be because the great
recordings are so special in their different ways that a new
recording will have to be exceptional to be in their company.
Listeners interested in Mussorgsky will find much to enjoy in the
rest of the disc - Souvenir d'enfance (Reminisces of Youth) No.3
is atmospherically played and a greater freedom than in the
Pictures. Reverie is a broodingly nostalgic piece. The last
piece, Porte-enseigne-Polka features Mussorgsky in a bucolic mood;
festive and enjoying himself.
 Mussorgsky was an accomplished pianist, if an alcoholic and an
account describes how, even when inebriated, he was in full
possession of his fingers - he could at the request of a singer
having a bad day with her voice, transcribe his accompaniment up
or down to suit it. His piano music here shows a natural sympathy
for the piano idiom - it is hardly ever virtuosic but he always manages
to evoke more with less notes (unlike for example, Rachmaninoff,
who was never content with a simple melody and accompaniment). I
think Ms Kuschnerova, uninhibited by other interpretations, has
dared to put more of her own musical thoughts into these pieces,
and the results are beautiful. Any of these could make a fine
encore piece to a recital and all of them are worth listening to,
especially when played as well as they are here. Recommended for
the short works.
Homepage of Elena Kuschnerova :
http://www.elenakuschnerova.com
You may listen to music as played by Kuschnerova, buy MP4s and find
out much more about her here.
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