Tchaikovsky - Piano Music
Ayako Uehara
EMI 557 7192

Release date April 2004

Unless you are a serious piano buff, you probably haven't come across Ayako Uehara before. She was the first woman to win the First Prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition (in 2002); the first Japanese too, as it happens. Her first recording in the West (for EMI, no less) is, appropriately enough, of Tchaikovsky. Apart from suiting Uehara's temperament very well, this is an intelligent repertoire choice as an introduction to the artist, as the bulk of Tchaikovsky's output for solo piano is comparatively unknown. Indeed, perhaps the best known of all the pieces recorded here is the Op. 10 Humoresque, and that is because of Stravinsky's delightful transcription of it in his ballet The Fairy's Kiss. Most of Tchaikovsky's works for piano were fairly brief genre pieces, an entire CD's worth of which might be considered de trop. Uehara includes the Andante maestoso from Mikhail Pletnev's brilliant transcription of the Nutcracker Suite; she plays it with great sensitivity, giving the listener no idea of its fiendish difficulty - I only wish that she had recorded the whole suite. She also plays the Op. 37 Piano Sonata, dubbed 'Grand Sonata' by its composer to indicate its considerable scale. Although it remains rather neglected (at least by pianists outwith Russia) it is an imposing piece, drawing on Tchaikosvky's beloved Schumann for its formal design, but revealing an unmistakable Russian sensibility. Uehara, although not Russian-trained, delivers massive, almost organ-like sonorities in the latter stages of the first movement. Equally, her touch in the Mendelssohnian scherzo is enviably light and subtle. Introducing new artists into the crowded record market is no easy business, and I hope that EMI's faith in Uehara is rewarded with good sales; you don't come across playing of this intelligence and élan very often.

Sandy Matheson