19th Century Russian Chamber Music

Description

Nineteenth-century Russian music often conjures images of ballet, symphonies, and opera, but rarely chamber music, a genre traditionally associated with the Austro-German aristocracy. However, string instruments, particularly the violin and cello, played a significant role in 19th and 20th-century Russian culture. This influence stemmed from both the Italian tradition, through musicians who introduced and taught these instruments in Russia, and the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition, where the violin holds a prominent place. Our exploration of lesser-known chamber works led us to the early compositions of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).
The CD features three compositions written between 1863 and 1864, essentially tasteful student exercises, as Tchaikovsky began his musical studies relatively late. In the Allegro for String Quartet, the first violin takes center stage, presenting a poignant melodic line that concludes with a somewhat hurried finale. The other two pieces from this period are the Largo and Allegro for Flute and Strings, Tchaikovsky’s only work for solo flute outside of his famous ballet passages, and the Allegro for Piano and Strings. The two-part piece for flute begins with a shadowy and suspended introduction, transitioning into a vibrant, fast movement with a distinct balletic character. The short piece for piano, imbued with drama and resignation, seems to be a preliminary experiment for his later First Piano Concerto with Orchestra.
The three pieces for violin and strings (transcriptions by Matteo Malagoli) originate from various settings. The Melody, Op. 42, No. 3 (Souvenir d’un lieu cher) belongs to a collection for violin and piano, reflecting the purely romantic vein of evocative poetics; the place evoked is the Brailov estate. The Barcarolle, Op. 37, No. 6 corresponds to the month of June in the piano collection The Seasons, where each month is accompanied by a lyrical epigraph from different authors (Pushkin, Tolstoy, Nekrasov, and others). June features verses by Aleksey Nikolaevich Plescheev (1825-1893). Strongly linked to the description of the month and poetic lyricism, it is expressed as a “characteristic piece,” which, according to Schumann’s interpretation, is not a descriptive and realistic illustration but the identification of an intimate and unmistakable character, or the essence of the “poetic.” The same applies to Chant sans paroles, the third piece of a youthful piano triptych written in a similar style to Op. 42, albeit seven years earlier. The simple ABA structure reserves more lively and dramatic movements for the central section, in an expository progression devoid of developments.
Tchaikovsky’s cello works are best known for the Variations on a Rococo Theme. However, the composer, a friend and admirer of Anatoly Brandukov (1859-1930), a leading figure in the Russian cello school (a student of Scipione Fenzi and Wilhelm Fitzenhagen in Moscow), dedicated two chamber pieces to the instrument, both transcriptions of other works. The Nocturne for Cello and Strings is a transposition of a piano piece in ABA form, also characterized as a “descriptive piece,” while the Andante cantabile is the second movement of the String Quartet, Op. 11, a famous piece that elaborates a Ukrainian folk song, reflecting Tchaikovsky’s early interest in defining a national style, an ideal shared by the “Mighty Handful” (Group of Five), themes he abandoned by 1875.
Similar to the Allegro for String Quartet, the Elegy in Memory of Ivan Vasilyevich Samarin (1817-1885, a renowned Russian actor) also features a solo role for the first violin, emphasizing a lyrical-cantabile style. The central section, filled with obsessive repetitions, evokes a feverish and anxious state, which only subsides with the return of the initial theme, culminating in a final coda that suggests a difficult and prolonged farewell.
The crowning achievement of Tchaikovsky’s chamber rarities is the transcription for eight instruments (string quintet, two flutes, and clarinet) of the suite from the ballet The Nutcracker, created by the Italian composer Stefano Bonilauri (1964) and commissioned by Matteo Malagoli. The freshness and lightness of the instrumental ensemble bring a new dimension to the score, creating an almost suspended atmosphere, particularly captivating in the realization of the celesta in the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and the harp in the famous introduction to the “Waltz of the Flowers.” This version, even more than the original, is characterized by true chamber virtuosity.
Alongside Tchaikovsky’s significant body of compositions, this collection includes four pieces by contemporary authors and members of the “Group of Five,” a historical association of Russian musicians who sought to define a Russian national style based on the rediscovery and re-evaluation of folk and Orthodox liturgical music, free from Western influences and rigid academic forms. We feature two short pieces for cello, one by César Cui (1835-1918) and one by Alexander Borodin (1833-1887), true descriptive miniatures with a profound national spirit. Cui’s Orientale, inspired by the vast territories of Central and Southern Asia, utilizes the cello’s timbre to perfectly express the piece’s character. Borodin’s Serenade offers a glimpse of a dance step from a hypothetical ballet. The string orchestration of the piano parts enhances and exponentially increases the distinct characters, almost as if they were originally intended for this arrangement.
Orthodox liturgical music held a deep fascination for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908). The composer himself testifies to this in his Memoirs, recalling the enchanting bells of the monastery near his birthplace, as well as the monks’ singing and the solemnity of the liturgy. These musical styles, combined with folk song, are evident in his piece for string quartet, divided into two distinct parts: Fugue “In the Cloister” and Chorale with Variations, where each instrument takes the lead in a poignant variation. Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915), from a noble family, was a renowned pianist and esteemed composer.
A piano student of Anton Rubinstein and a composition student of Tchaikovsky, he was the first interpreter of Tchaikovsky’s two piano concertos. From 1885 to 1890, he served as director of the Moscow Conservatory. Taneyev’s Canzona for Clarinet and Strings is one of his many chamber compositions featuring strings. The score allows for a solo cello as an alternative to the clarinet, and the version presented is a faithful reconstruction of the string score derived from the unpublished piano reduction. Taneyev belonged to the “Moscow School,” which aimed to elevate Russian music to European standards by reviving, for example, the techniques of ancient counterpoint, an approach that contrasted sharply with that of the “Mighty Handful” (Group of Five).
Matteo Malagoli © 2025