]
Though her Orfeo recordings
may be known to pianophiles this one,
by the Russian Elena Kuschnerova, has
been produced by Steinway and documents
a recital she gave whilst on tour in
Tokyo. A student of Tatiana Kestner
in Moscow she emigrated to Germany in
1992 (was forced to emigrate,
as the notes succinctly put it, for
reasons we can imagine). Her recital
plays to some of her considerable strengths
– the Bach-Siloti harkens back to the
Russian strain in Bach playing whilst
reminding us of her excellent
Bach recording for Orfeo. And she
proves adept in Prokofiev as she has
elsewhere proved herself to be in Scriabin.
New to her discography are the French
works and Scarlatti.
She does take a little
time to settle in her Scarlatti, which
has a veil of romantic tracery around
it. The D minor seems slightly unsteady
rhythmically but her F major is boldly
romantic with depth of bass pointing
and a kind of half staccato articulation.
Horowitz loved the E major and played
it with a kind of confidential intimacy
– whereas Kuschnerova is attractively
straight about it. Her Debussy Pour
le Piano is buoyant in the Toccata though
perhaps, whilst sympathetic, a little
too unvaried in the opening Prélude.
I felt the Ravel lacking in a degree
of verticality; quite slow, its linear
romanticism doesn’t fully explore its
chordal sound world. Fruitful comparison
can be made between her performance
of Prokofiev’s turbulent Seventh Sonata
and that by Richter. Her passagework
in the opening movement is notably clear
and even and she adopts a less frantic
and driving attack than Richter. But
she evinces fine declamatory moments
and her control of contrapuntal clarity
in this movement is quite undeniable.
She keeps a tight control on her rubati,
which aren’t as yielding as Richter’s.
Her slow movement is swifter than his
and she manages to be affecting without
resorting to obvious point making; her
rocking rhythm is excellent here with
an equally fine central section. Where
Richter generated a kind of jazzy syncopation
in the Precipitato finale and disclosed
humour and unstoppable rhythm she prefers
a more equable line; attractive if not
the galvanizing intensity of the older
musician. Her Bach-Siloti is very attractively
phrased and the little Prokofiev arranged
pieces are apt encore pendants. Sound
quality is good and the audience far
more quiet than their western European
equivalents. Notes are in English and
Japanese.
Jonathan Woolf
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Elena Kuschnerova (piano)