André Tchaikowsky (1935-1982)
Piano Concerto No. 1 (1957)
Piano Concerto No. 2 Op. 4 (1966-71)
Piano Sonata (1958)
Peter Jablonski (piano)
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra/Lukasz Borowicz
rec. 2024-25, Polish Radio, Katowice, Poland
Ondine ODE 1467-2 [72]

There is a long tradition of pianist composers. That tradition continues to this day with Stephen Hough and a little before him, Ronald Stevenson. The Polish-born André Tchaikowsky also figures in this group. As a pianist Tchaikowsky won the loyalty of BBC Radio 3 producers. Just look at his presence in the annals of the BBC from the 1950s until his early death at before the age of fifty. His broadcasts were prolific: 144 ‘hits’ when you search under his name in the BBC Genome. A gifted journeyman, he gave whole recitals of the music of his countryman Chopin and of Rachmaninov; in fact, he did Rachmaninov at the Proms. Otherwise he was a stalwart of the classical core repertoire: Mozart and Beethoven concertos, solos by Schubert, Schumann, Haydn, Bach, Debussy and Ravel. He engaged in various projects with Peter Frankl, including a radio series of all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas. This site carries a review of a biography documenting his life and music.

The present Ondine disc documents his creative work with two four-movement half-hour piano concertos and one three-movement Sonata. The First Piano Concerto was written when he was 22. It opens with a bleakly subdued and sombre breathing pattern which returns for the Mussorgskian third movement. Tchaikowsky rejects leonine or demonstrative assaults but asserts them in the clattering second movement and finale. For these he adopts a dynamically thrusting and rather Shostakovich-like character ending with a joyously accented gesture. Roughly ten years later came his Second Concerto. Again, there’s that subdued, almost disillusioned, mind-set and a sidling bleakness. Sombre and occasionally irate flamboyance strides gawkily through the third movement and finale. Tchaikowsky as a composer is something of a ‘toughie’, a grimly-inclined Ravel without a grin, and perhaps suspicious of tenderness. The sound captured by Polish Radio is firmly assertive and clear. For the Sonata the balance is closer but the mood is consistent with that of the two concertos. The emotional range is a shade less taut and more romantically endearing for the middle movement, The Sonata ends with purposeful ruthlessness and a faintly jazzy feel. The packaging and booklet for the disc is subdued, an interesting design choice complemented by monochrome photography.

Rob Barnett

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