Bruce Liu – Tchaïkovsky : The Seasons

Tchaikovsky’s Seasons , which might also be called ‘The Months of the Year’ because they consist of twelve piano pieces for each month of the year, is an increasingly popular piano corpus, and rightly so. The Tchaikovskian art of melody, character portrayal, evocation and emotional intimacy is deployed with grace and inspiration. The simple form (ABA) may not conceal innovative music, but it is certainly touching and always succeeds in drawing evocative and heartfelt landscapes, like those little genre pictures so quivering with life and truth by the Russian Romantic painters.

In a recent interview, Liu explains the reasons for this choice of repertoire, after his recordings and concerts concentrated on the ‘big’ repertoire:

In this concert life that is constantly moving forward it is important for me to slow down and further explore my inner feelings and emotions: basically to know myself a little bit better. So I thought these miniatures would help me come back down to an intimate space.

The Quebecois shows a direct affinity (or need?) for this resolutely intimate material. Several great performers have teased out these charming miniatures (Pletnev, among others). Liu, winner of the Chopin Competition in 2021 (hence the frantic life of an international concert artist), has nothing to envy them.