Tchaikovsky: The Seasons & Rachmaninoff: Variations On a Theme of Corelli Hideyo Harada

• Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): The Seasons, Op. 37b:
• 1January: By the Fireside - Moderato semplice ma espressivo - Meno mosso - Tempo I06:02
• 2February: Shrovetide Festival - Allegro Giusto03:10
• 3March: Song of the Lark - Andantino espressivo - Un pochettino più mosso - A Tempo02:43
• 4April: Snowdrop - Allegretto con moto e un poco Rubato02:53
• 5May: White Nights - Andantino - Allegretto giocoso - Andantino04:38
• 6June: Barcarolle - Andante cantabile - Poco più mosso - Allegro giocoso - Tempo I05:36
• 7July: Song of the Reaper - Allegro moderato con Moto01:56
• 8August: The Harvest - Allegro Vivace03:49
• 9September: The Hunt - Allegro non Troppo02:51
• 10October: Autumn Song - Andante doloroso e molto Cantabile05:15
• 11November: On the Troika - Allegro Moderato03:32
• 12December: Yuletide - Tempo di Valse - Trio - Tempo di Valse - Coda05:01
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943): Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42:
• 13Theme: Andante01:00
• 14Var. I: Poco più Mosso00:36
• 15Var. II: L'istesso Tempo00:38
• 16Var. III: Tempo di Menuetto00:38
• 17Var. IV: Andante00:59
• 18Var. V: Allegro (Ma non Tanto)00:21
• 19Var. VI: L'istesso Tempo00:21
• 20Var. VII: Vivace00:33
• 21Var. VIII: Adagio Misterioso01:03
• 22Var. IX: Un poco più Mosso01:03
• 23Var. X: Allegro Scherzando00:36
• 24Var. XI: Allegro Vivace00:23
• 25Var. XII: L'istesso Tempo00:38
• 26Var. XIII: Agitato00:38
• 27Intermezzo: A tempo Rubato01:54
• 28Var. XIV: Andante (Come Prima)01:14
• 29Var. XV: L'istesso Tempo02:08
• 30Var. XVI: Allegro Vivace00:32
• 31Var. XVII: Meno Mosso01:13
• 32Var. XVIII: Allegro con Brio00:35
• 33Var. XIX: Più mosso. Agitato00:31
• 34Var. XX: Più Mosso01:06
• 35Coda: Andante01:48
• Total Runtime01:07:54

Info for Tchaikovsky: The Seasons & Rachmaninoff: Variations On a Theme of Corelli

After the successful release of Grieg’s “Lyric Pieces” Japanese pianist Hideyo Harada now presents her second SACD. It unites two strikingly different cycles: Tchaikovsky’s musical poetry and Rachmaninov’s virtuosic art, which enabled him to create an entire cosmos of musical characters and dramatic tension from a single theme. The interpretation is characterized by finely wrought detail and a profound grasp of internal relationships and larger shape. Virtuosity serves expressive intensity in a recording that offers fresh interpretations while remaining faithful to the spirit of each composer.

The Japanese pianist employs flexible tempi – almost reminiscent of respiration – and finely shaded dynamics to plastically shape each detail of Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, disclosing unexpected connections between movements. Tchaikovsky did not compose his twelve miniatures on the months of the year as a unified cycle. In this recording, they nonetheless become stages in a vivid musical narrative.

In Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations, the work’s overarching organization and dramatic conception are brought into high relief. Particularly in this virtuosic and demanding work, Harada‘s sovereign technique becomes a means of intense and lively expressiveness.

Hideyo Harada, piano

Hideyo Harada
was born in Japan and first studied in Tokyo with Toyoaki Matsuura before she continued her musical training in Stuttgart (Lieselotte Gierth), Vienna (Hans Kann / Roland Keller), and Moscow (Victor Merzhanov). She has won, among other distincions, the Geneva International Music Competition (CIEM), as well as the 1st prize at the International Schubert Competition in Dortmund. The pianist was also a prize-winner at the International Rachmaninov Competition in Moscow.

Hideyo Harada is a welcome performer at many festivals and in famous European concert halls. She performed at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Brunswik Classix Festival, the Beethovenfestival Bonn, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Mozart Festival Würzburg, the Heidelberg Spring Festival, the Ludwigsburg Festival, the Musikfest Stuttgart, the Festival International des Jeune Solistes in Antibes, the Yokohama International Piano Festival, the Prague Proms Festival, and the Grand Piano Festival in Amsterdam. Hideyo Harada has performed solo recitals in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, in the Musikverein in Vienna, in the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and at Victoria Hall in Geneva. The pianist has played with famous orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Kurpfälzisches Chamber Orchestra, the Solistes de Bourgogne, the Orchestre de Cannes, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest, the Bulgarian State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. Hideyo Harada also tours Japan on a regular basis, where she has played with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, and the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to solo repertoire, Hideyo Harada also performs chamber music. Her partners are, among others, the Borodin Quartet, the violinist Mikhail Simonyan, the cellist Jens Peter Maintz, and the baritone Roman Trekel. Yet another activity of this versatile pianist are her musical-literary programs, which she stages with the performing artists Corinna Harfouch, Katja Riemann, Esther Schweins, Ulrich Noethen, Christian Quadflieg, and Hanns Zischler.

In addition to recordings with international broadcasting and television companies, she has recorded CD’s with works by Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, Rachmaninov, Samuel Feinberg and Michio Mamiya, available on European and Japanese labels.

This album contains no booklet.