Music at St Mary's, Perivale: Nikita Lukinov
A fine recital
Bach, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Debussy, Babadjanian Nikita Lukinov (piano)
Bach Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor (Well-Tempered Clavier Book I)
Tchaikovsky The Seasons, Op. 37b: May; June
Mussorgsky Night on a Bare Mountain (arr. piano)
Debussy Préludes Book II: Ondine. Images, Book 1: Reflets dans l’eau
Babadjanian Six Pictures
The delightful St Mary’s Perivale was the venue for Nikita Lukinov’s recital: the church has long hosed a series of recitals that are webcast online: you can find this one at this link, also below:
The repertoire chosen was fascinating, not least the Babadjanian. Pianist Nikita Lukinov began his musical education in Voronezh, Russia at the age of six before moving to London (Purcell School) and thence to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied under Petras Geniusas. His debut disc (on KNS Classical) was released in the same month he completed his Master’s Degree; he is new the youngest staff member at his alma mater.
How better to start than with Bach? The C sharp minor, as Lukinov explained, contains three themes, that of the Cross, of Christ’s body, and Reincanation, all explained and illustrated by Lukinov prior to his performance. The Yamaha piano at St Mary’s is a fine one, and allows for linear clarity (heard in both Prelude and Fugue). Languid and peaceful, Lukinov’s reading of the Prelude gave the music plenty of space. He left just the right amount of space between Prelude and the Fugue, allowing for the slowly unfolding fugue to unwrap itself. St Mary's is a tiny venue, though, and the piano seems particuraly bright in is upper-middle register, which could be quite harsh. No doubting Lukimov’s grasp of the piece, though.
Tchaikovsky's Seasons (really, months) remain criminally undervalued and underplayed. As Lukinov said, these pieces represent the essence of Tchaikovsky.We had two here: May and June, Each movement of the set has a subtitle. For May, it is “Starlit Nights”. Cast in G major, this is a dreamy reflection, a kind of Russian Schumann in its quasi-improvisatory demeanour. Nice to hear the Yamaha so in tune in its upper reaches, too; just as nice was Lukinov’s charming staccato descents. June is subtitled ‘Barcarolle,’ and Lukimov pinpointed that specifically Russian melancholy. Lukinov evidently feels an affinity to the Tchaikovsky miniature: he included seven of the 18 pieces of Tchaikovsky’s Op. 72 on his debiut recording.
So far, though, so soporific, perhaps.. A bit of heft was required, and it certainty arrived in this form of Mussorgsky’s Night on a Bare Mountain in an unspecified arrangement for solo piano. This is a convincing take, reminding us of the block. black-and-white nature of the piano Pictures. All credit to Lukinov for keeping the bass clean and yet providing a sense of grandeur alongside the paganist revelry. Most effective, though was the slower, calmer ending with its ever-so-Russin bells: the evocation of a witchy Black Mass contrasted to the peace profound of the end was well realised.
Offering contrast again, Debussy offers a completely different sound world, the delicate yet occasionally spicy and even menacing ‘Ondine,’ and the eminently watery ‘Reflets dans l’eau,’ well and imaginatively pedaled.
It is a nice sleight of hand to give us Mussorgsky's Night and then someone else’s Pictures! Arno Babadjanian (1921-83) was a Soviet composer, one of the so-called ‘Armenian Mighty Five’ (the others were Khachaturian, Edvard Mirzoya, Lazar Saryan, and Adam Khdoyan: this article is very helpful). Although one does not come across Babadjanian’s name too often, it is worth noting no less a figure than Yuri Egorov recorded this music (indeed, his recording of the Six Pictures is featured here: that particular incarnation also includes Babadjanian’s Second and Eighth Sonatas). The composer recorded his own Piano Trio with David Oistrakh and Serge Knoushevisky, so he attracted the crème de la crème of Soviet artists to his music (bizarrely, there was an eight-inch vinyl of that performance issued by Le Chant d Monda). Babadjanian was also a film music composer: here’s a complete film, Bride from the North, with its decidedly jazzy bent. You can also here the composer himself play the Pictures here.
The Six Pictures (1965) are seminal to Armenia: richly varied, they opened a number of doors for Armenian music to pass through. From dodecaphony (in the movement ‘Folk Song’!) to echoes of Prokofiev at his most frenetic and, well, mad, but with some jazz thrown in for good measure (the ‘Toccatina’), this is a remarkable piece. The first movement, ‘Improvisation,’ put me in mind of Ravel’s ‘Scarbo’ (Gaspard de l nuit) In ts gestures, followed by what might be interpreted as a ‘hyper-toccata’ (you could almost, but not quite, invoke Nancarrow here). The angular ‘Folk Song’ does have a dodecaphonic air about it (it is twelve-tone, but not all twelve-tone pieces sound so, depending on the row used). The ensuing ‘Toccatina’ was given with a harder touch. The music contains hints of jazz, maximally contrasting to the highly expressive ‘Intermezzo’ and the creeping chorale that follow, the latter's harmonies forbiddingly beautiful. A final ‘Sasoun Dance” offers up a sort of stuttering Armenian take on Bartók. A terrific performance – Lukinov's technique is fearless.
There is a recorded performance by Hayk Melikyan on Grand Piano issued relatively recently on a disc that presents the complete piano music of Babadjanian.
An encore: from those ‘missing’ Pictures, ‘Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks,’ absolutely delightful.
A fine recital. Those Mussorgsky Pictures were actually featured in Lukinov’s recital last year, coupled with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C, Op. 2/3, and available here:
Nikita Lukinov’s website is here (interestingly I note he spells his name ‘Lukinoff’ in the website’s URL; the joys of transliteration, perhaps, or the unavailability of the ‘Lukinov’ domain name?). There you will also find a link to that debut album on KNS Classics, Kaleidoscope, available at Amazon here.
A rather interesing discovery on iDagio is two recordings for the 2021 Verbier Festival Academy. These are iDagio exclusives: the first is the Amoroso from Prokofiev's Six Pieces from Cinderella, Op. 102, and it's a glorious performance:
... the second finds Lukinov as one pianist among several in Albert Lavignac's Galop-Marche for piano eight hands in D-Major. His fellow pianists are: Dina Ivanova, Varvara Kutazova and Elisaveta Ukrainskaya. Both of these Verbier recordings are live from July 2021 and were recorded in the Église de Verbier Station. In this Lavignac, the audience claps long, rather enthusiastically, and just listen to the cheer st the end!:
