Borodin: Petite Suite for piano (1870-1885) & Tatiana Nikolayeva

[@stevehinnenkamp5625]

This little known suite is utterly delicious and touches the heart at first hearing. That said, it only gets better when heard again. Borodin is captivating!

[@stay_foolish]

Index for myself. 00:01 1. Au couvent. Andante religioso cis-moll 04:54 2. Intermezzo. Tempo di menuetto F-dur 08:14 3. Mazurka I. Allegro C-dur 11:28 4. Mazurka II. Allegretto Des-dur 15:23 5. Rêverie. Andante Des-dur 17:45 6. Sérénade. Allegretto Des-dur 19:39 7. Nocturne. Andantino Ges-dur

[@finanzkrise]

Thanks for this. "dur" and "moll" is not English though-to my understanding. "major" and "minor" would be.

[@stay_foolish]

@@finanzkriseAbsolutely right. I just prefer German style to English style, since It's shorter to say, e.g. cis-moll in German than C sharp minor in English ;-)

[@hanshartmann8205]

@@stay_foolish :)

[@paulwilson4738]

Tatiana Nikolayeva is a super player indeed!

[@3at_my_4sskilla_queen_squa28]

Intermezzo is such a gorgeous piece 😫

[@gunnarasplund1212]

Beautiful music and beautiful pictures! Thank you very much

[@jbielajewa]

You are welcome!

[@paulwilson4738]

I gladly, Julia, am back after the long hiatus, to listen again to these very fine short piano pieces! You may like to know how the suggestion for that family of three also to listen to these pieces turned out, which was that "perhaps they were enjoyed, but they never told me 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down'," but since then I have new friends who do love most if not all of my suggestions. I will soon put this post into my newest list, Julia.

[@jbielajewa]

Good evening, Paul! As you can see, music helps us to find real friends. In my life I saw it many times. My best wishes to you!

[@БорисШалагінов]

Чудесная музыка, чудесное оформление! Спасибо пианистке, композитору и оформителю!

[@jbielajewa]

Спасибо большое! Я очень старалась!)

[@ВячеславАлехин-я6э]

@@jbielajewa чисто из интереса, откуда у вас эта запись? Имеете ли вы к ней непосредственное отношение?

[@marianotejedor4831]

I just love this, thank you

[@steveegallo3384]

BRAVA from Pompano Beach!

[@paulwilson4738]

Julia, THANK YOU for this wonderful post! Incredible that it has had so few listeners, but I have subscribed, liked and will share this with a home-schooled little girl, soon to be age 6 or 7, and her teacher-mother, and I'm hoping she gets her father to listen when he is home in the evenings. (I send classical recommendations often.) Thanks for the original title, also, and the Italian equivalents to the Russian markings. Can you tell us anything about the origins of the piece? A response to his "friend's" paintings? A response to a young miss's poetry he had read or was reading from time to time over fifteen years?

[@jbielajewa]

Thank you, Paul, for your kind words. I am glad that you have noticed this wonderful piece of music and wonderful paintings. I will try to answer some of your questions. After Borodin’s death Russian musicologist V. Stasov has found between composer’s papers initial title of this piece ("A little poem of love of a young girl») but also remarks about its content: 1. Under the arches of the cathedral ("In the monastery") 2. Dreams of society (Intermezzo) 3. Thinks only about dancing (Mazurka in C Major) 4. Thinks about dancing and about the dancer (Mazurka in D-flat Major) 5. Thinks only of the dancer (Serenade) 6. Dreams to the sound of a love song (Dreams) 7. Lulled by the happiness of being loved (Nocturne) It’s not worth to consider these remarks as the real program of the cycle, because the author himself did not make it public, but between the titles of the parts and these remarks there is a lot in common. Borodin and Kramskoy were not real friends, but they lived in the same city at the same time. Moreover, they died in the same year and under the same circumstances. Both died instantly from an aortic aneurysm. There is something inexplicable in the harmony of their art and the similarity of their life path. Did the maiden poem exist in reality? Probably, yes. Borodin was one of the organizers of the Higher Women's Medical Courses, where he taught chemistry from 1872 to 1885. The students adored him and trusted him completely. Perhaps one of them shared her maiden story with him. Thank you once more for your interest.

[@paulwilson4738]

@@jbielajewa, I certainly appreciate your thorough and thoughtful reply, madam! Are you a teacher of music and a musicologist? Your KZbin home page has tons, of which I've only had a glance, so far?

[@jbielajewa]

@@paulwilson4738 I hope I am connoisseur :) Many thanks for your appreciation!

[@hanshartmann8205]

Dear Julia, thank you for posting this interpration, which I did not find some years ago, when I played the suite myself. I am a great fan of Borodin, not only of his music, but also because of his profession and what he did for the Russian women who were enabled to study medicine because of him. His biography is overwhelming. I appreciate your connoisseurship. you might see my love for Borodin by this link in facebook. ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmS3g5qJgqmHj7M )

[@hanshartmann8205]

I also like the pictures of Kramskoy very much. Where are they displayed?

[@jbielajewa]

Thank you, Hans, for your comment. You are absolutely right. Borodin was much more than composer. He was genius person. His biography deserves no less attention than his music. I appreciate very high your interest to this great man and I am touched very much by your interpretation of Borodin's Suite.

[@jbielajewa]

@@hanshartmann8205 A lot of pictures of Kramskoy are in Tretiakov's Gallery in Moscow , some of them are in Russian State Museum in Sankt-Petersburg.

[@hanshartmann8205]

@@jbielajewa What memories are brought up by thinking of TretiakovS gallery. I have spent 7 net months in Moskau, intermittently for 9 years working for C.Reichert Optical instruments and also Opton, which was later called C.Zeiss again. I remember some of the pictures at the gallery. I have also been to "Leningrad" in those years, but there was no time to visit the State Museum..

[@hanshartmann8205]

@@jbielajewa As you might have noticed I am an amateur player, having been a technician for most of my life time. But besides Schubert, Brahms and Beethoven, I have a special interest in Russian composers, especially Mussorgsky. I have played Mussorgsky in public places. Nowadays I am retired and I rejoice in practicing and rehearsing Tschaikovsky and Rachmaninov together with a Russian soprano who lives in Vienna. ( de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_Galanova ) We are also practicing Wagner, however, the various lockdown conditions have prohibited us from performing in public. I am also a big fan of Prokofiev and Shostakovich, or Taneyev BTW. As concerning the pianist of the above recording, I estimate Tatjana Nikolajeva and Maria Yudina the very best Russian pianists and more than that musicians. I would like to stay in contact with you. If you happen to be on facebook, you can find me there under Hans Hartmann at Brunn am Gebirge.

[@alegriam.9773]

Appreciate that you accompany the related pictures to each piece. It's a great joy for me to see the pictures and listen to the music together. Tatiana Nikolaeva is one of my favorite Russian pianists. Her play of this music is really touching. I'm sad that I can't find a CD of her play of this music. Is it Melodia?

[@davidjermann1501]

beautiful music. Who are the artists who painted these beautiful pictures?

[@jbielajewa]

Pictures of Russian artist Ivan Kramskoy ( 1837-1887)

[@ericdovigi7927]

Age of Empires III