Search - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, Ilona Prunyi :: Tchaikovsky: The Seasons

Bargain-priced, but first-rate performances

Gontroppo | Bathurst, NSW Australia | 09/15/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wonderful renditions of terrific music. You may not have heard of the performer, though she features on 36 CDs available from Amazon. I have a recording of The Seasons by Ashkenazy, which is beautiful, but I find Ms Prunyi's performances also convincing.Tchaikovsky was commissioned to write 12 pieces for a monthly magazine. The title is curious, because it would have been more appropriate to call the work The Months.Two of my favourites are the Barcarolle for June and the Autumn Song for October.Highly recommended."

Tchaikovsky Deserves More Emotional Involvement

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 02/06/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Ilona Prunyi?s ?The Seasons? is well-recorded (although there are some mechanical noises from the instrument which occasionally disturb the enjoyment) and competently played, and there are some charming episodes in this music made for amateur pianists, yet I cannot help feeling that with an extra touch of genius more could have been gained from these pieces. The only point of comparison I have is the ?Barcarolle? (June), which has been so brilliantly recorded by Mikhail Pletnev for Virgin that I find anything that falls short of this standard a little disappointing. Perhaps it would be asking too much for a budget-price label to produce work at this standard, and I would certainly not wish to disparage Ms Prunyi?s attempts, but I think Tchaikovsky probably deserves a slightly more emotionally involved performance, even for this material."