Many would expect a pianist trained in the Russian piano school of the mid-twentieth century to be a player with a lot of technical and physical strength. Although he is not lacking in technical skill, Naum Starkman, who had just such training at the Kiev and Moscow Conservatories, is more a poet of the piano in this recital of miniatures by Tchaikovsky. It could be argued that being 76 years old at the time of this recording, he doesn't have the same physical strength he had when he was younger, or that the sound of the recording is more softly edged than his recording of much of the same music on a 1998 release by Pope Music. However, there is an overriding freedom of tempo and a flow to the melodies in his playing here, even in the colorful, balletic "February: Carnival" and "September: La Chasse" of The Seasons, Op. 37. He admits that his favorite composer is Chopin, and the lyrical way he plays these small works shows Chopin's, and sometimes Schumann's, influence on Tchaikovsky. The Waltz in A major, Op. 51/4, is like one of Chopin's Grand Valse Brillantes, with flourishing embellishments decorating the main theme. The shape of the first melody of the Waltz in F minor, Op. 51/6, could have been written by Chopin, but the theme of the middle section of the Waltz in F sharp minor, Op. 40/9, written in hemiolas, is all Tchaikovsky. The Seasons are musical daydreams and sentimental remembrances in Starkman's hands. The joyfully active outer sections of "August: The Harvest" seem to tax him some, making it hard to find the beat steadily in the ever changing meters. The opening of "November: Troika" is adoringly indulgent, but never loses forward motion in all the rubato, just as the final section maintains the speed of the sleigh that was found in the middle section. The Variations, Op. 19/6, are slightly less sentimental overall. The more athletic ones are just that: full of the expected Russian strength, but not painfully hammered out, and also not overly dramatic, as might be presaged by the way Starkman tends to savor the Romanticism of the slower ones. The finale is busily energetic, but not quite sparkling. The audience applause at the end is the only aural indication of its presence for this live recording. Everyone seems to have thoroughly enjoyed Starkman's poetic recital. ~ Patsy Morita, All Music Guide
