Emile Naoumoff - Tchaikovsky: Les Saisons, Roméo et Juliette, Adagio lamentoso de la 6e Symphonie '2012

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Les saisons, Op. 37b: I. Janvier "Au coin du feu"
02. Les saisons, Op. 37b: II. Février "Le Carnaval"
03. Les saisons, Op. 37b: III. Mars "Chant de l'alouette"
04. Les saisons, Op. 37b: IV. Avril "Perce-neige"
05. Les saisons, Op. 37b: V. Mai "Les nuits de mai"
06. Les saisons, Op. 37b: VI. Juin "Barcarolle"
07. Les saisons, Op. 37b: VII. Juillet "Chant du faucheur"
08. Les saisons, Op. 37b: VIII. Août "La moisson"
09. Les saisons, Op. 37b: IX. Septembre "La chasse"
10. Les saisons, Op. 37b: X. Octobre "Chant d'automne"
11. Les saisons, Op. 37b: XI. Novembre "Troïka"
12. Les saisons, Op. 37b: XII. Décembre "Noël"
13. Romeo et Juliette: Ouverture Fantaisie (Transcription)
14. Symphonie No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique": Adagio lamentoso
(Transcription)

Upon the death of Mlle. Boulanger, Naoumoff took over her classes at the summer
sessions of the Conservatoire d'Art Americain in Fontainebleau. In 1981, at age
19, he was signed as a composer -- the youngest on their roster -- with the
music publisher Schott, Mainz. Naoumoff's reputation as a piano virtuoso dates
from 1984 when he substituted without notice for a stricken pianist in a
performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in Monte Carlo. That concert
earned him the comparisons to Horowitz and Rubinstein, displaying -- as one
critic remarked -- the fire of the former and the poetry of the latter. In the
years since, he is regularly invited by the world's premier orchestras: the Los
Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, the
San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony in Washington, Moscow Symphony,
etc…And has collaborated closely with renowned conductors such as Leonard
Bernstein, Igor Markevitch, Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich and Eliahu
Inbal and others.

The Seasons, Op.37a (pubished with the French title Les Saisons) is a set of
twelve short character pieces for solo piano by the Russian composer Piotr
Ilyich Tchaikovsk. Each piece is the characteristic of a different month of the
year in the northern hemisphere. The work is also sometimes heard in orchestral
and other arrangements by other hands. Individual excerpts have always been
popular - Barcarolle (June) was enormously popular and appeared in numerous
arrangements.

Romeo and Juliet is an orchestral work styled an Overture-Fantasy, and is based
on Shakespeare’s play of the same name. Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired
by Shakespeare and wrote works based on The Tempest and Hamlet as well. Although
styled an 'Overture-Fantasy' by the composer, the overall design is a symphonic
poem in sonata form with an introduction and an epilogue. The work is based on
three main strands of the Shakespeare story.

Adagio Lamentoso is the fourth movement of the Symphony No. 6, Pathétique.
Tchaikovski dedicated it to Vladimir "Bob" Davydov, composer's nephew with whom
he was in love. The Pathétique has been the subject of a number of theories
as to a hidden program. This goes back to the first performance of the work,
when fellow composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov asked Tchaikovsky whether there was
a program to the new symphony, and Tchaikovsky asserted that there was, but
would not divulge it. 

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