Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in B-flat minor, op. 23 (ČW 53)

Due to the new academic edition of the First Piano Concerto by P. I. Tchaikovsky, contemporary musicians and music lovers can feel and assess the great composer’s genuine conception. Already in 1912, S. I. Taneev urged in his letter to remove all the extraneous elements added to the Concerto’s posthumous version by its editors and to return to the work’s original text. An attempt in this direction was made by A. B. Goldenweiser. Thanks to enormous efforts by the edition’s scientific director P. E. Vajdman, now we have at our disposal Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece as it was conceived by the composer. Finally, in the year of the 140th anniversary of the Concerto’s première, the work appeared fresher, nobler, and more lyrical than in its habitual form, well-known to all of us. My own experience of performing the Concerto’s authentic version, the audience’s enthusiastic reaction and the press comments prove that the efforts of the project’s initiators were not in vain. The Concerto’s CD recording with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under James Gaffigan (released 9 February 2015 by Myrios Classics) was well received in many countries. In my opinion, the present edition is not only a great musicological achievement, but also a major step towards the Concerto’s re-interpretation in an emotionally subtler way, which should not leave indifferent those who love Tchaikovsky’s music.

Kirill Gerstein