There are pianists who will never surprise me anymore (Petrov and others); there are such of them who are possibly able to surprise me in the future (Matsuev); but also there are those from whom I expect surprise again and again. Those pianists, in particular, include Darya Gloukhova. There are two of her qualities which keep surprising me: doubts, above which I rank only a gift, and search. Gloukhova’s search is the phenomenon of some maniacal manner: she’s always in search. It is impossible to persuade her into one’s tastes and preferences. Yes, it is annoying for some people! - but such is her nature. Her nature makes her trace for magnificent works, which somehow turned to be outside of our attention. We are, in some sense, victims of our consciousness, limited and, among other things, partly saturated by our own deceive. What a sad condition! Glukhova is eager to do her best to improve it. Such a mission is wonderful! Thus, due to her original devotion we can listen to, and thus re-evaluate, Hummel’s compositions.
So, on the new disc of Darya Gloukhova you can find compositions of Hummel, Mozart and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy represented. Hummel is one of the enigmatic figures in music history. Johann Hummel lived not so long, but having been born 13 years before Wolfgang Mozart’s death, he outlived Franz Schubert by almost 10 years, and thus, turned to be more a romantic than Schubert. In his composer style harmoniously blends the accuracy of Mozart, lapidarity, even stinginess of the means usage with Schubert’s song freedom as well with Mendelssohn’s air improvisation. I always hear Hummel value all of them. He seems to resist parting with anything once acquired at the expense of what he could see and hear in the renewed music world. One way or another, but along with Schubert and Mendelssohn Hummel started to build a new musical world, unwittingly repeating the fate of Mozart developing his pianism to the very degree it was only possible then. It would be appropriate to add that no less he made for this than his contemporaries who appeared to be more famous.
It is impossible to think that it was malevolent fate which decided to keep for us works of Schubert and Mendelssohn, and little or nothing of Hummel. The fate is not to blame here, but it is our sluggishness. It was all for nothing Franz Liszt’s attempts to urge the contemporary virtuosi not to ignore Hummel, if all of us, not only pianists, go on ignoring him until now. It was all for nothing Czerny’s admiration for Hummel’s performances... Only a few among us are able to clear our minds and put a new face on the past.
Darya Gloukhova is, without any doubt, one of those people who is able to play compositions which have never been performed before her - and it's difficult, very difficult! It is many times easier to perform Beethoven or Chopin the millionth time, but it's not the way that could attract our talented pianist. Gloukhova plays Hummel, clearly emphasizing the romantic inspiration of his music, which is, in my opinion, the very thing that should be done.
Gloukhova’s interpretations of famous works by Wolfgang Mozart are also quite unusual. She is not afraid to search, she is not afraid of new colors, and I really, really like it tired of tasteless things that are crammed into conservatory students’ heads, and who does really need it! Many pianists "stumble" over such pieces like mazurka by Frederic Chopin as well as over Fantasy in C-minor by Mozart – they are represented on this disc. In this Fantasy which is one of Mozart’s vertices as a philosopher, the pianist is very bold: she confidently interprets certain phrases and motifs as it conforms to her ideas about the architecture of this piece, and you need to confess, that she is a success in many places: phrases get the saturation they require and intonations are implemented by means of an appropriate sound. Gloukhova’s sound is extraordinarily accurate sometimes, extremely handsome and this is very joyous. I see it as one of the greatest achievements of the pianist.
... In a short time Gloukhova’s artistic skill is going to become perfect. Then we will be able to feel pretty much all the grace that emanates from her gift; we will become witnesses of her new creative achievements. We only need to remember that it is difficult, and we must have patience.
Links:
http://gloukhova.com/http://www.youtube.com/user/Normwidrigkeit