Tchaikovsky wrote the Children’s Album and the Op.37 Sonata at the same time,b and they’re so different. The Children’s Album is fantastic – a masterpiece.
Tchaikovsky is almost always played badly! There are two wrong ways: the Russian wrong way and the Western wrong way. Most Russians make a rough sound, full of violent emotions, heart on the sleeve. Westerners often have a refinement that the Russians lack, and which is an important part of Tchaikovsky too, but it has no power.” – (Mikhail Pletnev)
