Interview, Alexander Ullman on Russian ballet transcriptions

Since winning the International Franz Liszt Piano Competition in 2017, the British pianist Alexander Ullman has been described as ‘a wonderful and mature young pianist who will develop even more in the coming years’ (Piano News) and a performer of ‘poise, flair and style’ (Classical Source). For his debut studio album, released on Rubicon last Friday, he presents four virtuoso transcriptions of Russian ballet-music: Guido Agostini’s arrangement of Stravinsky’s The Firebird, the composer’s own re-imagining of three movements from Petrushka, Mikhail Pletnev’s version of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and one of the three suites for solo piano which Prokofiev created whilst composing Cinderella.

Has Russian ballet always exerted a particular fascination for you?

Not always, but I used to go to see The Nutcracker as a child at Christmas, if that counts? Over the past couple of years, though, I have got addicted to ballet and it really has been a source of inspiration in my piano playing. That’s partly what this CD is about for me; an exploration of the value of ballet as an art form to a classical musician.

Do you find it helpful to keep the original colours (or, in these cases, hypothetical dancers!) in mind whilst playing transcriptions of orchestral pieces, or do you approach them with a blank slate?

Blank slate is always the starting point when it comes to interpretation - but having the sound of the composer’s orchestration, almost as a template, is actually a necessity when it comes to transcriptions. If the composer envisages the piece as orchestral then so should the interpreter. At the same time, a piano transcription is usually more than just a literal translation of an orchestral score - it is a re-imagining of the piece. What I have enjoyed very much about performing and working on these transcriptions is that the orchestral colours and instrumentation are chosen already by the composer to use as a kind-of cheat-sheet in understanding how I can evoke best the characters and the essence of the music.

Stravinsky dedicated the Petrushka arrangement to Rubinstein (and conceded that it was technically beyond his own abilities as a pianist!) - how much of a sense do you get that it was tailored to Rubinstein’s own particular gifts?

I think it was not pianistically tailor-made for Rubinstein, but was simply a direct result of Stravinsky’s imaginings of the ballet for the piano. He actually composed all his works at the piano, so it’s no surprise that it fits so well on the keyboard. I can imagine Rubinstein being presented with this monstrously difficult piece and getting a little overwhelmed! But he did actually end up playing it in concert, and incredibly well…

On a similar note, how much do Pletnev's and Agosti’s arrangements reflect their own pianistic personalities?

These pieces are very much the creations of pianists and definitely reflect personal techniques onto the music. In particular Pletnev’s Nutcracker can be described as a 'virtuoso' work in the truest sense of the word. It is music that has been made to fit beautifully to the piano and embellished in a way that is reminiscent of Franz Liszt. Agosti’s version of The Firebird is actually very awkward for the hands in comparison, but his priorities are very different.

Which pianists do you particularly admire in Russian repertoire?

There are many great interpreters of Russian music with a plethora of admirable qualities. The old Russian masters come to mind, so if I was forced to choose I would pick out Sofronitsky, who was an absolute magician of sound, and Richter for his ability to grab hold of the innermost depths of a piece no matter the repertoire, Russian or otherwise. They couldn’t be more different as musicians, but both have a genius which is unreachable in their playing, I think.

Do you have plans to programme or record other transcriptions (The Rite of Spring, perhaps?), or indeed to do any transcriptions of your own?

I’m definitely going through a transcriptions phase at the moment. I have been performing Beethoven's First Symphony this year as well and am in the process of learning the Third, both transcribed faithfully and artfully by Liszt. They are just as monumental for piano as they are for orchestra, and I am considering recording them next year since it will be the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. The Rite of Spring is absolutely on the cards too, yes! I’ve got to finish the Stravinsky set and I want to incorporate the two pianos version into my programme for the 2021 season...