Tchaikovsky wrote The Seasons for the monthly journal Nuvellist, whose editor had the bright idea of commissioning 12 pieces from him for a year's issues, each of them to depict some aspect of the month in question. As prone as most journalists to leaving matters to the last minute, Tchaikovsky ''regarded this work as very light, insignificant, and so as not to overlook the deadline for each piece, he got his servant [Alyosha] to remind him each month of the date of delivery''. This tale is challenged in the notes for the Erato album; but I take the above quotation from the memoirs of Tchaikovsky's close friend Nikolay Kashkin, and it rings true enough. Perhaps because of their journalistic origin, the pieces have not generally been very highly regarded, and are indeed uneven; but as these performances show, there is more to them than a hastily dashed-off group of salon genre trifles.
James Lisney stresses their closeness to Western origins, especially to the genre pieces of Mendelssohn and especially Schumann. His playing is thoughtful and warm, generally responsive to the music's nature; and he can turn a phrase charmingly, as with the melancholy ''October'' and in the flexible lines of the central con grazia section of ''April'' (though at the start he strums the off-beat chords rather casually). But Postnikova has the closer understanding of the music's nature, not only in such matters as the gentle reverie of ''January'', or the graphic hunting scene of ''September'' (with its wary middle section), or the lively characterization of ''February''. Lying behind the depiction of these very graphic little Russian scenes is an instinct for their melodic nature which is more deeply Russian still. Over and over again, Tchaikovsky makes his pieces something much more than a mere salon diversion by forming his tunes out of small, constantly changing and evolving melodic cells. To present them lucidly, and to draw a long line out of such material, is the pianist's task; and Postnikova hardly falters. She is curiously slow with ''November'' (but so is Lisney); otherwise, her touch is secure, whether in the long melodic span of ''October'' or in the nimble rhythmic shifts of ''August'' or the crisp contrasts of ''February''. The best of these pieces reflect a very high degree of melodic originality, and something distinct from his symphonic or ballet melody.
Postnikova also manages to present in its best possible light Tchaikovsky's Sonata, which is distinctly heavy going. She manages to keep the textures of the first movement light, and to give the Andante a genuine grace and the Scherzo a deftness it can often lack. Lisney adds to The Seasons three pieces, the Op. 59 Dumka, a piece lasting some eight minutes, not easy to hold together as well as here, the Op. 5 Romance written for Desiree Artot and the Op. 7 Valse-scherzo. These are well worth the revival.'