SULKHAN TSINTSADZE (1925–1991)

24 PRELUDES FOR PIANO (1971)

INGA FIOLIA

‘Sulkhan Tsintsadze is one of the most well-known composers in Georgia, who created mostly instrumental music but only a few piano pieces, among which are these preludes, which are rarely heard. Some of them are really beautiful, reflecting wonderful Georgian folk music and rhythmic dance traditions. I also found some similarities between Tsintsadze and myself. Both of us were born and raised in Tbilisi, went to the same special music school and afterwards to the Moscow Conservatory. But he wrote his music during the Soviet era, experiencing a period of better Russian-Georgian relations than I had. I felt the need to record his music, feeling a special connection and a wish to approach my own past.’ – Inga Fiolia

About this Recording

Lauded as one of the most original and brilliant of Georgian composers, Sulkhan Tsintsadze synthesised 20th-century classical elements with the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and modal characteristics of Georgian folk music. In so doing he developed, across a wide spectrum of the repertoire, his own highly personal and approachable idiom.

His 24 Preludes for Piano were composed in 1971 and are unmistakeably national in character. He gave new life to traditional Georgian folk songs and dances in a masterfully structured cycle that flows with the seamless eloquence of a film. This virtuosic kaleidoscope of contrasting images reveals music that is both extravagant and vibrant.