Nikolayeva as Yudina plays with a timing gesture internal to mucic which emerge only with her playing specific gesture ( in some works near his soul not in all works) ...
The musical time dimension is for me the spiritual content of the music, the yeast that makes bread rise...
Nikolayeva in Shostakovitch is at home, she created his own "time" inside this music (not measurable because linked to his gestures life) she dont go after one time external to the music as many mere virtuoso may do :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d94DLBjTfZo&list=RDd94DLBjTfZo&start_radio=1
Here i will propose 2 versions of Bach violin sonatas i love, but one which is soundwise"perfect" with an "external" reading of time but a perfect articulation by Helen Schmitt who i admire a lot and listen often...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltg6HjRPDu4&list=OLAK5uy_ntxYVtHBa0xdlGCh6PAv1FIn6orW2BXyk
And the irrepleacable version over even perfection because born from an "internal" time gesture, then a spiritual force emerging and flowing as the eternal beginning of the world...
Beware because the violonist recorded it two time and only one is at the peak, the 1952 version with a less well sound but an eternal godly heart beat. This version i did not listen so often because it is a too sacred occasion and i wait to be in the state of total awareness ( i use Schmitt walking outdoor she is magnificent)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjpvZefMpA&list=RDYFjpvZefMpA&start_radio=1
These two exemple of playing demonstrated well the huge difference between internal time born from the musical gesture himself and a gesture so perfect it could be (Schmitt) but which use an external time...
Any playing in any instrument by every musician at any time may varies in levels of spirit content and this distinction between internal time and external time gesture is not clear cut. But if we use top supreme interpretation into these two categories using the same work we can feel it clearly...
It is the same thing in Nikolaeva almost impossible to rival version of Shostakovich preludes for piano , most other pianists compared to her use an external time with their gesture , not an internal time gesture like a flowing pulse which cannot be reduced to rythm,beats,etc like an individual gesture walking expression is unique for each individual, or writing gesture expression in graphology ...
Music like poetry cannot be taught at the end, only awaken in individuals..