Ionarts at Large: From the ARD Music Competition - Final Prize Winner Concert (No.3)

A hint of glamor graced the final prize winners’ Concert of the 57^th International ARD Music Competition in Munich, broadcast live on radio and recorded for television. The Herkulessaal was full with music lovers and industry insiders: agents, record company executives, orchestra managers, conductors, proud teachers, envious colleagues, and the interested officialdom of the German Public Broadcasting Institution (ARD) who finances the event together with its subsidiary institution, the Bavarian Broadcasting Service (BR).

Notes from the ARD Intl. Music Competition: Day 2: Viola Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 2) Day 3: Viola Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 3) Day 4: Viola Competition, Round 1 (4) (September 4) Day 5: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (1) (September 5) Day 6: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (2) (September 6) Day 7: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (3) (September 7) Day 8: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (1) and Viola, Semi-Finals (September 8) Day 9: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (2) (September 9) Day 10: Viola, Final (September 10) Day 11: String Quartet, Semi-Finals (September 11) Day 12: Clarinet, Final (September 12) Days 13 & 14: String Quartet & Bassoon Finals (September 13 & 14) Day 17: Prize Winner Concert No.1 (September 17) Day 18: Prize Winner Concert No.2 (September 18)

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, now with its first chairs back on duty, was conducted by the 28-year old GMD of Heidelberg, Cornelius Meister. The improvement over the BRSO finals performance was notable from the first movement of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A-major, K622 – played by Sebastian Manz, only the second first-prize winner in the history contest. He played the work on a basset clarinet (for which it was written) – and beautifully shaped the slow movement which essentially became an ersatz-requiem for Maurizio Kagel whose passing had been mourned before the concert with a minute of silence. Although fitting for the moment, an altogether more spirited performance and more flexible orchestral coat would usually be my preference.

It speaks to the André Jolivet Concerto for Bassoon, String Orchestra, Harp and Piano that it is much harder to play than to appreciate as a listener. Marc Trénel, the French first first-prize winner in the history of the ARD’s bassoon competition, brought the funk and beauty out of this 1954 (!) work in a way that made Jolivet more pleasurable even than the Mozart. And not just to these ears but those of fellow neophytes as well, whose innocent ears instinctively respond to inventiveness, variety of mood, and spirited presentation. Together with Kalevi Aho’s concerto for contrabassoon (written for the Washington NSO’s Lewis Lipnick), this is one of the very few concertos for this instrument you’d actually want to hear every so often on its own merits, not just as an affirmative action vehicle for deprived bassoonists.

The Apollon Musagéte had the opportunity to silence those voices that doubted their being deserving of a first prize after an admittedly troubled, spottily genial Beethoven performance in the final round – and prove themselves worthy of the famous ARD top prize winning predecessors like the Tokyo-, Peterson-, Leipzig-, Mandelring-, Artemis-, and Ébène quartets. The Rodion Shchedrin commission, “Lyrical Scenes” which they played as its special prize winning interpreter, had been nearly impressive with them in the semi-finals. Now, in front of the composer, it sounded more like music, still – capable of entertaining even the audience exposed to it for the first time.

But to give a more substantial impression, the Polish quartet also encored their Bartók performance from the final. In their hands, Bartók “Three” plays more to its haunting, even numinous character rather than subverting that impression by playing up its animated side. It was good stuff – better even than when it had mattered more – but it still sounds likely that the four players will yet find a more personal, distinct, persuasive way with this work.

I was very pleased that the entire 2008 ARD Music Competition concluded with – and cumulated in – a performances of the terrific and terrifying, must-hear Schnittke Viola Concerto. A befitting conclusion in particular because no work might be more closely associated with the competition. It was written for- and dedicated to- an ARD prize winner (Yuri Bashmet), and all of its important recordings* are made by ARD prize winners: Bashmet (ARD winner in 1976, recorded first in the USSR, later for RCA), Kim Kashkashian (’80, ECM), Nabuko Imai (’67, BIS), and just this week from the 2004 first-prize winner Antoine Tamestit (Ambroisie). (Not the least this list indicates the ARD competition’s king-maker qualities for violists – so far the contest’s strongest category along with voice and string quartets.)

Maybe WenXiao Zhen from China will one day add his name to this very distinguished list – because his intentionally raw performance during this final concert with the BRSO was worthy stuff after this concerto had already won him the audience-prize in the finale. In this concerto, which explores pain and grief, anger and desolation, WenXiao Zhen dared to go for deliberately ugly sounds and nailed the tension and despair of the work. The invariable grime he came up with added more than it detracted. An astounding performance for any player, much less someone who stood on stage with an orchestra only for the third time in his life.

All pictures © Sigi Müller, except WenXiao Zheng's portrait which is © Daniela Falke

Congratulations to all Prize Winners of the 2008 ARD International Music Competition

Ionarts-at-Large: From the 2010 ARD Competition, Day 15 - Flute, Final

Winning Prizeless

Ivanna Ternay (Ukraine), who turned in the best concerto performance of the competition with her Mozart in the semi final. In the final on Sunday night, too, she emerged as the most promising, most satisfying of the participants, which was (at last) meaningful in the flute finale, because all four competitors were very good.

Competitors like Sooyun Kim, who started with the Penderecki concerto (written in 1992) with the Munich Radio Orchestra under Marko Letonja accompanying. Except that Penderecki’s work is not mere accompagnato, it’s really a concerto grosso with embedded woodwind concertino plus obbligato flute. The soloist blends seamlessly in with the woodwind chirping, once airborne he or she is then left alone for a bit before echoes of strings catch up with the flute again. Sparse textures with a little percussion include the flute more as part of its virtuosic tapestry rather than having the soloist in front of mere background music. It’s a difficult concerto to win an audience prize with, because it doesn’t go for effect, but musically it’s terrific. Sooyun Kim’s performance made the concerto come across nicely, but perhaps with the flute part just a wee too incidental and her style a little mechanical. Sooyun Kim came third and won the prize for the best interpretation of the commissioned work by Bruno Mantovani.

Le petite Rampal?

Loïc Schneider—a recurring regular at competitions, which goes to show how hard it must be to establish a successful solo career with that instrument, when only one, two top players per generation are needed—doesn’t know the word mechanical. He also doesn’t know the word restraint, as his showy, entertaining, but borderline flamboyant performances show. That 1970s sized white collar carefully arranged over his suit jacket made him look less the hipster flutist or cool cat than it made him look like he got stuck in a little sailor suit. [The photographer evidently reigned it in in the picture to the left.] The concerto he picked, Rodrigo’s (a Galway commission from 1978), is equally flashy, with many large jumps of an octave and more, and in every way the opposite from Penderecki’s piece. Take away the soloist from Penderecki’s concerto and you are left with a neat little concerto grosso. Take away the soloist from Rodrigo’s concerto and you are left with empty musical phrases and simplistic (if effective) string arrangements that barely come to life with some solo flute pasted on top. The music-per-minute ratio of the work is shockingly low, but the appeal to the audience undeniable. (Leave it to Galway to know what moves the masses.) The critique of the concerto is not to take away from Schneider’s awesome control he has over the instrument, or how admirably he articulated and navigated the empty phrase-cliffs. Only his tone, too airy for me, leaves room for some criticism. Mr. Schneider won the first and audience prize.

The youngest participant in the finale, Daniela Koch, choose another different work, one by Jindřich Feld. This one—which I had never heard before—was commissioned by Jean-Pierre Rampal, another flute-lion and it’s quite pleasing… a sort of mild-mannered Bartók-meets-Martinů, with a slow movement that sounds like the opening of Brahms First symphony looped. The finale has its stretches, seemingly incorporating two more slow movements, and if Koch couldn’t excite me here, I was perfectly willing to place blame on Feld more than the soloist, especially since her tone was particularly beautiful. And while Mlle. Koch might be eight years younger than Schneider, but with her technique she was hardly an outsider in the finale, having just last year left him behind herself as winner of the Kobe International Flute Competition. This time she came second.

ionarts-Coverage of the ARD International Music Competition 2010 • Flute Final Semi Final • Cello Final Semi Final First Round • French Horn Final Semi Final • Piano Duo Final

At last came Ivanna Ternay, and thankfully she, too, performed the wonderful Penderecki concerto—and not entirely unexpectedly a notch above Mlle. Kim’s performance. A tone easily as solid as that of the orchestra’s clarinet, air-free and pure gives her an inviting quality that is even through all registers and dynamic gradations, but never employed in the service of sameness. She put the flute just a little further up front in the concerto, without changing the collaborative character of the concerto. Dynamic gradations were rich and varied; everything seemed even more alive. When I noticed that she performed with the music (I almost hadn’t, and my colleague didn’t at all, so absorbed was he in the music), I was delighted: What a gutsy move, what a wonderful nod to the realities of performance and memorization.

Music-Rules. Not.

As early as after the first round of cellists I had wanted to write a piece about how the ARD Competition could root out the idiotic habit of not playing from the score by requiring that notes be used, and in a way Ternay's performance seemed the answer even before I got to write about it: the sure-fire winner of the competition showed that having the notes in front of oneself could be a plus; showed that she wasn’t afraid of being mis-judged for using them. From Sviatoslav Richter to Alexandre Tharaud—great artists who insist(ed) on avoiding the circus trick of playing ‘from memory’—I sensed an air approval surrounding Ivanna Ternay. Alas, I didn’t count on the jury (who all ‘needed’ the score to follow all three concertos) and the rules of the ARD Music Competition. “No score may be used in the performance of a concerto.” Consequently, Ivanna Ternay got no prize at all. We learn from this the following: It is better to perform a work badly from memory (I’m not referring to Mlle. Kim, but a hypothetical bad performance) than to perform a work absolutely wonderfully… from the notes.

This, of course, is perverse. Sure, they love their rules, those Germans. Obviously more than music. But that much more than music? If the rule had been put in to prevent some amateurish, insecure performance of a concerto (hello, cello semi finals!), then it might be vaguely understandable. But as it is, isn’t it just the dead-on confirmation that music competitions are about everything, just not music?! How can perhaps the most musical, most successful performer be excluded on grounds of using the music? Rules have been bent in the past at the ARD competition; when the organizers didn’t like the jury’s decision, for example, they created a new special prize to suit their own purpose. It would be hard to believe that the rules could not have been bent here, too.* More importantly, the rule should be changed. Not only is it not at all desirable that people need to perform works—new or old, accompanied or solo—from memory. It is actually undesirable that they be taught this post-Liszt glamorama circus trick as somehow being essential to proper music etiquette. I doubt that any competition, not the ARD or any other, will any time soon go the desirable step and suggest their participants use music under all circumstances, but I do have some hope that the organizers here (a wonderful bunch, really) realized the mistake that the current rules on their books have ‘forced’ the jurors to make.

As far as Mlle. Ternay is concerned? May her no-prize be something akin to Ivo Pogorelich’s no-prize at the Chopin Competition (without the eventual descent toward total dysfunction, of course). As for the rest of the players, it’s almost unfair that no-prize should overshadow their achievements, seeing how they—all six flutists that got as far as the semi final, really—were the elite of the 2010 Competition.

All pictures courtesy ARD International Music Competition, © Sigi Müller (modified where deemed necessary)

* Edit. Two further points: In last year’s violin final, the performers also played from the notes, upon explicit request from the conductor (smart man). So far, so good, but someone in the audience saw fit to launch an official complaint with the federation of music competitions, which in turn officially admonished the ARD Competition.
And Mlle Ternay was given that same BR Klassik prize I mentioned as having been created specially to suit their purpose. That redeems the competition on two counts: namely that they obviously felt they really could not bend the rules this time and that they obviously tried to ameliorate the situation with their own prize. Still, now I we can wonder why the anti-musical rule wasn’t changed last year, when they knew it could be potential trouble.

Ionarts at Large: From the ARD Music Competition - Prize Winner Concert No.1

With all prize winners chosen, the 57^th ARD Music Competition draws to a close. The time for competitive playing is now over, and the time for nit-picking, looking for weaknesses and flaws among the many different participants is, too. Instead, the three concluding Prize-Winner Concerts have the purpose of showcasing the discovered talent - and for those talents to simply enjoy playing before the large audience both in the sold-out Prinzregententheater and listening live on three German Public Radio Stations. This is the time to sit back and bask in these young artists’ music-making.

The Verus String Quartet, who won a third prize at what was their first ever competition, made that very easy with their performance of Beethoven’s op.18/4, proving again how enjoyable they are to hear. A quartet where the character of the violins suggests that the elegant first violinist Naoto Sakiya and the impetuous second violinist Akira Mizutani could share the first violin job á la Emerson Quartet, they are a pleasure to watch, too. Despite their usual refinement and unusual maturity, they have an inner tension and tenacity to offer and they visibly enjoy their job. It’s worth it just to look at their wily cellist Rentaro Tomioka nudging his partners on – or, for contrast, their calm violist Kouichi Yokomizo, the source of calm among the four. It isn’t at all daring to predict these four youngsters a very successful international career.

Notes from the ARD Intl. Music Competition: Day 2: Viola Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 2) Day 3: Viola Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 3) Day 4: Viola Competition, Round 1 (4) (September 4) Day 5: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (1) (September 5) Day 6: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (2) (September 6) Day 7: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (3) (September 7) Day 8: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (1) and Viola, Semi-Finals (September 8) Day 9: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (2) (September 9) Day 10: Viola, Final (September 10) Day 11: String Quartet, Semi-Finals (September 11) Day 12: Clarinet, Final (September 12) Days 13 & 14: String Quartet & Bassoon Finals (September 13 & 14)

Somewhat surprisingly to these ears, the Belgian Dimitri Murrath, not Sergey Malov or Teng Li, was chosen – by the jury and the composer – as the Prize Winner for the best interpretation of the commissioned piece, “Tikvah” by Atar Arad. My prediction that this piece was going to be heard five times and then never again already shot, Mr. Murrath played it for the sixth time at this concert. It was announced with its preface wishing for and end to all violence, for world peace, and perpetual strawberry ice cream, which can’t be said to have made the music easier to grasp, even in this dedicated rendition. It remains difficult to appreciate without a score at hand and (forced) repeat exposure. A dilemma faced by most contemporary music.

A pressure-free, somber and reflective G-major sonata for Bassoon and Piano of Camille Saint-Saëns was presented by third prize winner Václav Vonášek. A little pale in the bassoon-final, he now blossomed and underscored why the bassoon competition has garnered a surprising amount of headlines in even the national papers. That having been not just a reaction to the fact that 2008 offered the first First Prize ever in this category (which had been held 8 times, since 1954), but also because the quality of every finalist was apparently very high.

While Shelly Ezra’s performance of the Hosokawa “Metamorphosis” in the final was the epitome of controlled clarinet playing, this third prize winner from Israel let her hair down a little more (metaphorically, if not literally) in the Brahms f-minor Sonata op.120/1. The result was less refined and clean, but stormy and passionate – and particularly well accompanied by the very delicate looking Isabella Melkonyan who, defying exterior impressions, was able to plow into the sonata without the unfounded fear of competing with the nominal soloist. Brahms benefited greatly from this.

Felix Mendelssohn’s second, “Is it true?” String Quartet op.13 is modeled after Beethoven’s late quartets and a tribute to the grand composer in the year of his death. Made up of Anne Schoenholtz (first violin), Manuel Oswald (second violin), Sylvia Zucker (viola), and Uli Witteler (cello), the audience's favorite, the German/Swiss Gémeaux (“Gemini”) Quartett played, and played well. Incapable of smiling, even with the competition part over, they look – and sound – as if music was not supposed to be fun. It’s way too early in their careers for these musicians (two alpha-ladies and two subservient men, from the look of it) display such seriousness – bitterness even – and treat their work as such a terribly severe thing. Alas, the Mendelssohn sounded pretty good even without any sense of joy.

All pictures © Sigi Müller

Ionarts at Large: Notes from the ARD International Music Competition (Day 2)

Karl Leister, David Shifrin, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Yuri Bashmet, Kim Kashkashian, Klaus Thunemann, and the Tokyo-, Eder-, Auryn-, Petersen-, Mandelring-, Leipzig-, Artemis-, and Ébène string quartets: all these are former prize winners of the ARD International Music Competition in the four fields that offer prizes in 2008 (from September 1st until the 19th) as well: Clarinet, Bassoon, Viola, and String Quartet.

Among the most important competitions, the ARD Competition might be the least known compared to the Concour Reine Elisabeth (Queen Elisabeth Competition), the Paganini Competition, the Tchaikovsky Competition, and the Chopin Competition. That probably has to do with the breadth that the ARD Competition which has awarded prizes in 19 categories, not just for the more glamorous solo instruments violin or piano. Since 1952 the categories Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, Flute, Clarinet, Oboe, Bassoon, Piano, Harp, Percussion, Piano Duo, Piano Trio, String Quartet, Woodwind Quintet and Voice all take their turns at the competition. (2009 will featureVoice, Harp, Violin, and double Bass where past winners have included Jessye Norman, Thomas Quasthoff, Christian Tetzlaff, Measha Brueggergosman, Christa Ludwig, Erika Köth, and Francisco Araiza.)

This year I wanted to sit in on the performances, mostly to hear 16 excellent young string quartets, but also to discover unheard repertoire for instruments I'd not likely hear otherwise. I skipped Day 1, but this morning I trekked to Studio 1 of the Bavarian Broadcasting Service (BR) to listen to a batch of violists trying to get into the second round.

Notes from the ARD Intl. Music Competition: Day 2: Viola Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 2) Day 3: Viola Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 3) Day 4: Viola Competition, Round 1 (4) (September 4) Day 5: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (1) (September 5) Day 6: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (2) (September 6) Day 7: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (3) (September 7) Day 8: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (1) and Viola, Semi-Finals (September 8) Day 9: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (2) (September 9) Day 10: Viola, Final (September 10) Day 11: String Quartet, Semi-Finals (September 11) Day 12: Clarinet, Final (September 12) Days 13 & 14: String Quartet & Bassoon Finals (September 13 & 14)

The Asian contingent is present in full force among the total of 198 competing musicians, with 13 musicians from Korea, Japan, and China, each. The US also has 13 participants in the race, only outnumbered by the French (19) and the hosts (29). I watched and listened to 8 out of the 56 hopeful participating violists - and for all the beauty a viola can emit, I can't say I envy the task of the jury whittling them down in just three days.

Some time after 11am Meng Xu (China) introduced me to the Max Reger Suite for Solo Viola op.131d in g-minor. What a beautiful work - Bach's paws all over it, of course - and how fine it sounds, even if Ms. Meng produces some extraneous noises (nervousness?) and underplayed the double stops by accentuating the 'lead' voice. Her tone strong and full, but her presentation of the music perhaps to eager and up-front.

Henry Vieuxtemps' posthumously published Capriccio in c-minor is also surprisingly fine music - a lyrical touch that moves immediately. So after two works, I conclude that listening to unadulterated viola for a whole day promises to be not half the threat it looked like, at first. Even a buzz-saw Paganini Caprice (op.1, no.13) didn't deter me.

Jing Yang (China) came on, now, and another chance to hear the Reger g-minor Suite. Neither this nor the 24th Paganini Caprice were particularly impressive (too blasé, too immature?), when she suddenly played the Vieuxtemps Capriccio (hello, again!) in the most felt and delicate manner. Easily the best performance of that Capriccio which I was to hear five more times after that. For the Vieuxtempts alone I'd like to hear what else she might be able to do in the next round.

Seungwon Lee from Korea enabled me to really get to know the Reger g-minor Suite. But even with his beautiful tone in the second movement (full but not thick), and the Viola-as-sport third movement, it seemed like the piece was getting five minutes longer for every time I heard it. Not as long as the Hindemith op.25, no.1, though: not a piece for cheer, even if it was better played than, yes, the Vieuxtemps Capriccio where Lee tried too hard, hadn't the long line in mind, was stuck in the moment, and closed with two completely uninspired pizzicato chords.

By the time Vladimir Babeshko started the g-minor Suite, I had developed a small-scale hatred for Reger. Babeshko's performance, very self-conscious, though not audibly to the music's detriment, had its moments, but overt breathing undermined it. His Vieuxtemps Capriccio (it should be noted that the Capriccio was by no means mandatory, but one of five possible choices) was so stolid, it barely registered with me. The Enescu Concert Piece for viola and piano was a relief on the ears (fatigue was setting in, already), and well prepared.

Before Lunch break, Ryo Oshima (Japan) presented the most mature performance of the - you guessed it - Reger g-minor Suite up to that point. That I was able to listen with interest again speaks to his lean and sinuous tone and playing of admirable purpose. His uncompromising, unerring rendition simply demanded a certain degree of attention. Hindemith op.11, no.5 "In shape and meter of a Passacaglia" was interminable, even if occasionally sparkling with the wit that betrays the violist-composer behind it. His Bartolommeo Campagnoli Caprice no.17 was impressive for the technical facility alone, and much appreciated alone for not being the Capriccio. Certainly a violist I might like to hear in the second round again.

The same can be said for Wen Xiao Zheng (China). His Vieuxtemps was silver-threaded, see-through, very fine, detailed and fragile - though slowly gaining in momentum to be an appropriate curtain raiser. There was more skill on display than with Jing Yang's performance, if not as much lyrical beauty. His Reger Suite - lo and behold the e-minor! - was a model of controlled and confident playing... getting even something resembling joy and wit out of this Reger piece. Rebecca Clarke's 1919 Viola Sonata was one of those reasons I had come in the first place: such pretty 20th century music so well played and so many different textures for the soloist to show off! Rumors of Wen Xiao Zheng being a favorite for a prize in the viola competition were impressively affirmed.

Sergey Malov (Russia) then achieved the feat of the day: He made the Reger g-minor Suite not just listenable, but enjoyable again! Tight, energetic, coherent: he put more Bach in it, and it worked terrifically well. I won't and don't want to hear all 29 participants who have chosen the g-minor among the three Reger Suites and the Adolf Busch Suite op.16a that were offered (18 performers chose the e-minor, 9 the D-major, none the Busch), but it is difficult to imagine it getting much better. A little too romantically driven the Vieuxtemps Capriccio, perhaps, but a remarkable Britten excerpt from "Reflections on a song by Dowland" where his tone became a completely different one from the preceding pieces: Eerie, hollow, and shifting colors.

Soo-Min Lee (Korea) was a small step down from that: husky her Reger D-major Suite, a bit pale in the second movement and without a stable arch. The Vieuxtempts was played with panache, on the lyrical side but never flagging intensity. Not great, but good. Unfortunately the beautiful Schumann Fantasiestück op.73 wasn't terribly interesting.

Tomorrow the Violas continue, on Thursday the Clarinets start, and the String Quartet competition gets under way on the 5th. Depending on how I feel about Reger in the morning, I'll continue with the violas or wait for the clarinets, in either case looking forward to some Beethoven op.18 on Friday.

Ionarts at Large: Notes from the ARD International Music Competition (Day 12)

If you hear “Clarinet Concerto” and immediately think “Mozart”, then the dogged Nielsen Concerto can change that, in one way or the other. Either by taking care of the notion that a clarinet concerto need necessarily sound conventionally beautiful as said Mozart (or Spohr). Or because you fall in love with Nielsen in the rare case of a grand romantic performance with vision and extreme lyricism amid the spikes.

Neither of the three performances in the Clarinet Finale of the ARD International Music Competition will have provided for the latter, though one came very close. The others, performed by Marcos Pérez Miranda (Spain) and Taira Kaneko (Japan), provided instead for some of the former.

Even if I account for an unreceptive mood and ears that were not properly attuned for the Nielsen on a strange day, weather-wise, there was no denying that Mr. Miranda, impressive when I saw a bit of him in the first round, was not at home at all in the Nielsen. Neither familiar with the music (which was on a stand in front of him) nor the idiom, he struggled to make sense of the work and find its long lines. His tone was strong, but the effect to which he used it wasn’t well thought out.

Notes from the ARD Intl. Music Competition: Day 2: Viola Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 2) Day 3: Viola Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 3) Day 4: Viola Competition, Round 1 (4) (September 4) Day 5: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (1) (September 5) Day 6: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 6) Day 7: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 7) Day 8: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (1) and Viola, Semi-Finals (September 8) Day 9: String Quartet Competition, Round 2 (2) (September 9) Day 10: Viola, Finale (September 10) Day 11: String Quartet, Semi-Finals (September 11) Day 12: Clarinet, Final (September 12) Days 13 & 14: String Quartet & Bassoon Finals (September 13th & 14th)

To be fair, the orchestra that he played with, nominally the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (or at least their summer subs) did not help him one bit. Choppy and out of sync, they stumbled from one vertical phrase to another, never finding the long lines, either. Vertical Nielsen, sadly, sounds like second rate Shostakovich – not like a Nordic romantic. And his concerto for clarinet and snare drum, not necessarily a lovable work, is more susceptible to this than, say, his symphonies.

Taira Kaneko benefited from the BRSO’s on-the-job learning as well as his stubborn intent to go for those longer lines, not beauty of tone. But still, this was such dreary stuff, enough to make one throw the concerto out with the mediocre performance’s bathwater. My ears were listening to Nielsen, but my heart yearning for Finzi.

Shelly Ezra had opted for a different of the four possible works for the finale. Instead of Nielsen, or Carter, or Hindemith, she chose Toshio Hosokawa’s strangely agreeable “Metamorphosis”. Ka-chinging bells and percussion, glissandi and crescendos, pizzicato spikes and percussion blows, high-pitched string twittering, snaps, and sudden silences: it’s a sea of sounds washing ashore our ears. I don’t know what or who metamorphosed, or what into, but the combination of the unpredictable with the eclectic made it easy to stay alert and listen. And that despite a distinct similarity of the orchestral sound (replete with an “Echo-string orchestra”) to the Asian volume of an ethnic meditation music CD have. I was half expecting to hear water-falls or a voice, suggesting I let something go or breath in or out. Speaking of breathing: Mlle. Ezra navigated through the solo part with astounding breath control and the purest, leanest tone of any of the four finalists. She calmly explored the extremes of the concerto, was steadily paced, and secure even in the most hushed of pianissimos.

Last to play was Sebastian Manz, a Sabine Meyer student at Lübeck like Mr. Kaneko. And this was the performance that redeemed the ears to Nielsen’s work, showing that it’s not just a fragmented, rickety variance of expressive swoops and a squeaking old sawing machine. Manz took the work by the horns with faster tempos and greater momentum right off the bat, and a very brawny clarinet sound. And if the conductor wouldn’t seek out the long lines, then so would he. Standing alone, it might not have been a superb performance. But the improvement to the two earlier attempts was so notable that the audience price was his, before he had even reached the Poco Adagio section where he virtually sang through the music marked espressivo.

Cynics might wonder aloud why the orchestra played so very notably better for their countryman… And even if the musicians simply needed those two ‘in-concert rehearsals’ before intermission, was this not distortion of competition? It probably was, though given Manz’ own performance, he’d not have been bested by the other candidates had the orchestra floundered equally with him. Still, it surely helped him win that first - not just a second - prize on top of the audience award. Shelly Ezra, meanwhile, received a third prize which she shared with Taira Kaneko.

Tomorrow comes this year’s crowning event of the competition, the finale of the string quartet competition with lots of Bartók (3^rd and 4^th quartet), Beethoven (Razumovsky no.2 and op.132) and Schubert’s Death & the Maiden. A five hour concert worth looking forward to.

Recommended recording of the Nielsen concerto played in the Clarinet final:

Nielsen (& Aho), Clarinet Concerto, Fröst / Vänskä / Lahti SO

From the 2011 ARD Competition, Days 12, 13, 14, and 15

September 10^th, Trumpet Finals with the Munich Radio Orchestra, Herkulessaal

In many ways, the final for the trumpets at the ARD Music Competition was the most pleasant of all the performances of the event: Three times the Bernd Alois Zimmermann 1954 Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra “Nobody Knows the Trouble I See”† after the spiritual of the nearly same name. That meant 45 minutes net music with the Munich Radio Orchestra (not to be mistaken for the BRSO, but also part of the Bavarian Broadcasting family) under the musical and pleasingly unfussy leadership of the young Rasmus Baumann (*1973) at the Herkulessaal before being allowed back home again. Brevity, that great underrated pleasure of classical music in general and concerts in particular! Frontrunner Manuel Blanco Gómez-Limón (Spain), Alexandre Baty (France, future principal trumpet of the RCO), and dark-horse finalist Ferenc Mausz (Hungary) each performed the concerto with great success. Assured and rhythmical Gómez-Limon, bluesy-but-reticent Baty, and trying and with positive struggle Mausz. No one complained when they were given first, second, and third prizes in that order, with Mausz cleaning up the audience prize presumably because he made the Concerto most immediately felt of the three. One of the more interesting special prizes went to another trumpeter: Simon Höfele got the “Under 21” prize; he had particularly pleased me when I heard him during the second round on Day 6.

† Originally the concerto was called “Darkey’s Darkness”, but when it was pointed out to the alliteration-admiring Bernd Alois Zimmermann that “Darkey” had a connotation—even or especially in 1954—that he surely didn’t intend to convey, the composer changed the name to the slightly modified version of the spiritual’s title. You can find a performance of the work on YouTube.


September 11^th, Piano Finals with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonie, Gasteig

If only the final of the piano competition had been nearly as satisfying an event. Instead they were an example of how much of a drudge competitions can be. Admittedly I was in poor mood and shape when I attended, but even after trying to deduct those influences on my perception, the result was still a bore-fest. Not that Da Sol Kim’s (South Korea) interpretation of the Third Rachmaninoff Concerto wasn’t technically impressive: it was rather! But one felt tempted to repeat the famous quote from Amadeus: Too many notes. And to what purpose? It sounded better, in retrospect, because Eun Ae Lee (also South Korea) Beethoven Third Concerto sounded worse. Blasé, although powerful. After the break one could sense that the audience responded a lot more to Alexej Gorlatch’s (Ukraine) interpretation of the same concerto; I, alas, only heard a different, more sophisticated kind of boring… and didn’t hear anything truly musical until Tori Huang (USA) performed Chopin’s e-minor Concerto op.11 – with such natural ease and confidence that it sounded to me in a different league. The resolute first and lyrical second movement in particular, quite different from another, charmed me sufficiently to turn an evening long frown into a faint smile.

The performance, along with her other three rounds, brought her a much deserved Second Prize; Gorlatch took First and the Audience’s seal of approval; Da Sol Kim was given a Third Prize as well as the Munich Chamber Orchestra’s Prize for his Mozart performance in the Semi Finals with them and the Alice Rosner Prize for his interpretation of Bela Bartók, Sonata Sz 80 in one of the earlier rounds. Gorlatch, meanwhile, cleaned up several of the gig-related prizes. Jury member Anatol Ugorski spontaneously gave out a special “Prize for an outstanding performance” to Mao Ishida (Japan) who must have done something very right in an earlier round but not advanced despite Mr. Ugorski’s (presumed) advocacy.

September 14^th, Prize Winner Concert I with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Prinzregententheater

With all finals out of the way and three first, five second and five third prizes given away, the prize-winning musicians presented themselves to the audience once again in three concerts, two of which caught before treating myself to just a smidgen of contemporary fare at ULTIMA, the Oslo Contemporary Music Festival. The first took place in the lovely Bayreuth-like Prinzregententheater, with the Munich RSO, and Rasmus Baumann conducting again. When the repertoire-issues among the oboists suggested Jean-Marie Leclair’s Concerto in C, op.7 no.3 as a desirable choice for Marc Lachat to play, Baumann agreed to learn the continuo part over night and led that very charming piece from the harpsichord. Charming, too, was Lachat’s interpretation, if not much more than that.

Ivan Podyomov brought his mature approach to bear on the Bohuslav Martinů Concerto for Oboe and small orchestra, a piece that encapsulates in microcosm the Martinů-Problem: Extraordinary appeal and beguiling means in close proximity to wearisome episodes. Fortunately much more of the former than the latter. Ferenc Mausz and Tori Huang gave repeat performances of their prize winning Zimmermann and Chopin concertos; interestingly neither as good as under the presumably more stressful competition conditions. Especially from the Mausz-Zimmermann-I’ve-won-so-now-I-can-play-however-I-want combination I had expected much more from… instead, it was a rather timid version that we got to hear. The differences were more subtle from Huang on Sunday to Huang on Wednesday, and at least the slow movement was as delicious as ever.

September 15^th, Prize Winner Concert II with the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Great Hall of the Music Academy

The second prize winner concert opened and closed with the solo organ. Anna-Victoria Baltrusch, who in the semis had presented a rather stiff interpretation of the ARD commissioned work for solo organ, Arabesques pour orgue by Naji Hakim (successor of Messiaen as organist at the Église de la Sainte-Trinité). Lukas Stollhof opened with Bach’s Trio Sonata in G, BWV 530, but for all the beauty of Bach, it was a rather pedantic, correct effort, not an in any way inspired one. Cristina Gómez Godoy’s lovely Mozart Concerto (for the interpretation of which during the semi-final she received a special prize from the artistic director of the competition, Axel Linstädt) was sabotaged by an accidentally live monitor on stage that whispered a radio broadcast or back-stage chatter into all the concertos soft moments. Da Sol Kim also encored his semi-finals Mozart performance (KV459) and Alexandre Baty did the same with his Haydn Concerto for Trumpet… a nice enough performance but not half as interesting as the fine, retro-ish brow pinstripe suit he wore.


Photos of Trumpet finalists & jury and Piano Competition Prize Winners courtesy ARD Music Competition, © Dorothee Falke

Ionarts at Large: Notes from the ARD International Music Competition (Day 10)

On day ten of the ARD competition I took a vacation of sorts – by skipping the four bassoon candidates who played in the second round’s morning recital. But at 4PM it was time to hear at least two clarinetists at the Prinzregententheater where I duly listened to the two 24-year old Frenchmen Rémi Delangle and Régis Vincent in the Mozart concerto KV 622. Playing with great (perhaps too great) effort and gusto was again the Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO). Delangle stood out for his soft, un-intrusive, subtle, rather than virtuosic tone – and the position he took among the instruments. With him, the concerto sounded like a Concerto Grosso with challenging clarinet part. A gracious wit and genuinely friendly disposition shone through his playing, befitting the work and suggesting that he’d not only make a fine chamber music player, but that he already looks well beyond the notes when playing Mozart. If softness and his very natural piano and pianissimo worked well enough in the opening Allegro, imagine how well it befit the Adagio. In the fast movement was bothered by too much ‘wet hiss’ that almost no clarinetist can avoid, others might have been bothered by what I thought subtlety, calling it “emaciated”, instead.

Régis Vincent was much more a soloist than his countryman, and had about the same amount of buzzing – except that this afflicted his slow movement as well. Greater comparison might have helped to consider the achievement of these two players, but in isolation it is difficult to believe that there were not better candidates to come. I, in any case, had to bike over to the Herkulessaal at the Residence (renovated with new seats and floors) for the Violists’ competition, who were already holding their finals.

Notes from the ARD Intl. Music Competition: Day 2: Viola Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 2) Day 3: Viola Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 3) Day 4: Viola Competition, Round 1 (4) (September 4) Day 5: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (1) (September 5) Day 6: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (2) (September 6) Day 7: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (3) (September 7) Day 8: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (1) and Viola, Semi-Finals (September 8) Day 9: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (2) (September 9) Day 10: Viola, Final (September 10) Day 11: String Quartet, Semi-Finals (September 11) Day 12: Clarinet, Final (September 12) Days 13 & 14: String Quartet & Bassoon Finals (September 13 & 14)

Four candidates made it into the viola final – all in different ways: After outstanding performances in rounds one and two, Wen Xiao Zheng was a favorite early on – but he didn’t have a particularly good day at the semi-final, missing the point of the required, commissioned work, Tikvah, by a mile. Teng Li advanced through stealthy excellence: Her playing as good as introverted, and about as plain as she herself. Lilli Maijala, her playing very personable but not outclassing the others, made it to the last round, not the least because a final with three candidates would have been too sparsely populated. Only the Russian Sergey Malov had consistently impressed in every preceding round. Others, like the Norwegian Ida Bryhn never made it past round two, despite bracing performances. Or they were being handed advancements on account of reputation more than merit, like the recent Primrose Competition winner Dimitri Murrath.

In keeping with the unpredictability, Sergey Malov took his off-day during the final. The Bartók concerto, which I had just heard in Salzburg with the Cleveland Orchestra and Kim Kashkashian, isn’t a piece that the soloist can pull off on his own, if the orchestra doesn’t participate, to begin with. And the Bavarian Radio’s own and principal orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – in principle one of Germany’s four best – didn’t. Stuffed with the second and third guard of backup players and with a young, dutiful conductor standing in front of—but not leading—them, they played listlessly through the work. Finding his grove only in the fiery, faster parts was too little for Malov to suggest that the Bartók was merely unsuccessful because of the lack of support.

Teng Li, who played the same work as the last candidate, did at least that: she massaged the lyricism out of the music and offered a greater sense of control, if less ferocity. And it paid off with her being awarded the Third Prize of the ARD Competition. Between the two came Wen Xiao Zheng and Lilli Maijala. Maijala chose Paul Hindemith’s “Der Schwanendreher”, a rare case of “Hindemithean prettiness”. At least for the first two movements. Using only lower strings and winds, it made the solo viola look downright dainty. And of course sound relatively bright before that curtain of dark strings, woodwinds, and brass. The Finn, in a long, dashing currant-colored dress, lolled on that carpet to great advantage – but it couldn’t quite mask the fact that her instrument’s tone simply isn’t beautiful and her precision not quite that of her colleagues at this stage. The conductor conducting the soloist in the harp-accompanied cadenza of the second movement was a bizarre act to watch… perhaps he was just instinctively moving along with the music.

Wen Xiao Zheng opted for the Schnittke concerto dedicated to Yuri Bashmet – and he was back! The concerto is cacophony unleashed – and cacophony reigned in, again. Among Schnittke's last pre-stroke works, it is already a little alienated from his earlier style; dense and dark for the better parts of the first and second movements. It seems rather less accessible than some of the violin concertos or the string quartet and viola sonata heard at this contest, coming closer in style to his cello concertos. But come the the Allegro molto, an extraordinarily affable and thankful lyrical passage of bitter-sweet beauty sets in in. This is cut off, for the time being, by a violent, insane percussive outbreak (finally the BRSO sounds like it is having some fun) and string mayhem. The concluding Largo, too, is Schnittke-like in its unpredictability and constant changes of mood. A Bach-referencing cadenza is followed by the beginnings’ cacophony – purposely covering the soloist’s playing amid the frenzy – only to die down again and work its way to the (far away) end in gently waving figures. A performance undoubtedly deserving of the Second Prize of the 2008 ARD Competition – and handing this student of the Munich Conservatory the audience prize, too.

Recommended recordings of the concertos played in this round:

Bartók, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Kim Kashkashian / Netherlands RChO / Eötvös

Schnittke, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Bashmet / USSR MCSSO / Rozhdestvensky

Hindemith, Der Schwandendreher, Tabea Zimmermann / Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / David Shallon

Ionarts at Large: From the ARD Music Competition

It's been a year since the 2008 ARD Competition (reviews & reports here). And tonight the ARD Music Competition 2009--Voice, Harp, Violin, & Double Bass--began with the first round of double bassists getting under way at Studio 1 of the Bavarian Broadcasting building. I began my 18-day competition marathon by taking it easy and listening only to half a dozen of the 13 musicians on display. Those six performances indicated a fairly low standard, but from that low level two artists stood out all the more impressively: Ha Young Jung from Korea and Olivier Thiery from France. More of that later, as I will report from every day of the competition here, starting tomorrow evening.

Ionarts at Large: Notes from the ARD International Music Competition (Day 6)

With four instrumental categories taking part simultaneously, it is impossible to give due attention to all the participants of the ARD International Music Competition. But one can try, and so I did on day six – while still hearing all four string quartets at the Conservatory. This is the account of the day:

10am, Carl Orff Auditorium, Gasteig:

Under the ears of the jury, including Richard Stoltzman, Clarinetist Marcos Peréz Miranda (Spain) plays the first movement of the Stamitz Clarinet Concerto in B-flat (very beautifully, if a little heavy on ‘acting out’ the music with his body), Debussy’s Rhapsody for Clarinet and Piano no.1 (evocative), and Berio’s Sequenza IXa (the reoccurring fading notes played wonderfully softly and slowly). Beautiful stuff, but I haven’t time to stay and hear Claudia Mendel (Germany) play the same works.

10.45am, running a light:

Flaunting rules of traffic in a way most unbefitting my law-abiding, order-loving surroundings, I bike over to the Conservatory (formerly Hitler’s Office, called the Führerbau) to hear the German/Swiss Amaryllis Quartet (formed in 2000 and modified in 2006).

11.05am, Conservatory of Music, Main Auditorium:

Knowing that they are to record the string quartets of Friedrich Ernst Fesca for cpo, raises my hopes, which are then quickly dashed. I love the sound that Yves Sandoz produces on his cello, but find the upper strings distinctly un-lovely (especially the first violin). A fine Adagio and a very nimble finale of the Haydn Quartet op.77/1 show that the problem isn’t one of lacking technique, but the individual voices are too indistinctive for true joy to kick in.

Interestingly, perhaps ironically, it seems easier to shine in a work like Schoenberg “Three” or “Four”, than a Haydn quartet. Some cynical blackguard might argue that’s because the need for musical sensitivity, beauty, and humor are absent in the former, leaving the players able to concentrate on just the technical aspects. That might just be true as far as impressing is concerned, but not moving.

Schoenberg’s Quartet no.4 should be easier on the ears than no.3 (played by the Gémeaux Quartet on Friday), but at least to my ears, on this day, it isn’t: the Amaryllis Quartet’s performance, even with its several impeccably phrased moments, strikes me as lacking precisely that sense of beauty and phrasing that Schoenberg not only cannot not do without, but so desperately needs.

12.03pm:

The Brodowski Quartet (UK / Germany) also looked at the Schulhoff work and could not resist. Their performance is not as funky or humorous as the EnAccord, and places instead greater emphasis on mood. There’s plenty of that to be found, not just in the passages marked pppp (!). Schulhoff is moving into close proximity to Ligeti, under their eight hands. Haydn’s op.33/3 (“The Bird”) shows better balance, a much more prettier tone, and slightly less accuracy than their colleagues from before. They are more in touch with the music, displaying an inherent joy and no undue sincerity and play quite unlike one would expect at a competition: care free.

Notes from the ARD Intl. Music Competition: Day 2: Viola Competition, Round 1 (2) (September 2) Day 3: Viola Competition, Round 1 (3) (September 3) Day 4: Viola Competition, Round 1 (4) (September 4) Day 5: String Quartet Competition, Round 1 (1) (September 5) Day 6: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (2) (September 6) Day 7: String QuartetCompetition, Round 1 (3) (September 7) Day 8: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (1) and Viola, Semi-Finals (September 8) Day 9: String QuartetCompetition, Round 2 (2) (September 9) Day 10: Viola, Final (September 10) Day 11: String Quartet, Semi-Finals (September 11) Day 12: Clarinet, Final (September 12) Days 13 & 14: String Quartet & Bassoon Finals (September 13 & 14)

2.25pm, in bed, napping:

Who would have thought that listening to so much music and what is in essence a three-day marathon concert could be so exhausting?

4.00pm, Conservatory of Music, Main Auditorium:

On we go, with the Galatea Quartet (Switzerland/Japan) who opted for Beethoven’s op.18/6 and Berg’s Lyric Suite. The Afiara String Quartet has laid the bar high in the Berg… too high for the Galateas to meet it. This afternoon they are lacking the ease (not necessarily lightness, but something along those lines) that allows the ears to focus more on the music, rather than the process of making it. The smallest difference in the execution of this piece can make a vast difference in its reception. If there’s no melding and understanding of phrases and too much counting going on, it’s no longer a hyper-romantic composition of emotional extremes, it’s plain boring. Similar matters affect the Beethoven, though an interesting touch of breathy softness in the Andante brings a quality one would not necessarily associate with the old master.

5.17pm:

The all-Polish, all-male Apollon Musagete (averaging 28 years, like the Galatea Quartet) shows up with Haydn op.76/3, the “Emperor Quartet”, the slow movement of which could be interpreted as a little courtesy to the competition’s host country, after all, Germany culled its national anthem from it. Theirs’ is stealthy excellence: absolutely homogenous and lead by a very fine sounding first violin (Pawel Zalejski), but without bragging about it. When Haydn asks for it, Piotr Skweres’s cello buzzes about in ways befitting a Moravian dance (or, as my colleague points out, ways rather reminiscent of the opening of the Pippi Longstockings themesong.)

They follow it with Leos Janáček’s First String Quartet, the vaguely feminist “Kreutzer Quartet”, one of the 20^th century highlights in the genre. The three remaining groups who have also chosen to play this quartet on Sunday will have their work cut out for them, if they still want to impress: the ‘whiskey & chocolate’ tone of the Musagetes’ and their total commitment are a complete joy.

6.17pm, Bavarian Radio:

Had I pedaled a little harder, I might have caught Lola Decour’s first round bassoon performance at Studio 2. Instead, I catch a breath and promptly miss the door opening to slip into Wukun Zhu’s recital, too. This sabotages my attempt to hear all four categories in one day, because I can’t hear Julien Hardy without missing violist Ida Bryhn in her second round appearance.

7.35pm, Bavarian Radio, Studio 1:

Apart from Ligeti’s second movement (“Loop. Molto vivace, ritmico - with swing”) from his Solo Viola Sonata and the Hindemith “1939” Viola Sonata, I hear a neat Schubert Arpeggione Sonata from her. The beauty of the work is not in doubt, nor that it loses a little on the viola compared to the usual cello version. Without taking away from her achievement, the rendition does sound like more could me made of it. Much the same can be said for Barbara Buntrock who went before her. Brahms’ op.120/2 and Kurtag’s “Signs” for viola, op.5 merely proper and fun, but Rebecca Clarke’s sonata endowed with intensity on top of its natural beauty.

Recommended recordings of the string quartets played so far:

Haydn, String Quartet op.77/1, Quatuor Mosaïques Beethoven, String Quartet op.18/6, Quatuor Mosaïques

Schoenberg, String Quartet No.4, Psophos String Quartet Berg, Lyric Suite, Leipzig String Quartet

Haydn, String Quartet op.33/3, Quatuor Mosaïques Haydn, String Quartet op.76/3, Quatuor Mosaïques

Schulhoff, String Quartet No.1 (& Janáček), Quatuor Talich Janáček, String Quartet No.1, Pražák Quartet