Washington Debut of Tomer Gewirtzman

Rachmaninoff, Piano Sonatas, N. Lugansky (Naïve, 2012)

Charles T. Downey, A young virtuoso makes his D.C. debut
Washington Post, November 11

Israeli pianist Tomer Gewirtzman, 25, one of the six winners of the Young Concert Artists auditions in New York on Saturday, made his Washington debut Monday evening, hosted by the Embassy of Israel under the auspices of the Embassy Series. His concert highlighted both formidable virtuosity and stylistic sensitivity.

Pieces by Bach and Haydn seemed to show an awareness of historically informed performance practice and the sounds of both the harpsichord and the fortepiano. Gewirtzman kept his foot off the sustaining pedal for Bach’s Toccata in E Minor, BWV 914... [Continue reading]

Tomer Gewirtzman, piano
Embassy Series
Embassy of Israel

Martin Kasík at Czech Embassy

Martin Kasík had his Washington debut in 2000, garnering a fine review for his Young Concert Artists-sponsored recital at the Kennedy Center, the same year he also played at 92nd Street Y in New York. The Czech pianist came back for a recital at the Strathmore Mansion in 2006, which I am sorry to have missed, based on the beauty of his playing on Wednesday night at the Embassy of the Czech Republic, presented by the Embassy Series. In the intervening years, Kasík has become an exceptional musician and, judging by this video, a talented teacher, even though I do not understand a word of Czech.

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Till Fellner Back at Austrian Embassy

Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, T. Fellner (ECM, 2004)

Charles T. Downey, Adhering to his exquisite musicality, Fellner plays a sophisticated recital (Washington Post, March 9)

The devastating snowstorms of 2010 deprived Washington of one concert in Till Fellner’s complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. Snow fell again this week, but for his latest recital here, presented by the Embassy Series at the Austrian Embassy on Friday evening, the Austrian pianist dodged winter’s last gasp.

Fellner’s programming approach was similar to that of his Kennedy Center recital in 2011, beginning with music requiring exceptional finesse and concluding with a virtuosic tour de force. In Mozart’s Rondo No. 3 in A minor, K. 511, and in Piano Sonata in E-flat, K. 282, Fellner played his trump card... [Continue reading]

Till Fellner, piano
Music by Mozart, Bach, Schumann
Embassy Series
Embassy of Austria

PREVIOUSLY:
Beethoven sonata cycle
Fellner's Bach

At the Slovenian Embassy

Slovenija! (Songs and Duets), B. Fink, M. Fink, A. Spiri

Charles T. Downey, Violinist Lana Trotovsek gives radiant performance in Embassy Series (Washington Post, September 11, 2014)

The concerts offered by the Embassy Series bring together the interests of music, cuisine and international relations in a way that seems peculiar to the nation’s capital. The group’s season opener was a recital by Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovsek on Tuesday evening at the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia.

Two standards of the violin repertoire were the main courses of this program, beginning with Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5, Op. 24... [Continue reading]

Lana Trotovšek, violin
Anna Shelest, piano
Embassy Series
Embassy of Slovenia

Setting Foot on Russian Soil

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

As our motto (in the banner above) states, we steer clear of politics here at Ionarts. So we appreciate this aspect of the work done by the Embassy Series, what it calls "musical diplomacy": hosting concerts at embassies around Washington, even when international events might heighten tensions. Thus Friday night's concert by cellist Adrian Daurov, hosted at the Embassy of the Russian Federation, went ahead, even though the situation between Russian and Ukraine was going from bad to worse. Since the idea is to listen to music without politics mixed in, we could have done without the pre-concert speech from the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak, who said something like what he said later in the weekend on American television about Russia's intentions with regard to eastern Ukraine. Just let the music speak for itself.

Daurov did his advanced studies at Juilliard and now makes his home in New York, where he is principal cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York. In a short program, played without intermission, he offered what seemed like an encore first, an arrangement by M. Bukinik of Lensky's aria from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He has an intense, song-like tone, most beautiful in the pianissimo statement of this famous tune, with just a slight strain at full volume. Beethoven's Variations on Bei Männern, the duet of Papageno and Pamina from Mozart's Magic Flute, started a little slow but picked up by the fun and syncopated first variation. There were a few rough edges in the second variation, and Daurov's intonation high on the A string was not always quite true in the last two variations, but his low range was somber and viscous in the minor variation.

Schumann's Fantasiestücke, op. 73, demanded more of Daurov's collaborator, pianist Di Wu, and her steely touch at the keyboard drove the first movement ahead, drawing Daurov along with her, although at times she seemed slightly rushed in the finale. Both musicians played easily with a quicksilver rubato in the second movement, which was kept light and airy, with its chromatic turns reminiscent of Schubert's song Die Forelle. The high point was the big, brawny cello sonata (G minor, op. 19) of Sergei Rachmaninov, opening with the sighing half-step motifs of the cello answered by the piano, a Lento introduction followed by yearning phrases in the Allegro section of the first movement, especially the arch-Romantic second theme. Again it was Wu whose technical acumen impressed most, for example, in the sort of cadenza for the piano that leads to the recapitulation. Every time I have heard this piece -- from Gautier Capuçon and Gabriela Montero, from Steven Isserlis and Kirill Gerstein -- it has grown on me, especially the second-movement scherzo, with its echoes of Schubert's Erlkönig. If Wu's range of color was limited in the third movement, the piano-only introduction a little prosaic, the fourth movement benefited the brash side of her playing, leading to a thrilling conclusion. A single encore, a medley of smarmy tunes by Burt Bacharach, seemed to suit the embassy's white grand piano, which fits right in with the hall's Rococo decoration, although it was a little out of tune in the treble register.

Minetti Quartett with Pastry

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

Beethoven, String Quartets (op. 18/4,2 and 95), Minetti Quartett (Hänssler Classic, 2014) Mendelssohn, String Quartets (op. 13, 12), Minetti Quartett (Hänssler Classic, 2012)

The Minetti Quartett, a young string quartet from Austria, was one of the highlights of our 2006 and 2007 review seasons. The discovery was thanks to the Embassy Series, the same organizer that brought them back to the area, after a long absence, for a concert on Friday night at the Austrian Embassy. (The group, on a North American tour, also appeared on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore.) The experience was not quite the same, however, since the quartet now features a new violist in Milan Milojicic, the principal violist of the Salzburg Chamber Soloists and the Deutsche Kammerakademie, who replaced Markus Huber in 2011. Furthermore, a family matter prevented first violinist Maria Ehmer from taking part in the tour, so she is being replaced by Božena Angelova.

They opened with one of the quartets from their new Beethoven disc, op. 18/2, unified and crisply articulated, with a pleasing control of sound, aside from some unpleasant growls from the viola. A playful coda to the first movement led to a glowing slow movement, with gently pulled rubato and minimized vibrato. Much of the work rests on the sound of the first violin, which challenged Angelova at times, but the third movement was light and fun, pitched just right in character, although the fourth movement was a bit too fast for comfort. It was paired with Arvo Pärt's Fratres, in its original formulation for string quartet from 1977, which was played just as it should be: the harmonic-infused chords glistened, lush sounds that gently shifted, like a kaleidoscope, around the unchanging drone in the second violin. At one point, a plane flying low lent its rumbling boom to the sound, fitting right in. The piece, from the first phases of the Estonian composer's experimentation with the tintinnabular form of what has since come to be called "holy minimalism," sounds as fresh as it must have toward the end of the Age of Aquarius, a cliche that had not yet become a cliche because of endless decades of self-recapitulation.

The program ended with a Mendelssohn quartet, op. 44/2, not one of the pieces on the group's Mendelssohn disc from a couple years ago. With the fast tempos taken as quickly as possible, this was impassioned playing that still never felt forced. The agitated stuff had its expected effect -- the repeated notes of the scherzo theme just buzzed -- but it was the smooth legato of the first movement's second theme, for example, that swayed me, as did the viola lament of the second movement's trio section. The third movement did not drag, in a gentle lilt, with some fine cello solos and a quiet end that showcased the silence, which the audience, after clapping after almost every movement, finally allowed between movements. The virtue of that silence was apparent as the group was able to bite into that empty space with a finale that was not just sawed away at, but given much careful gradation and shaping. The group rode the piece thrillingly to its end, in a way not steely or desperate, just intense. Patisserial delights awaited after musical ones, with slices of warm Wiener Apfelstrudel and other goodies laid out in the reception room.

Czech Love Month

See my preview of tomorrow's Embassy Series concert at the Czech Embassy at Washingtonian.com:

Veteran Washington Soprano Lamoreaux to Perform at the Czech Embassy (Washingtonian, May 26):

As a city full of embassies, Washington offers a smorgasbord of international flavors, and that goes for classical music, too. The Embassy Series hosts a season of chamber-size concerts in various embassies and ambassadorial residences around town, often featuring the music and/or musicians of that country. The penultimate concert of the season, planned for this Friday evening (May 27, 7:30), is an evening of mostly Czech music at the Embassy of the Czech Republic (3900 Spring of Freedom St. NW). Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux, clarinetist Richard Spece, and pianist Elizabeth Hill will perform love songs and other music suitable for May, the month of lovers in any culture.

Lamoreaux is likely familiar to most classical-music mavens in Washington because she has been performing throughout the city for some 25 years. In response to questions earlier this week, she told me she loves singing in many venues in Washington—the auditoriums at the Library of Congress, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Phillips Collection for their “warm acoustic resonance”; the ringing stone of spaces at the National Gallery of Art (where she directs a vocal ensemble) and Washington National Cathedral, “particularly for chant and early music” have also captured her imagination. Above all, she adds, “Strathmore is terrific, and I share with many of my colleagues a genuine enthusiasm for performing in that space.” [Continue reading]

Till Fellner Comes Full Circle

Read my review published today in the Style section of the Washington Post:

Charles T. Downey, Pianist Till Fellner ends Beethoven sonata cycle with restrained refinement
Washington Post, October 19, 2010

Pianist Till Fellner (photo by Francesco Carrozzini) Fellner Beethoven Cycle: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

On Sunday afternoon, with Till Fellner's performance of Beethoven's final three piano sonatas at the Austrian Embassy, an epic journey came to its end. The Austrian pianist set out to perform the complete Beethoven sonata cycle, planned to span seven concerts, almost two years ago. The fifth recital was one of several cultural victims of February's historic snowstorms, but the sense of achievement was no less great.

Fellner did not program the concert series in chronological order, but it is difficult not to see Beethoven's last three piano sonatas as the cycle's obvious conclusion. As music scholar Charles Rosen has observed, Beethoven intended these sonatas as "exemplars of great spiritual experience," but it is dangerousto assume that we understand what that experience might be. As with some other composers' late works, there is also a sense of whimsy here -- as well as formal experimentation, complication and compression.

In line with his previous performances, Fellner emphasized an ultra-refined, even restrained approach to many of the movements, keeping the jaunty theme of Op. 109's first movement airy and rhapsodic and the energy of the second movement often bubbling below the surface. [Continue reading]

Till Fellner, piano
Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle, Part 7
Op. 109 | Op. 110 | Op. 111
Embassy Series
Embassy of Austria

Adcock and Skoraczewski at the Polish Embassy

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

Cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski

The Embassy Series’ catchphrase is “Uniting People through Musical Diplomacy” – a fitting description for a concert that matched Poland’s most celebrated composer with one of America’s. Saturday night at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, American pianist Michael Adcock and Polish cellist Dariusz Skoraczewski presented a program whose aim was to honor the 200th anniversary of the birth of Chopin and the 100th of Samuel Barber. It was a particularly touching concert considering national tensions in Poland following the loss of 94 Polish lives in Russia in an airplane accident last month, and indeed, the concert was dedicated to their memory. As thoughtfully conceived as the program was, it couldn’t make up for the fact that the Polish Embassy is, unfortunately, a terrible place to hear a concert. The space is quite dry, so much so that their baby grand piano sounds even shorter than it is, leaving not much room for warmth or richness of sound.

Opening the program with Chopin’s remarkable Ballade No. 4, Adcock unfortunately sounded as if he hadn’t warmed up. Perhaps the acoustic and piano were partly at fault, but the sound was thin, and the technical passagework muddled and occasionally messy. He became too affected too quickly in the gorgeous simplicity of the work’s opening, and the singing melodies were dull and ill-voiced. However, as soon as cellist Skoraczewski entered the program for their next work, Nocturne in E♭ major, op. 9, no. 2 (originally for piano), Adcock seemed to become more comfortable with the piano, or to have physically warmed up. His sound was instantly fuller for both the nocturne and the Polonaise brilliante in C Major, op. 3, and complimented Skoraczewski’s rich sound. Skoraczewski’s bel canto qualities and ornamentation were vocal and light. Of course, a cello is even better suited to mimic the human voice than a piano, and this famous nocturne undeniably agrees with the instrument. The musicians closed the Chopin first half of the program with that C major Polonaise brillante, in which the musicians realized their full potential as ensemble players. Their communication was effective, and their playing lithe and sensitive to the goings-on of one another.

The second half, devoted to Samuel Barber, began with two solo piano works, Nocturne, op. 33, and the third movement of Excursions, op. 20. As compared to the opening ballade, here Adcock was much more free and explored a more fertile sound from the piano. Both works, clearly influenced by the sounds (and genres) of Chopin, exploited the rolling and swelling capabilities of the piano and Adcock commendably fulfilled this. For a program that was arguably devoid of so-called “meat” (save perhaps the ballade), for the final work, Sonata for cello and piano in C minor, op. 6, the musicians were finally afforded the chance to really dig in, and did so. The players traveled from moments of Shostakovich influence to the Romantic sounds of Brahms and Chopin with ease. They were excellent collaborators, but, unfortunately, the acoustic made it near impossible to truly enjoy the music. Still though, it was a program with admirable sentiment behind it, and a pleasant evening from the Embassy Series.

The next concert in the Embassy Series season will feature violinist Rodolfo Vieira and pianist Diana Vieira at the residence of the Portuguese ambassador (May 14, 7 pm).

Till Fellner's Beethoven Cycle, Part 6

Read my review published today on the Washington Post Web site:

Pianist Till Fellner (photo by Francesco Carrozzini) Fellner Beethoven Cycle: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Charles T. Downey, Fellner's Beethoven sonata journey moves into home stretch
Washington Post, March 24, 2010

On Monday evening at the Austrian Embassy, Till Fellner performed the sixth of seven concerts devoted to Beethoven's piano sonatas. The Austrian pianist began this journey of journeys back in December 2008 at the National Gallery of Art, which has co-sponsored the cycle with the Embassy Series. Last month's snowstorms forced the cancellation of the fifth of these concerts, and because the National Gallery has no plans to reschedule it, Washington will end up with an almost-complete Beethoven cycle from Till Fellner.

While Fellner's unmannered approach thus far in the cycle made it seem like he was merely tossing off some of the early sonatas, he gave a pearl-like finish to the Op. 14 pair on this program. Understatement was still his calling card, especially in the comic third movements, the humor acknowledged with nothing more than a wink of an eye. A more impatient pianist might be tempted to rush the tempos of these less challenging works, but Fellner allowed the music to play itself out, like thread unwinding from a spool. The dramatic contrasts of the Op. 13 sonata ("Pathétique") came to the fore, with a rhythmically free Grave section in the first movement answered by a windswept Allegro. [Continue reading]

Till Fellner, piano
Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle, Part 6
Op. 14/1 | Op. 14/2 | Op. 13 (“Pathétique”) | Op. 22 | Op. 81a (“Les Adieux”)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Austria

Christopher Hinterhuber at the Austrian Embassy

Christopher Hinterhuber: F. Ries, vol. 1 F. Ries, vol. 2 Hummel C. P. E. Bach

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

During a recital at the Austrian Embassy on Friday night, also presented by the Embassy Series, Christopher Hinterhuber played the same Steinway that Till Fellner had played earlier in the week, but the interpretive decisions and resulting sound were entirely different. It was a tense performance -- sometimes brilliant, sometimes unsettled, generally loud and incisive -- that often seemed unsuited in style to its program choices. A handful of memory slips, all recovered from without too much trouble, seemed a further sign that the Austrian pianist had not fully thought through and digested the music that was passing, often at dizzying speed, under his fingers.

Two Haydn pieces received cursory readings, as if Hinterhuber had not allowed the music a chance to reveal itself. The first movement of the F major sonata (Hob. XVI:23) had flashy Rococo figuration, but the second-movement Siciliano felt rushed, and a desultory third movement was true to the Presto tempo marking but ignored the musical wit. The G major capriccio, on a quirky little folk tune (Acht Sauschneyder müssen sein, Hob. XVII:1), was similarly square and unsubtle, with hammered rhythms negating any dance-like lilt. The driving steamroller approach could have worked better in Beethoven's "Appassionata" sonata (F minor, op. 57), in the obsessively percussive style that Paul Lewis's recent recordings reveal as excessive.

Bad memory slips in the Beethoven -- a minor one in the first movement's opening section, more serious ones at the end of the exposition and at the end of the recapitulation, leading into the coda, as well as an even worse one in the slow movement -- instead gave the impression of a player at the edge of control, substituting visceral excitement for accuracy and carefully considered architecture. Having started the first movement at the fast edge of the tempo left Hinterhuber little room to make the coda even more exciting (the same situation occurred in the third movement), and the cursory handling of the second movement, one of the most exquisite sets of variations, was disappointing.

Debussy's L'Isle joyeuse was more technically sound, but a forceful, overly harsh touch made this evanescent work -- how much of the score is marked piano or pianissimo! -- too definite, not transparent enough. The least familiar work on the program, Mendelssohn's E minor prelude and fugue (op. 35, no. 1) was better suited to Hinterhuber's style, in a stormy reading of the prelude, with a melody clearly arising from a turbulent fantasy of dense notes (the forest of 32nd notes is marked Allegro con fuoco). The fugue shows Mendelssohn's careful study of Bach and again reveals Mendelssohn as the most successful 19th-century contrapuntist after Beethoven. A pounding accelerando led to a triumphal statement of the subject in the bass, followed by a choral-like setting leading to the work's close, with Bach's organ fugues the likely models for Mendelssohn.

Hinterhuber also offered two encores, which turned out to be some of the most satisfying performances of the evening -- perhaps because they interested the pianist more than the standard fare he may have felt he needed to program. Debussy's Hommage à Haydn came across with much greater clarity than L'Isle joyeuse, with the five-note motif denoting Haydn's name floating limpidly in the right hand. Debussy was one of six composers to offer tributes to Haydn on the occasion of the first centenary of the composer's death, for the January 1910 issue of La Revue Musicale. The other composers were Ravel, Dukas, d'Indy, Hahn, and Widor -- someone this year should put a concert together to showcase the entire set.

The Embassy Series will feature Turkish pianist Emre Elivar next, at the residence of the Turkish Ambassador (June 12, 7:30 pm).

Till Fellner's Beethoven Cycle, Part 3

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

Pianist Till Fellner (photo by Francesco Carrozzini) Fellner Beethoven Cycle: Part 1 | Part 2 Online scores: Op. 10, no. 1 | Op. 10, no. 2 | Op. 10, no. 3 Op. 106 ("Hammerklavier")

Till Fellner and his borrowed Steinway returned to the Austrian Embassy on Monday night for the third installment of his complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas, with this concert under the aegis of the Embassy Series. The young Austrian pianist's accomplishment is in some ways the opposite of Paul Lewis's recorded set, giving a landmark rendition of the Hammerklavier (sonata no. 29) after some understated, even hurried-through performances of the three sonatas of op. 10. Fellner played the second sonata of this set on his 2007 recital at the National Gallery of Art, and his performance of it here was ironed out a bit, still with a gentle Allegretto movement and a jokey Haydnesque Presto that brought out the contrapuntal entrances and put the repeated notes of the harmony in the background. Some of the op. 10 fast movements seemed unsettled in tempo, with Fellner rushing just a bit in places and leaving the ends of notes a little ragged here and there. The third sonata had a tragic and operatic second movement, followed by a buoyant third movement (especially effective in the trio with its evanescent right-hand triplets), and again showed Fellner's talent for understated wit (he has worked with Alfred Brendel, after all) in the rondo.

Fellner's op. 106 was nothing short of a technical marvel, an almost breezy handling of a viper that made one forget the poison in its fangs. Indeed, the audience's restrained applause may have been due in part to the ease with which Fellner played the work, meaning that a listener might not have realized just how difficult it was. The exposition of the first movement established the tone of Fellner's interpretation, a careful balance of hammer (explosive where needed) and lightness (exceptional clarity of independent lines) that never felt overplayed, resulting in a sort of Schubertian grace. In fact, never has the Hammerklavier struck my ears as so close to the Schubert sonatas, which of course it was, composed only about a decade before D. 960. In terms of tempo, Fellner was generally steady as a rock, yielding only as Beethoven indicated, no matter the demands to be negotiated, although the first movement's tempo was slower than the absurdly fast metronome marking that Beethoven indicated. The same was true of the enigmatic scherzo (although Fellner did almost meet Beethoven's metronome marking), kept lively and bouncing with energy right to its abrupt conclusion, slowing only slightly at the trio, perhaps in reaction to Beethoven's marking semplice.

The most unusual part of Fellner's Hammerklavier was in the mammoth third movement. The Adagio sostenuto marking, modified by the further indication Appassionato e con molto sentimento, leads some pianists, including Paul Lewis, to settle on a glacial tempo. Fellner was again fairly close to Beethoven's metronome marking, which keeps the music moving forward and allows the pianist to realize the long ritardandi later in the score (mm. 107-112 and 168-173) in a gradual, eventually dramatic way (not possible if the tempo is already too slow). Fellner also did not draw any more attention to the enigmatic, sudden harmonic shifts in the piece, allowing these often unprepared transformations of tonal center (F# minor to G major, for example) to sound like subtle, sleight-of-hand tricks. The dramatic introduction to the fourth movement was mercurial, moving from suspended chords to rushing passagework to booming chords with zephyr-like fluency. Again, Fellner played just under the metronome marking of the fugue but was able to master the outrageous demands of the work, both cantabile and more orchestral in scope. It was a performance to remember.

The next concert presented by the Embassy Series will feature pianist Christopher Hinterhuber at the Austrian Embassy, this Friday (May 15, 7:30 pm), to honor the 200th anniversary of the death of Haydn.

Till Fellner's Beethoven Cycle, Part 2

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

The second installment of Till Fellner's Washington cycle of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas drew me to the Embassy of Austria on Wednesday night. The Embassy Series is hosted the next part of the cycle, following the first concert at the National Gallery of Art this past December. Beyond the obvious challenges of a complete Beethoven cycle -- the most difficult sonatas like the Hammerklavier to be hurdled and the sheer quantity of music to be learned and memorized -- much of the impact of the exercise can come from unexpected interpretations of the lesser sonatas. For his second program, Fellner ended with the most difficult selection, the Appassionata, op. 57, but led up to it with the first three sonatas, op. 2.

The level of difficulty of the first two sonatas in op. 2 seems to indicate that Beethoven intended them to be options for gifted amateurs to play. It is perhaps easy not to do much with the first two sonatas, just let them unfold and play them with as much fluidity and ease as possible. In his live recorded cycle, András Schiff goes too far in the opposite direction, driving the tempi and seeking out the most unusual interpretative choices, while Paul Lewis prefers a mellower approach, more even but more drab as well. Fellner seemed least engaged by the F minor sonata (op. 2, no. 1), mastering it technically (especially in the brilliant and tender final movement), but not digging too deep interpretatively (for example, doing nothing with the con espressione marking at the last eight bars of the exposition and recapitulation). Here in the second movement was the only real technical slip of the entire evening, on the downbeat of m. 17, the sort of minor error probably attributable to a lapse of concentration, reinforcing the perception that Fellner's mind was elsewhere.

The A major sonata (op. 2, no. 2) was pleasingly frothy, with a crisp upbeat tempo in the first movement, nothing heavy in the main theme and a second theme, set unexpectedly by Beethoven in the minor dominant, that glided suavely. The third and fourth movements had a similar airy feel, especially the gossamer runs up to the rondo's main theme, which occur in a score of slightly different forms. The C major sonata has more technical demands, and pairing it with op. 57 gave the second half of this recital considerably more weight. Fellner launched the Allegro con brio first movement in a very fast tempo, to which he did not always remain faithful, but it gave the piece an unsettled yet exciting character, especially the evanescent cadenza that in the coda, a Rococo filigree of little cue notes, just before the final statement of the A theme. Here the second movement was the high point, with loud and soft sections voiced so carefully, and the crossed-hands appoggiatura sections (heard first at m. 19) were tender and sweet, the lack of emphasis on the accented notes allowing the chromatic colorations to gleam.

The third movement was in a rollicking but strict one, and the superb fourth movement seemed to show most Fellner's studies with Alfred Brendel, played in a straightforward and crisp way, no frills added or gross fluctuations of tempo to mark the form. Still, the success of this portion depended ultimately on how good Fellner's op. 57 would be, just as the next installment will hang on the "Hammerklavier." Again, he may have been a skosh too daring with tempo choice at the outset, but it settled into a pace that was still fast but a little more comfortable. The sforzandi crashed and the many arpeggios were fiercely played, making for a technically prodigious performance that frayed only slightly in the coda. The big chords of the second movement were expertly voiced, keeping full sonorities clear, and each variation had a distinct character while the melody remained distinct. Brendel's influence again surfaced, or so it seemed, in the last movement, set in a self-disciplined tempo that was just the right amount of non troppo, meaning that the ear could pick out all of the inner gears of this music turning individually and making the ultra-fast coda stand out all the more.

The evening's only disappointment was that Fellner did not offer some Bach as an encore, a shame because his Bach is so good and he seemed to have enjoyed the possibilities of the instrument under his hands. In an interesting move, Fellner did not play on the Austrian Embassy's Bösendorfer, favoring instead a Steinway borrowed locally and delivered especially for his recital. When asked after the recital if he had tried the Bösendorfer Fellner noted laconically, as he sipped a well-earned glass of beer, "Yes -- burn it."

The third installment of Till Fellner's Beethoven cycle will feature the three sonatas of op. 10 and the redoubtable op. 106 ("Hammerklavier"), scheduled for the Austrian Embassy later in the spring (May 11, 7:30 pm).

Chu-Fang Huang at Embassy of China

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

Friday evening, the Embassy Series presented the Chinese-born-American-trained pianist Chu-Fang Huang in a compelling solo recital. Music for the 7 pm performance began at 7:20 pm, somewhat of an improvement over previous Embassy Series events subject to lengthy introductions by multiple people. Huang’s own remarks, quoting parts of letters between Robert and Clara Schumann prior to their marriage, served as a welcome preface to Robert Schumann’s Fantasy in C, op. 17, a work intended as a testament of love to Clara. (In the interest of full disclosure, Huang and I attended the Curtis Institute of Music together.)

The grand work opens with a fluid bass line merged with a soaring treble line, with murmuring mid-range figuration between them. That figuration complements the strength of the bass while enhancing the beauty of the treble melody. With careful voicing, Huang created two characters joined by love. Huang struck a fine technical balance by precisely controlling everything without over-controlling, which can lead to dry playing. Additionally, Huang’s structural and harmonic awareness of the work was evident by her lingering on special harmonies and dissonances. An improvement in poise could be made if Huang directed the focus of her eyes and face across the length of the piano where the sound is created, instead of downward into the keyboard and floor.

Huang’s remarks about Ravel’s La Valse reminded the audience that this work, from around 1919, represents the composer’s cynicism after the calamity of WWI. With this in mind, Huang perhaps missed the opportunity to approach the work with the aim of making it closer to a waltz than a toccata. It would have been more interesting to see Huang cleverly struggle to make the work as colorful as possible by refusing to accept it as dark, but by striving for the ideal of a waltz. Quick repeated chords in the upper range were sometimes struck from above the keys, the outcome of which were a brief losses of power and control.

Haydn’s Sonata in B Minor, Hob. XVI/32, was performed with character, clarity, and contrasts. The Presto movement fluttered in a way one thought only fortepianos could, and it was appreciated that Huang did not try to do too much with the work, i.e. Romanticize it. However, there was one disappointing tendency in the Haydn: the final chord of cadences, which were perpetually overheld and accentuated. A final tonic chord has less dissonance than the previous dominant-function chords leading to it; thus it could have less volume, length, and pedal. Furthermore, a final tonic chord often ends a phrase, which would normally be left unaccented. Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 7 contained contrasts between the tuneful, drunk-sounding Caloroso middle movement to the toccata-like tour de force Precipitato final movement. Huang allowed motifs to shoot clearly out from the chaotic texture, and the persistent bass figure finally gave way to a major, heroic ending. Hopefully, the new Chinese Embassy, currently under construction, will have a more appropriate hall for these types of events.

The next concert in the Embassy Series features flutist Marco Granados, soprano Lauren Skuce, and guitarist Oren Fader, at the Residence of the Venezuelan Ambassador (December 9, 5 pm).

An Evening of Operetta at the Austrian Embassy

The Austrian Embassy hosted the popular Embassy Series with a program of works from operetta and opera. Though somewhat lighter in character, the performance Saturday evening involved much fine singing. Works of Johann Strauss, Jr., Gounod, Bizet, and Franz Lehár (among others) filled the program, with the works of Strauss (1825-1899) and Lehár (1870-1949) representative of the respective Golden and Silver ages of Viennese operetta (as indicated in the thorough program notes.)

Daniel Johannsen, tenor

Austrian tenor Daniel Johannsen best assumed the satiric roles. With a ringing voice, he sang with a natural flexibility in tempo, convincing facial expression, and textual nuance – even, according to a native concert-goer seated beside me, doing a number in dialect. Considering his prior training in church music and organ, one sensed a full comprehension of the orchestral parts (reductions), which allowed Johannsen to match his vocal line very well with the accompaniments. He carefully put forth the affect of longing on the repeated word “Komm” in “Komm in die Gondel” (Enter into the Gondola) from Strauss's Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice). There was a collective sense of homesickness, by native and non-native Austrians alike, in Johannsen’s rendition of “Grüss mir mein Wien” (Greet my Vienna for me) from Gräfin Mariza (Countess Maritza) of Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953).

American Soprano Amanda Gosier sang most impressively in “Csárdás” from Die Fledermaus. It was here that she seemed to really enjoy herself, which fixed earlier intonation problems and an overall hesitance to take the stage and embrace the audience. Gosier had an impressive ability to sing lightly in very high registers, though one might have wished for a wider, more open sound in louder moments.

At multiple points in the concert, Jerome Barry, Artistic Director of the Embassy Series, gave lengthy announcements about upcoming concerts. During the intermission, Barry had an eleven-year-old boy-soprano voice student of his sing Schubert (Ave Maria) and Handel (O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion) selections in a very mannered way – including hand gestures. The audience was very polite. Listeners later sweetly hummed along with the encore of the evening, which was another selection of Lehár.

The next concert from the Embassy Series is a recital by pianist Alexander Tselyakov (June 1, 8 pm) at the Embassy of Canada (501 Pennsylvania Avenue NW).

Einar Røttingen Plays Tveitt

Einar Røttingen's Embassy Series piano recital at the Embassy of Norway was fairly short (I’ve been to many that were too long – scarcely one that was too short, so no complaints, here), but the speeches before and after the recital were long enough to make up for it. That’s generally an unpleasant necessity to endure (and one of the most frequently complained about elements of WPAS and Embassy Series concerts), but in the case of pianist/professor Røttingen’s introduction to the two programmed works, Grieg’s Ballade op.24 and Geir Tveitt’s Sonata No.29, op.129 it offered welcome insights into these two rarely performed piano pieces. But not only his insightful and studied comments were a treat, his playing was equally so.

He played on the very appropriately sized Steinway of the Residence, intimate but easily able to realistically convey the most powerful passages that are nestled into the calm while-blue clarity of the Ballade’s 14 variations on the opening few notes of a Norwegian folk tune. Simplicity – not for the pianist, for sure, but as far as the detailed, often delicate sounds that come from this work are concerned – is one of the key signatures of this music that Grieg wrote, in part, as self-therapy in one of his darkest times: A lonely winter in 1875/76 in which both his parents died (his child had already passed away a few years earlier, his musical child, the opera Olav Trygvason lay freshly abandoned). The closing variation of this, Grieg’s most substantial work for piano, which he himself only played once, and never in public, put all that clarity, subtly, and simplicity aside for thunderous outbursts and clamor before gently reminding of its origins with a delicate postlude.

To hear a Tveitt work was more exciting, still. Robert R. Reilly dedicated a chapter to Tveitt in Surprised by Beauty, so I knew of the tragedy that this composer stands for: in 1970 his wooden home went down (or up, I suppose) in a blazing fire, taking with it thousands of works of this extraordinary composer. Few of which had been copied out or otherwise distributed. Given the quality of the few pieces that we do know, the loss is incomprehensibly large; perhaps the greatest in music history. Enjoying what still exists is consoling, however. And Sonata no.29 did not disappoint. Not only its number hints at a more famous piano sonata no.29 – its size, too, is of Hammerklavier-proportions. Its echo effects of the second movement are eerily evocative of the empty mountainside on a crisp, clear day. Above an ever-repeated Grieg-motif occurs a sonata movement with a motoric drive, frantically bubbling at times, ceaselessly active, in any case. Much of it sounds like Debussy or digestible Messiaen… but more immediate and more immediately enjoyable. With its unresolved ending of a rousing and (ever so slightly self-consciously) powerful finale, there are pretensions of Beethovenian grandeur, indeed.

If the performance of either works was not literally brilliant or flawless, the passion and engaged playing more than made up for an occasional muddled detail or a dropped note. Alas, no reason to play Beckmesser at such a richly rewarding recital with such rarely played great music to treat the ears.

The Norwegian Embassy, meanwhile, was the usual superb host – unparalleled in the style and quality of their reception and a model to all but a few other embassies that think they smartly save a few bucks by cutting the wrong corners.

The Minetti Quartet Returns

Last Thursday (and Friday night), the Minetti Quartett (two “t’s”, since “Quartett” is part of their name and spelled the German way – as, for example, with the Hagen Quartett) graced the Austrian Embassy again – after their stunning appearance at the same place exactly one year ago. It remains, I am convinced, the Embassy Series’ finest discovery. “Even hearing them in minor works, one is inclined to take out shares on their future stardom” was my impression then, and nothing has changed since.

Along with the Jupiter, Dædalus, Ébène, and Parker String Quartets, the Minetti Quartett plays at a level hard to believe for any group, much less one that is still so (relatively) young.

Among these four groups, the players that make up the Minetti Quartett (Maria Ehmer - first violin, Anna Knopp - second violin, Markus Huber - viola, and Leonhard Roczek - cello) may be the most homogenous, impressing with cohesion and coherence. On Thursday (as on Friday), their program of Haydn (C Major, op.20, No.2) and Mozart (G Major, KV387) was cleaved by Berg’s String Quartet op.3. Amid lucid Haydn and driven, yet graceful Mozart, it was the searing performance of the Berg that stood out. Languid yet with the density and twisted, knotty structure this work needs, the Minetti Quartett proved once again that they are a musical force to be reckoned with and one of the finest, most sophisticated ways to hear string quartets performed.

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[In the picture atop this post, considerably newer than the post itself, Milan Milojicic has already replaced Markus Huber on viola.]

Ukraining on My Piano

We welcome George A. Pieler as our newest regular contributor to Ionarts, after many reviews he has offered as guest contributor. George will continue to lend his ears to our efforts to cover the classical music scene in Washington.

Was it worth slogging through the biggest, windiest D.C. downpour of the year to hear a 'Top 40' program from a Ukrainian pianist at the Polish Embassy? Well, yes, on balance: but I'll reserve final judgment when (if) my galoshes finally dry out.

Vitaly Samoshko, the Ukrainian-in-Poland, is a big fellow with a big sound. That sound wasn't ideally suited to all the composers on his program, but it was about perfect for one: Sergei Rachmaninoff. Five selections from the Etudes-Tableaux, op. 33 and 39, led the second half of the program and really showed Samoshko at his best -- strong, bold playing that articulated all the notes the composer at times over-supplied, attention to 'inner voices' (not so 'inner' with Rachmaninoff but easily lost in lesser hands). The highlight was easily op. 39, no. 5, in E-flat, with one of those near-pop tune melodies the composer could toss off, but framed with rhythmic and harmonic complexities that banished any thoughts of condescension.

The climax of the program, Prokofiev's wartime Sonata No. 7, was nearly as good, ending with a smashing Precipitato, the middle Andante caloroso unfolding firmly and simply. Samoshko took a bit to hit his stride in the first movement but was very satisfying overall. Not a challenge to Pollini or to Lubimov's radiant account though.

With an all-Russian program this would have been great. But the first half presented Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and Debussy's Suite Bergamasque, played accurately and firmly, with the same weight Samoshkov gave Rachmaninoff. That, plus some pulling-about of Beethoven's music for supposed dramatic effect, was disappointing, as was the lack of real dynamic contrast (mostly mezzo-forte). The Clair de Lune was an exception, nicely phrased with genuine soft playing and only a bit too romanticized.

The audience burst into post-Prokofiev enthusiasm and was rewarded with Scriabin's D-sharp minor Etude, finely dramatic -- Samoshko has recorded the Etudes for the Belgian Lavial label and says he will record a selection of the Etudes-Tableaux soon. Equal enthusiasm for the post-concert buffet (especially the peppered pork), no stereotypical sausages please, which sent everyone out still damp but well nourished.

The final concerts of this season's Embassy Series include a program of Austrian and American operetta at the Austrian Embassy this Friday and Saturday (May 19 and 20, 8 pm) and violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv and pianist Roman Rabinovich at the Embassy of Ukraine next Friday and Saturday (May 26 and 27, 8 pm).

Studied Neutrality: Reto Reichenbach at the Swiss Embassy

From George A. Pieler, on a piano recital run (Peter Serkin, Yundi Li), comes this review of the Embassy Series' Reto Reichenbach recital.

The Embassy Series does yeoman work in bringing artists we should hear, but might otherwise miss, in comparatively intimate settings that inspire audience attention. Some of these settings by nature have less than ideal acoustics: Reto Reichenbach’s Friday recital at the Embassy of Switzerland showed us both sides of the coin.

Ann Schein student Mr. Reichenbach, Swiss-born and resident, has local ties through his studies at the Peabody Conservatory. In his early 30s, he is the very image of the serious concert pianist. He played well but not perfectly, but he deserves highest marks for his programming (nearly a lost art in my book): youthful works by Brahms, bracketed by the 8 Preludes of the great Swiss composer Frank Martin (Reichenbach is a bit of a 20th-century specialist), and by César Franck’s Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue.

Brahms dominated, including the late E-flat intermezzo (echt-late Brahms, nostalgic but tightly structured and well played here) offered as an encore. First up was Brahms’s op. 1, the C major sonata, one of the pieces that inspired Schumann-as-critic to launch the young composer on his path to fame. Op. 1 doesn’t get such a good critical reception these days, and that’s a shame: while the music has some of the flaws of youth (an indecisive finale, a bit too much repetition of thematic material) it has youth’s virtues as well. The music is bold and impetuous, the opening Allegro built on an insistent and persuasive rhythmic pattern that holds the movement together nicely, a folk-inspired Andante, and a Scherzo with clear pre-echoes of the comparable movement in the F minor piano quintet. It is unmistakably Brahms, although non-obvious comparisons come to mind — the bold rhythmic patterning and dramatic pauses of the opening movement almost remind one of — bear with me here — early Bruckner.

It’s good music, and it was effectively played by Mr. Reichenbach, if without ultimate finesse. Here and throughout the program there was the occasional dropped note, not too distracting but more than one wants to hear. I don’t know how long he has had this work in his repertoire and suspect he can present it with more dramatic impact than he did on Friday. My enjoyment may also have been hampered by a rather dry (and at times) boxy sound from his Steinway (instrument of the house, one presumes).

More Brahms, complete with thunderstorm pyrotechnics, after the brief interval: Variations on an Original Theme, op. 21, no. 1. While early, this music is more what people think of in terms of Brahms-and-piano: nostalgic, well-crafted, most effective in the slow concluding variations, not highly memorable but pleasant. Again Mr. Reichenbach did well but didn’t sell the music as strongly as he might.

Last but not least the Franck, the best performance of the evening. Mr. Reichenbach has a real feel for this music, which can sound like a suite of unrelated pieces. He stressed its thematic and stylistic unity, played fluently and gracefully, and drove home the final tintinnabulations of the Fugue with dramatic flair. All signs that he may be more in touch with the French side of his Swiss heritage than the German. Even the piano sounded fuller and more pleasing in this music.

I’ve mentioned Reto Reichenbach’s courageous and original programming, of which other recitalists of greater and lesser repute should take note. That brings me to the Martin Preludes, in many ways the most interesting music on the program and a fine opportunity to propagandize for Frank Martin, easily on my ‘top 20’ of 20th-century composers.

First, the 8 Preludes themselves, fully mature Martin from 1948 and his most significant composition for piano. The sequence forms a kind if rising arc of increasingly complexity (for both performer and listener), culminating for this listener in the Lento No. 7, the longest of the preludes and finely rendered by Reichenbach. The concluding Vivace will remind Martin aficionados of the conclusion of the Petite Symphonie Concertante, quick, bouncy, irrepressible yet refined, at times rather like a bunch of frogs jumping about - yet with elegance!

For a composer who neglected the piano, it surprises how much the preludes convey Martin’s style, with a calculated tonal uncertainty (Martin admired 12-tone theory but took what he wanted from it and left the ideology behind) combined with shifting rhythms to create an almost mystic poignancy at times. Such music difficult to describe and best be heard.

The Preludes are available, either on Gall records with Daniel Spiegelberg's recording of the complete Martin solo piano works, as part of a recital by Diane Walsh on Bridge, on a disc of Preludes with Yoko Kikuchi or, if you are in Australia, buy Julie Adam and Christine Logan’s recording on ABC.

If you don’t yet know Frank Martin’s music at all, you ought to, and the piano works, though fine, are not the place to start. While Martin’s music is seldom heard locally, I was glad to hear his Ariel Songs performed by the Ensemble Corund at the Library of Congress, and they’re available from The Sixteen in a fine compilation including Martin’s Mass for Double Choir, probably his ‘greatest hit’ and sometimes performed in the D.C. area. The Gramophone award-winning Westminster Choir version of the Mass on Hyperion (coupled with Pizzetti) also is worth looking into; the Robert Shaw version on Telarc, a performance with merit if somewhat bland, comes with interesting couplings by Gorecki, Pärt, Barber, and Schoenberg.

If you are with me this far, you will also want to sample Martin’s orchestral music: fortunately there are no less-than-acceptable recordings (including the composer’s own, despite dated sound), but a fine and inexpensive place to start is with Armin Jordan’s Warner disc including the Petite Symphonie Concertante (Martin’s masterpiece…I think).

One hopes indeed that the Embassy of Switzerland might advocate more for their native son — perhaps partnering with other fine local performing organizations to sponsor a performance of Martin’s opera Der Sturm (The Tempest) as a challenge to the Kennedy Center’s pedestrian Shakespeare Festival planned for next year. In the meantime if you want Martin for Easter week, hear his Golgotha, blessed by a number of good recordings, the best value being the bargain Brilliant Classics version.

Francis Poulenc Trio at the Polish Embassy

In the absolutely delectable Salon of the Polish embassy – replete with Corinthian pilasters and frize that quickly make you forget the unfortunately looming metal detector downstairs – the Embassy Series presented the Baltimore based Poulenc Trio consisting of oboist Vladimir Lande (see Ionarts review from a New York Bachanalia Festival), bassoonist Bryan Young and pianist Irina Lande. Wind trios are rare enough, dedicated ones rarer still – so it was no surprise to be confronted with works that were, Poulenc’s trio apart – entirely new to me and like most other attendees.

Mikhail Glinka’s Trio Pathetique in d-minor opened the evening with its unisono introduction to give way to a very un-russian, at first Germanic then more Italianate trio where melancholic sounds softly lapped ashore only to be undermined by an occasional lively sprint. Outside Russia, it is Glinka’s fate to be known for the influence on the music of others, not for his own. (His most important work is probably his opera “A Life for the Tsar” – and that is hardly ever programmed in American – or West-European – houses.) The trio may not change that any time soon, but it makes for an exquisite chambermusic-making. Certainly when played so well as did the present trio… especially oboe and bassoon, pleasing with great precision and a good, clear tone. Vladimir Lande, already benefactor of the best melodic lines in all of these works, managed one stand-out performance after another. Irina Lande’s playing, too, was near-flawless, but it was also monochromatic, a bit stilted and never went above mere accompaniment, not even in later, more virtuosic sections.

A lighter charmer was Polish-German Maurice Moszowski’s Suite in g-minor for two violins and piano (arranged accordingly) from which the Lento assai and the Allegro moderato were played. Nothing dramatic in either of those two movements, but plenty fun, both. A potpourri from Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri (on the WNO’s program this season) was forced into woodwind trio shape by Parisian oboe and bassoon players Eugene Jancourt and Charles Tribert: a brilliant little thing. André Previn, German born American of Franco-Russian descent, is musically no less a melting pot than culturally. Having started out a jazz player and film music composer, it’s not surprising that he should well be able to combine the popular, jazz and classical idioms. The stimuli behind his compositions usually have long legs. Some guys buy flowers, André throws off a little composition for the lasses. A violin concerto sealed the deal recently, in 1994 it probably did the trick with a Pittsburgh Symphony bassoonist he coveted. Still, if the resulting Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano with its movements Lively, Slow, Jaunty had the desired effect on his double reed de jour, it doesn’t yield much, musically, to these ears. Maybe the long solo-piano passages could have been played in a more freewheeling, jazzy style – but even then they would unlikely have been a snug fit with the rest of the music. The ‘jazz parts’ felt contrived and never part of the whole. Composing in a jazz style is apparently very difficult – and when it is done well (not often – but for example with Nikolai Kapustin) it is murderously difficult to play.

Someone who was more successful at that idiom than Mr. Previn was Francis Poulenc… and tellingly without the later ever even trying hard. Perhaps being around the whimsical, irreverent music of his mentor and friend Eric Satie (to whom Poulenc’s trio is dedicated) was enough… the result, at any rate, as in most of Poulenc’s chamber music, is a precious work that is very much classical music while never taking itself too serious. The easygoing, natural charm of Poulenc’s music and this trio in particular is disarming. Beautiful but not denying its 1926 birthdate, it’s earnest – but winks at you throughout. I wouldn’t go as far as ascribing ‘silliness’ to it, but the trio understands a good joke as much as it likes to tell one. Outstanding fun, outstandingly played: Little wonder the group christened itself after this gem… little wonder the audience demanded an encore to which the three players obliged, despite the seductive wafts of a fabulous buffet from the adjacent room already tickling their noses. That Handel was good; the reception easily its equal. Its thoughtfulness and attention to detail reflected well on the Polish embassy, creating many a fuzzy thought about Poland, even as Polish Government and Central bank are trying everything to ham it up at the home-front.