Benjamin Grosvenor Returns

No one who heard Benjamin Grosvenor's Washington debut recital in 2012, on the heels of a fine debut recording with Decca, was likely to think of missing his second Washington Performing Arts appearance. An impending deluge could not keep me away from hearing this talented and intelligent British pianist again, on Tuesday night in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. On paper, the program was not exactly thrilling, a survey of different types of Romantic character pieces, either single works or gathered into sets, but as he played it, it offered many delights.

Mendelssohn's Rondo capriccioso in E major, op. 14, has an Andante introduction, in which Grosvenor picked out little motifs that decorated the melody. The Rondo section had a feathery lightness, clean in its detailed articulation even at a tripping tempo. When the melody went into his left hand, ingenious voicings differentiated the things swirling around it, and the bravura conclusion was big and bold. One does not hear Schumann's Humoreske, op. 20, live that often, probably because its fragmented, episodic nature makes it hard to pull off. Grosvenor set about giving flight to the many moods in the score: moony and wandering, playful, heroic, manic. At times the harshness of his fortissimo attack put the Terrace Theater instrument in an unflattering light, but the organic sense of rubato he gave the work, unraveling thick textures with many layers of voicing changes, helped give the music life. Along with an expert handling of the faster sections, Grosvenor gave the enigmatic passages just the sort of oddness Schumann likely had in mind. In between these two works was a single Schubert impromptu (G-flat major, op. 90, no. 3), a piece that is usually offered only as an encore or as part of the set. To stand on its own mid-program it would have to be extraordinary, which it was not -- very pretty, well played, with some unexpected details in the left hand, but no more.

The second half was frankly stronger than the first, focusing on music in late Romantic styles. Federico Mompou's Paisajes are three descriptive character pieces, short landscapes, and Grosvenor imbued them with translucent delicacy and pastel wisps of color, especially the purling waves of El Lago and the more dissonant Carros de Galicia. He showed the same kind of easy-going story-telling in two of Medtner's Fairy Tales, combining technical ease with a cantabile approach to the simpler passages. The repeated notes and forthright tone of the second one (op. 14/2, "March of the Paladins") were beautifully done, with each detail exceptionally clear.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor lives up to his reputation at Kennedy Center recital (Washington Post, May 1)

To go along with the first-rate rendition of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit in 2012, there was a no less brilliant take on the same composer's Valses nobles et sentimentales, not reviewed live in these pages since the rather extraordinary Krystian Zimerman in 2006. Grosvenor had a broad, orchestral sense of scope in his approach, with a lilting sense of the dance, very tender in the slower pieces and an amiable, not rushed approach to the moderate tempi, with a smoky epilogue to top it off. A pre-encore of Liszt's outrageous arrangement of the Valse from the end of the second act of Gounod's Faust was an excellent take on what is often a very trashy transcription, with gossamer sounds in the frilly treble roulades and a mind-blowing trill section, like a ballet music box. This set up two rather astounding encores, just as a reminder that Grosvenor can play the showman: Rush Hour in Hong Kong by American composer Abram Chasins, whom he also chose for an encore in 2012, and the sixth of Ernő Dohnányi's Études de Concert, op. 28 (F minor, "Capriccio").

Dip Your Ears, No. 142 (Modern Piano Préludes)

Various Composers, Piano Préludes from the 20th and 21st Century Ulrike Fendel Gramola

Irresistible Unknowns

Irresistible unknowns: I know as much about Ulrike Fendel as this disc’s liner notes tell me. Nor do I know if it is her performance prowess, to any significant degree, or just the ingenious assembly of pieces that makes this release work. But it is an increasingly enthralling album (“album” specifically n that old-fashioned sense) which intrigues on first hearing and continues to grow on the ears after each successive spin. While I am usually am not keen on compilations, this finely balanced mix of fifteen composers (three world premier recordings of Wolfram Wagner, Alexander Kral, and Meinhard Ruedenauer; further including Préludes by Lyadov, Genzmer, Rota, Tcherepnin, Kabalevsky, Skempton, Casella, Delius, Mompou, Shostakovich, Piazzolla, and Gershwin), this is an easy exception and newfound dear musical companion.

Christine Brewer vs. Pollen

Charles T. Downey, For Christine Brewer, a rare miss at Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
Washington Post, April 27, 2013

Strauss, Four Last Songs (inter alia), C. Brewer, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, D. Runnicles (Telarc, 2006)

Christine Brewer does not play it safe in programming, which means that not every recital by the lauded American singer will be a winner. She is one of the most exciting dramatic sopranos in the music of Wagner and Strauss, but she has excelled in everything from Gluck to contemporary song. Her recital of Iberian and American songs on Thursday night, presented by Vocal Arts D.C. at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater (rescheduled from October, when it was canceled because of Hurricane Sandy), was one of the rare misses.

Part of the problem was that Brewer was suffering from pollen allergies, and her voice sounded a little raspy and disconnected between registers. The music on the Iberian half was sometimes disappointing, with the lushly chromatic songs of Catalan composers Federico Mompou and Fernando Obradors as notable exceptions.
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Christine Brewer, soprano
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

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2011 | 2010 | 2005

Best Recordings of 2011 (#6)

Time for a review of classical CDs that were outstanding in 2011. My lists for the previous years: 2010, 2009, (2009 – “Almost”), 2008, (2008 - "Almost") 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004.

# 6 - New Release

F. Mompou, "Silent Music", Jenny Lin, Steinway & Sons 30004

F.Mompou, Música Callada , Jenny Lin Steinway & Sons

Frederic Mompou’s life spans modern history. He was three when Brahms died. When he died at the age of 94, Ronald Reagan had just told Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this Wall”. The British pianist Stephen Hough has aptly described Mompou as “Satie without cynicism”. Piano miniatures are the prominent output of both, but unlike his good acquaintance Satie, Mompou doesn’t seem to be hiding behind (disingenuous?) self-effacing humor. Mompou is serious about his little gems; the fact that they look humble and are short doesn’t seem to worry him. Rightly popular is his Música Callada (“Voice of Silence”) – somber yet charming, nostalgic but affirmative. Only the occasional gentle dissonance reminds of the 20th century... breaking like waves against the stoic music. Played with enough warmth, they are as enchanting and accessible as the softer hued Impresiones intimas or his lilting little dances—and apart from Herbert Henck, it is Jenny Lin who does exactly that. She creates tapestry of subtlety into which the ears can sink like an exhausted cat on extra thick shag carpeting. Since Henck’s release, I haven’t heard such felt, beautifully simple Mompou.

# 6 – Reissue

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