Critic’s Notebook: Alexander Malofeev gives his recital debut in Vienna

Also reviewed for Die Presse: Sensationell: Ausnahmepianist Alexander Malofeev begeistert bei seinem Wiener Solodebüt

A piano recital to remember: Alexander Malofeev in his solo debut in Vienna

There was a very young, very blond man in front of the Steinway, sitting low, and bent like an adult in a soapbox racer. Did he saw the piano bench’s legs off? For his Vienna recital debut, Alexander Malofeev, the up-and-coming Russian piano star, chose one half of baroque music and one half of Russian late romantics. He started with Händel, the Suite in B-flat major: There was terrific energy in the last of the variation of the Aria and lovely contrast in the lyrical-tender Minuet. Attacca, Malofeev went right into the Purcell Ground in C minor and from there into Georg Muffat’s Passacaglia from his Apparatus musico-organisticus, giving this part the sense of being a grand suite. In all of this he was unfazed, unsentimental, providing long, structured passages rather than a string of merely beautiful moments. You could hear the structure – and it was beautiful to do so.

He allowed for applause before the twice-transcribed Bach Concerto BWV 593 (in any case too famous to have fitted snugly into that imaginary baroque suite) and almost seemed pleasantly surprised, amazed that he got any, never mind such a boisterousness round. The Vivaldi concerto for two violins, turned into a concerto for solo organ by Bach and then liberally-romantically transcribed to suit the piano by Samuil Feinberg, was a thundering, bell-tinkling affair, imposing and tender in turn, elaborate and ornate here, introverted and sober there. A grand crescendo thunderously reminded of the work’s intermittent origins on the organ. Grand stuff.

Only very minimally less impressive was the second half, beginning with Scriabin’s Prélude and Nocturne for left hand, op.9. Chopin-like, as early Scriabin is wont to be, and for once a Wittgenstein-unrelated work just for the left hand; apparently Scriabin wrote it for himself after a bout with tendinitis and/or wanting to brag in front of an audience. Then again, it’s a piece that’s surprisingly devoid of obvious braggadocio. More dreamy, if anything. Still impressive, though, especially since Scriabin doesn’t at all let the ‘one-hand-only’ thing limit him to which range on the keyboard he writes for. Incidentally, Malofeev is no braggart himself, either. Nor, in a way, even a virtuoso who goes for the fireworks, even though his brilliant technique would surely allow him to do so.

The concluding Rachmaninov (the first two bits from the Morceaux de fantaisie, a transcription of “Lilacs” from his Twelve Songs op.21, and the B-flat minor Sonata) was full-throated but not violent. Most pleasingly, Malofeev never succumbs to romantic treacle and the Sonata suffered only from being boring because, hey, it’s Rachmaninov. Not that everyone in the hollering crowd felt the same way about good old Sergei, but the encores from Mikhail Pletnev’s Nutcracker Suite made up for it, for anyone who did. What a bloody extraordinary recital!

Photo © Manuel Chemineau

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Briefly Noted: Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff Romances

Rachmaninoff / Tchaikovsky, Romances, Piotr Beczała, Helmut Deutsch (released on August 25, 2023) PentaTone PTC 5186 866 | 81'01"

Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff are not composers likely to come up glowing in my estimation. The exceptions to this rule include their songs. The temporal limits of the text to be set helped both composers avoid their usual sin of going on far too long, especially in symphonies and concertos. The late, beloved baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky owned this repertoire, but in his wake, the Polish tenor Piotr Beczała has made a strong case in this new release for a different voice type to swoon and complain of the hardships of Russian life.

Rachmaninoff's overwrought style so suited the poems he chose, such as the tender "Lilacs" and the world-weary "They answered." Beczała draws out the marrow of this sweet suffering, as in the aching rubato of "How Fair This Spot," in which he applies a dulcet, sighing head voice to the high note at the end. That is a standout in this selection of 31 romances by these two giant figures of Russian Romanticism, a series of charming miniatures, only one lasting longer than four minutes.

The nostalgic tone of many of these pieces seems apt for autumn listening. Beczała wields heroic power as well, deployed at climactic moments in Rachmaninoff's "In the silence of the secret night" and in "Do not sing, my beauty," a poem set by countless composers, of which Rachmaninoff's is the most moving. Pianist Helmut Deutsch supports his singer in every way, moving out of his way when necessary and infusing the introductions and postludes with their own poignancy, including in the most demanding accompaniment, that of "Spring Waters."

The Tchaikovsky songs account for more than half of the disc, in spite of standing out less. Most are piecemeal selections from several different sets, with the exception of the six romances of Op. 73, which Beczała and Deutsch recorded in its entirety. In these melancholy songs, Tchaikovsky turned to the poetry of Daniil Rathaus, a 20-something student who sent the composer these poems as an unsolicited submission. These songs certainly touch on the "Ambiguous Speech and Eloquent Silence" that scholar Philip Ross Bullock has noted in his assessment of the "queerness" of Tchaikovsky's songs. This mini-song cycle, the last work Tchaikovsky completed before his death in 1893, also features musical reminiscences of his "Pathétique" symphony.


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Ionarts-at-Large: Riccardo Chailly, Filarmonica della Scala, and Mao Fujita at the Konzertaus (@ Wiener Zeitung)

The expectations for the concert of the Filarmonica della Scala were high, what with Riccardo Chailly bringing Stravinsky's rather recently re-discovered Chant funèbre, op.5, to the Konzerthaus: the work he has given such a tantalizing premiere-recording with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. (Review on Forbes). To boot, the whole thing was embedded in a program of Russian gorgeousness: Rachmaninov's Third and Prokofiev’s Seventh Symphony.

Mao Fujita, second-place winner at the last Tchaikovsky Competition, was the soloist – and he, too, has left a very fine recent memory on record, with his young, neatly considered cycle of Mozart Sonatas. His performance, replete with some curious rythmic accentuations, was met by roaring applause and localized Bravos – and perhaps for the sheer athleticism of that work and not being sidetracked during a minute-long rogue hearing-aid vaguely going along with the music, auto-tune-like, they deserved it. But the orchestra sounded muffled, with strange balances and instruments popping out of the mix unexpectedly. The short, tart little trumpet accents that blurted like an 1970s Fiat honking in brief anger, were a solitary delight amid a strange, massive, energized listlessness. Chailly seemed to do all the right things but the sound wanted to tell another story.

That was the problem with the Chant funèbre, too, where there was little left of that Wagner-goes-Tchaikovsky-reaches-Dukas magic, that his recording suggests. The strings seemed wooden, the cellos were scarcely audible, and while the double basses did their best, even they couldn’t push the greater apparatus into gear. The Prokofiev Seventh (with the coda-finale) – too nice a symphony to be taken seriously – was a little better in most regards, including balance, but still a brooding lump of sound. The Glockenspiel whinged and a lusty tuba brought smiles to faces. The two “3-Orange” encores, loud and fun, began to show some vigor – but still didn’t suggest that one had just heard a great orchestra on even a decent day.


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Robuste Romantik

Die Filarmonica della Scala gastierte im Konzerthaus..

Nach der Wiederauffindung des "Chant funèbre" war es Riccardo Chailly, der das atmosphärisch funkelnde Strawinsky-Frühwerk beeindruckend ersteingespielt hat. Zusammen mit der Filarmonica della Scala im Wiener Konzerthaus brachte er nun mittels eines kraftvoll warmen, jedoch nicht sonderlich differenzierten Klangteppichs immerhin etwas von dieser von Wagner zu Tschaikowski bis Paul Dukas reichenden Magie über die Bühne... [weiterlesen]

© apaweb/apa/afp/dpa/Soeren Stache

Martha Argerichs virtuose Nonchalance. Die Pianistin interpretierte im Wiener Konzerthaus Sergej Prokofiews drittes Klavierkonzert: Latest @ Wiener Zeitung

Martha Argerichs virtuose Nonchalance

Die Pianistin interpretierte im Wiener Konzerthaus Sergej Prokofiews drittes Klavierkonzert.

In gleichem Maße populär und von Kennern verehrt ist Martha Argerich seit über einem halben Jahrhundert einer der ganz wenigen Superstars der klassischen Musik. Ein musikalisches Phänomen, das auch mit 78 Jahren noch zu beindrucken weiß, wie sie im Wiener Konzerthaus mit Prokofjews drittem Klavierkonzert - und eingebettet von gut aufgelegten Wiener Symphonikern unter der Leitung von Lahav Shani - zur Schau stellen konnte.... [weiterlesen]

© apaweb/apa/afp/dpa/Soeren Stache

A Stunning Orchestral Surprise in Budapest

A Budapest Miracle? Concerto Budapest's "Wow" Moment

Budapest, March 27, 2019: Müpa: Ever since Budapest’s new concert hall—known as “Müpa” or “Palace of Arts”—with its combination of high-tech echo chambers and its traditional common-sense “shoebox” design opened in 2005, I’ve wanted to hear it in action. Located at the edge of downtown—alongside the Danube, right next to the comically hideous 2002 National Theater—it is not an imposing building from the outside, but welcoming and logically laid out on the inside. The main hall, the Bartók National Concert Hall, is a soft-curved wooden shoebox with a very sensible capacity of 1700. Its acoustic was overseen by Russell Johnson. The massive organ, built by the Pécs Organ Manufactory and Mühleisen Stuttgart, features an imposing prospect—including a battery of pipes protruding from the façade—and is one of the largest of its kind.

Along the walls above the upper tier—vaguely colored like a Scottish tartan—are the resonance boxes that can be closed or opened to give the desired length of reverb for the program at hand. Although closed on this occasion in late March, they are apparently in regular use—in contrast to fancy features like the Sala São Paulo’s adjustable ceiling, which is very cool in theory but hardly used in practice. Now: one visit to a concert hall cannot begin to give an adequate idea of its acoustic. But this one impression of hearing the Concerto Budapest, one of five symphony orchestras in Budapest, suggested that at its best, the acoustic is superb.

The Rambunctious Joy that is King Ubu’s Dinner Music

BAZi, 'Ubu Music', Symphony in One Movement, Giostra Genovese, Concerto for Strings P.Hirsch/WDR-SO Wergo

And what a concert it was. More specifically: What a first half! On the far side of intermission, a very finely played, generally soft-edged Rite of Spring awaited the listeners, full of well-shaped individual contributions, sexy contrabassoon notes, and fierce highlights. It didn’t have the ferocious bite I look for in the work, delivering—*de gustibus*—rather urbane suaveness instead. A bit like the Concertgebouw Orchestra might play that work. Indeed, like in Amsterdam, the perception may have been shaped by the acoustic which gave the impression of some orchestral energy dissipating upwards: even the greatest *fff* climaxes were not shrill or harsh or even particularly loud.

It would have been a more impressive performance, hadn’t that first half rocked as hard and delighted as much. Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu—which incidentally throws out a quote from Le Sacre right off the bat on the organ—is a tumultuous, riotous, quintessential musical collage: None of the music is, *en détail*, original. But collectively the phrases as put together by Zimmermann, create a unique, decidedly original work.

It certainly sounds, in parts, like a “who’s that composer” guessing game. But more to the point, it is a riveting, compelling work all of its own which has, not in any individual incident but structurally, parallels in the music of Gustav Mahler and Charles Ives. And then there are four solo basses fiddling for their life up front in episodes that make Mahler’s “Frère Jacques” episode seem like child’s play. Perhaps most notably, instead of being doom-and-gloom as one would might reasonably expect from the composer of the *Ecclesiastical Action* (“I turned and beheld all the injustice perpetrated under the sun”), it is very often very funny. The classical bits (from plainchant to Stockhausen’s banging, repetitive chords of Klavierstück IX, and with plenty Wagner in the middle) are interrupted by Jazz-outbreaks that sound like someone turned the knob on the radio… eventually blending it with a medieval flute consort and then an ever-increasing amount of musical layers. E-guitars and basses are thrown into the mix, too. Altogether a bit like someone was taking Schnittke, Purcell, Monty Python and started juggling. What a joy!

Supple Pianism and a Lesson in Orchestral Alertness

J.Brahms, F.Liszt & W.Lutosławski, Paganini Variations & Paganini Rhapsody Tzimon Barto/Schleswig-Holstein FO/C.Eschenbach Ondine

The rest of the front-loaded first half of the concert consisted of the two piano-and-orchestra humdingers, the Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Lutosławski’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini. Andrei Korobeinikov played with rare feeling: short notes were still soft-edged. There was no incident of harsh banging, although banging is certainly required by at least Rachmaninov. What a *very* pleasant surprise in works where technical efficiency and accuracy, however necessary, would be so very much insufficient.

If that hadn’t been enough for enthusiasm, the Concerto Budapest—long established but revived and raised to new heights by its current music director András Keller (of Keller Quartet fame)—performed with absurd accuracy and sensitivity. The turn-on-a-dime-agile brass was secure; the strings warm and wispy-velvety in the true pianissimos; the woodwinds colorful. Moreover, the collective responded in such minute detail to Keller’s instructions that it just about took your breath away. Climaxes were approached not with a permanent swell but only quick peaks followed by an immediate and gentle receding of the strings. It’s just the way you think a string quartet player would want to make his orchestra play. You just don’t think he’d actually achieve it. Astonishing… just as it was impressive how the band could disappear into the background by becoming pure atmosphere—both in the pointillism of Lutosławski and the Delacroix-like tone painting of Rachmaninov. At one point I pinched myself: Is it really that good or am I hearing things?

After the concert an exhausted Keller said, with refreshingly level-headed pride: “They really are that good. And they play more than 40 programs – not concerts: programs! – a year. I think Concerto Budapest can claim to be the second best orchestra in Budapest [after Iván Fischer’s Budapest Festival Orchestra].” A second-best—assuming this concert was not a positive outlier—that would be the very best in most cities. I know I’ll keep my ears peeled for them.

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On Washington Classical Review: NSO Gala

Charles T. Downey, NSO gala raises $1 million and fetes opening of African-American Museum
Washington Classical Review, September 26

#morninglistening: Trifonov at Work

#morninglistening to #Rachmaninoff Variations w/Trifonov on @dgclassics#classical #class… https://t.co/oYhHVIS26N pic.twitter.com/J39MiNVUPQ

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) November 4, 2015

A short video-interview with Daniil Trifonov here: Eight Questions for Daniil Trifonov

Read more »

Major Scholarly Find in Rachmaninoff Studies

Fans of the symphonies and piano concertos of Sergei Rachmaninoff swoon over the many performances this music receives each season, admiring the melodic sweep, treacly harmony, and heavenly length of the Russian composer's style. A new musicological discovery may force listeners to reconsider what they think they know about their beloved idol. Dr. Ignaz Allott, professor of music at the University of South Central Florida, does not regularly concern himself with music later than the Renaissance, but the early music specialist claims he can explain an odd passage in one of the Russian composer's letters. "Writing to his friend, Mikhail Overdunsky, Rachmaninoff expressed worry that the second symphony would not be accepted by audiences," Prof. Allott explains. "He entrusted Overdunsky with informing the musicians of his intentions in the piece, indicated only by the mysterious letters 'OMA' at the beginning of his manuscript copy of the symphony."

This rare annotation, thought to be an extraneous error by the typesetter, did not make it into any of the published versions of the symphony. "It is actually a common trick used in puzzle canons in late medieval Italian manuscripts," Allott says. "It stands for Omittere misure alternative, and when you saw it, you knew that you 'solved' the puzzle by performing only every other measure of the notated music." More startling, Rachmaninoff apparently intended this instruction to be included at the top of all of his symphonies, concertos, and piano music, meaning that all of those scores should be performed with only half of the music Rachmaninoff has written down. "Instead of taking 54 minutes to perform, the second symphony should only last 27 minutes," Allott explains, laughing, "and that interminable second piano concerto should instead be a more tolerable 17 minutes long."

Considering the bloated experience created by performing these pieces without understanding Rachmaninoff's true intentions, Allott says he is surprised that no one realized the mistake earlier. "All those years of sitting through endless repetitions in Rachmaninoff's music, I am amazed that anyone could stand it," he adds with a smile. Asked about his plans for future research, Allott says he is looking into how his findings may be applicable to the symphonies of Tchaikovsky.

SVILUPPO:
With apologies to all the Rachmaninoff fans out there, as most of you realized -- poissons d'avril!

More Russians Play More Russians

Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto No. 3, D. Matsuev, Mariinsky Orchestra, V. Gergiev (Mariinsky, 2010)

Charles T. Downey, Denis Matsuev in a fierce performance with Baltimore Symphony (Washington Post, March 18)

A trifecta of Russian piano virtuosos hit the Washington area this week. Daniil Trifonov played a wild Prokofiev concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal on Monday night. On the same Thursday night that Nikolai Lugansky performed as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Denis Matsuev appeared with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the Music Center at Strathmore. That program also featured the BSO’s former music director, Russian conductor Yuri Temirkanov, and two Russian orchestral warhorses.

The last time Matsuev was soloist with the BSO, in 2004, he played Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto; this time he branched out by playing the composer’s Third Piano Concerto... [Continue reading]

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Yuri Temirkanov (conductor) and Denis Matsuev (piano)
Music Center at Strathmore

SEE ALSO:
Tim Smith, Temirkanov produces electric results in BSO return (Baltimore Sun, March 18)

---, Yuri Temirkanov on his BSO return and, yes, still disliking the idea of female conductors (Baltimore Sun, March 18)

Steven Osborne's Magic Lantern Debussy

Schubert, Impromptus, D. 935 (inter alia), S. Osborne (Hyperion, 2015)

Since not long after winning Switzerland’s Clara Haskil Competition in 1991, Steven Osborne has been producing recordings that are both shrewdly programmed and beautifully performed. The result was much the same for the Scottish pianist’s second recital at the Phillips Collection on Sunday afternoon, following up on his debut at the museum in 2012.

The high point of the concert was an eclectic combination of Debussy pieces from different collections, played as a set without interruptions. “Masques,” originally planned as part of the “Suite Bergamasque” but later published separately, was forceful and adventurous, followed by a dreamy middle section. In the second book of “Images,” Osborne’s attention to sound brought out hazy details like the meandering whole-tone scales and pinpricks of floating melody in “Bells heard through the leaves.” The somber strains of “And the moon descends” were barely whispered, while the fluttered tremolos of “Goldfish” were playfully mercurial. The hammered finale of “L’Isle Joyeuse,” another movement removed from the “Suite Bergamasque,” was symphonic in scope, forming an ideal climax to the set.

Other Reviews: David Rohde, Pianist Steven Osborne Plays Rachmaninoff at the Phillips Collection (D.C. Metro Theater Arts, February 29) Erica Jeal, Steven Osborne review – colour and texture above drama and display (The Guardian, February 4) Fiona Maddocks, Schubert: Impromptus, Piano Pieces and Variations CD review – radiance and lyricism (The Guardian, October 18, 2015

Osborne’s latest recording, released last year on the Hyperion label, is devoted to the music of Schubert, including two of the D. 935 impromptus heard here. Osborne played them with a combination of Romantic anguish and Schubertian delicacy, finding countless shades of wistful sweetness in the nostalgic dialogue of the left hand in no. 1, as it crossed back and forth over the right hand. An exceptionally fast tempo for no. 4 made the passages in parallel thirds less than precise but drove the piece forward with daring impishness.

Technical prowess was not the problem in a closing set of Rachmaninov “Etudes-Tableaux” either. Osborne’s articulate introduction to the set demonstrated that he understands and cherishes this composer’s music, but the disappointing sameness across all these pieces tarnished the achievement. One has to question why Osborne chose in this concert to omit George Crumb’s 1983 Processional, which he played with this program at St. John's Smith Square in London earlier this month. Concert length seems to have been the issue, as Osborne played only seven of the Rachmaninov pieces in London, rather than the ten he played here. Three fewer Rachmaninov pieces is a price I would surely have been willing to pay. You can still listen to the BBC streaming broadcast of Osborne's London recital to see what we missed.

This coming Sunday's concert at the Phillips Collection, by viola da gambist Jordi Savall (March 6, 4 pm), is an event not to be missed, but it is already sold out.

Noseda Brings the Casella

A. Casella, Orchestral Works, Vol. 4, BBC Philharmonic, G. Noseda (Chandos, 2015) Prokofiev, Complete Works for Violin, J. Ehnes, BBC Philharmonic, G. Noseda (Chandos, 2013)

Italian pianist and composer Alfred Casella has some connections to Washington, especially through the patronage of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge at the Library of Congress. On a personal level, your moderator studied piano in graduate school with one of Casella's students, an Italian grande dame who studied with him in Rome. She told me so many wonderful stories about Casella, how he took such care of his students, something that this teacher of mine always emulated, that I felt like I knew him. (His association with Mussolini never came up.) So it was somewhat surprising that the National Symphony Orchestra had never played any of Casella's music until last night, when guest conductor Gianandrea Noseda led a performance of the composer's Elegia eroica, op. 29, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Any guest conductor this season and next might be a contender to replace Christoph Eschenbach in two years. Noseda's debut with the NSO, in 2011, did not endear me to him. His manner at the podium was more controlled, less wild, this time around, and the results, especially in the Casella piece, were encouraging. More than an "elegy," as the title implies, the work opens as a sort of howl of grief, the plodding tempo evoking a noisy funeral procession. With the vast orchestration swamping the stage with sound for much of the opening part of the piece, individual colors of orchestration came out in later parts: an extended sotto voce passage for strings, bubbling with dissonances; striking solos or duets for bassoon, viola with bass clarinet, oboe with oscillating flutes; a music box section for celesta, harp, and flute. It was a moving experience to hear this piece, written in the midst of World War I and dedicated to "the memory of a soldier killed in war," especially in close conjunction with the celebration of Veterans Day.

Noseda's cycle of Casella's orchestral works, with the BBC Philharmonic, is an excellent way to get to know this composer better. Noseda and this evening's soloist, Canadian violinist James Ehnes, have also recorded the Prokofiev violin concertos, and here Ehnes gave a wry, understated rendition of the second concerto (G minor, op. 63). The piece opens with the violin by itself, and throughout Ehnes was sensational in the lyrical parts of the piece. Harmonically, Prokofiev takes a turn backward towards a more Romantic palette in this piece, composed as he was preparing for repatriation to the Soviet Union. The lovely second theme of that opening movement has a Hollywood sweetness, and any music that might give the feel of Prokofiev grotesquerie is soft-pedaled. Ehnes gave the second movement every ray of sunlight he could muster, glowing on its ardent melodies, especially transparent high on the E string. With movements that felt so dance-like in the second movement, like the variations at the climax of a ballet, it was a reminder that Prokofiev was also working on the score of Romeo and Juliet around the same time. Hints of sardonic humor came through in the finale, with Ehnes so technically assured, especially in the rather flippant theme with castanets.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Restrained and urbane, Noseda leads NSO in strong Rachmaninoff (Washington Post, November 13)

I did not need to hear another performance of Rachmaninoff's second symphony, last conducted by Iván Fischer in 2008 and by Leonard Slatkin in 2004. Noseda reseated the strings for this concert, putting the first and second violins together, which facilitated a soaring mass violin sound. Noseda did not draw out the tempos for the most part, avoiding soaking everything in corn syrup rubato. The second movement was fast, having movement without being weighted down, although in both the first movements, I still wished for some significant excisions from the score. The third movement was particularly soporific, almost from the start and ending up overblown at its climax, while the finale, perhaps to compensate, was lively and full of spastic energy. It was here that some of the sense of beat micromanagement returned to Noseda's sometimes frantic gestures, so that in some of the accelerando passages, it was hard for me to see exactly where he was going. Judging by occasional confusion heard from the musicians, it was difficult for them, too.

This concert repeats on Saturday evening.

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

BSO, Now with More Cowbell

Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie, London Symphony Orchestra, B. Haitink (LSO Live, 2010)

Charles T. Downey, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra finds its rhythm in Thursday’s concert (Washington Post, September 19)

After lackluster season openers last week, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra season truly got under way with its first subscription concert Thursday night at Strathmore. Music director Marin Alsopm fresh from conducting last weekend's Last Night at the Proms, finally returned to the podium, along with the news that she will step down as music director of California’s Cabrillo Festival next summer.

British-born composer Anna Clyne’s introduction to her piece, “Masquerade,” was even more concise than the work, a five-minute wild rumpus... [Continue reading]

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Anna Clyne: Masquerade
Rachmaninoff, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (with Olga Kern)
R. Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie
Music Center at Strathmore

SEE ALSO:
Tim Smith, Alsop opens BSO subscription season with return to 'Alpine Symphony' (Baltimore Sun, September 19)

David Rohde, Pianist Olga Kern and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore (D.C. Metro Theater Arts, September 18)

Charles T. Downey, Renée Fleming in Recital (Ionarts, February 25)

---, Philippe Jordan's Strauss (Ionarts, June 26, 2010)

Fabio Luisi Steps In at Castleton

N. Medtner, Piano Sonatas, A. Taverna (1201 Music, 2015)

Charles T. Downey, Young players bolstered by pros in last classical performance at Castleton (Washington Post, July 21)

The Castleton Festival struggles on in Rappahannock County, a year after the death of its founder, Lorin Maazel. The programming is sharply reduced, with jazz taking over from classical music for the final two weeks, and all performances open with pleas for donations. A smaller, less-assured orchestra, made up of young apprentice players bolstered by professional ringers in some first chairs, gave the last of just three concerts of symphonic music on Sunday afternoon in the Castleton Festival Theater.

Maazel’s absence at the podium is the festival’s biggest problem... [Continue reading]

Castleton Festival Orchestra
Alessandro Taverna, piano
Fabio Luisi, conductor
Castleton Festival

On Forbes: Free Speech, Rachmaninov And Twitter Posts: How The Ukrainian War Invaded Toronto's Stage

Free Speech, Rachmaninov And Twitter Posts: How The Ukrainian War Invaded Toronto's Stage

...The answer (quoted via Musical Toronto) from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra came soon: “Due to ongoing accusations of deeply offensive language by Ukrainian media outlets, we have decided to replace Valentina Lisita… Valentina Lisitsa’s provocative comments have overshadowed past performances. As one of Canada’s most important cultural institutions, our priority must remain on being a stage for the world’s great works of music, and not for opinions that some believe to be deeply offensive.”

This is perhaps the key quote, certainly the aspect that justifies the waves this issue created: The TSO just suggested that it was OK to cancel the appearance of an artist who holds and expresses, in a TSO-unrelated context, “opinions that some believe to be deeply offensive.” Let that one melt on your tongue....

"@TorontoSymphony disapproves of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it, unless it might be offensive to someone."

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) April 9, 2015

Continue reading here, at Forbes.com

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'The tintinnabulation that so musically wells'

Sergei Rachmaninoff is a composer whose instrumental music often seems wandering and overlong to me. Not unlike his compatriot Tchaikovsky, whose ballets and operas suit me much more than his symphonies and concertos, Rachmaninoff seemed to benefit from the restraint of a text or story. This is likely why Kolokola, a choral symphony based on Edgar Allan Poe's evocative poem The Bells, is so effective, a grand Rachmaninoff work that never oozes into Rachmaninoff's saccharine sound and does not overstay its welcome. For some reason, the National Symphony Orchestra had only performed the piece once in its entire history, back in 1977, in a concert led by the late Norman Scribner. Vassily Sinaisky made his NSO debut with a spirited rendition of the work, heard last night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

The veteran Russian conductor, who resigned from the Bolshoi Theater in 2013 "to avoid conflict" with the new director, came with three fine Russian-trained soloists and a sure hand on this work less familiar outside of Russia. Norman Scribner's choir, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, engulfed the hall in sound in the opening movement ("Silver Sleigh Bells"), well prepared by Scott Tucker. Tenor Sergey Semishkur, after an uncertain and slightly off-pitch introduction, had a more heroic sound in the full parts of this movement, with its lovely parts for celesta and every metallic percussion instrument Rachmaninoff could get his hands on. The slow movement ("Mellow Wedding Bells") had oozing strings and a smoldering melody in the cellos, cushioning the ample tone of soprano Dina Kuznehtsova, wavering only when she had to float that high A toward the end of the movement.

The whole ensemble was most secure in the loud and fast third movement ("Loud Alarum Bells"), with groaning deep woodwinds and the chorus, seated in sections for security, beautifully schooled in swelled crescendi and -- more importantly -- decrescendi. A moody English horn solo introduced the funereal finale ("Mournful Iron Bells"), led by baritone Elchin Azizov with a menacing, dark sound to his imposing voice. Of course, Rachmaninoff here turned again to a quotation of the Dies irae sequence, although in a much more hidden way in this score, contributing to the work's solemn conclusion.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Debuting conductor offers experienced path through ‘The Bells’ (Washington Post, April 17) Terry Ponick, NSO, Choral Arts Society ring in Rachmaninoff’s glorious ‘Bells’ (Communities Digital News, April 17)

The evening opened less auspiciously, with a somewhat messy, not quite fully digested performance of the overture to Borodin's Prince Igor, in the form reconstructed by Alexander Glazunov. This brought to the fore some of the more inscrutable qualities of Sinaisky's conducting style, although the musical ideas, especially the dynamic shading, were generally effective. The accelerandi and other tempo changes were not unified, and overall the piece, never before played by the NSO, needed more seasoning.

By contrast, Mozart's clarinet concerto (A major, K. 622) felt almost too familiar, too cozy and comfortable. Principal clarinetist Loren Kitt was authoritative in the solo part, equally beautiful in phrasing and tone, if perhaps a little too easygoing, certainly by contrast to the playing of Jörg Widmann, who last played the piece with the NSO in 2012. The Adagio here could have been slower, and the concluding Allegro was on the tame side, but Sinaisky and the NSO provided a warm, well-scaled envelope of sound for Kitt. It is hard not to like this piece, one of the most perfect concertos ever composed, not least because it lacks any cadenzas or any over-the-top virtuosic displays.

This concert repeats tonight and tomorrow.

New York City Ballet, New and Newer

Pictures at an Exhibition, choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, New York City Ballet
The New York City Ballet is back at the Kennedy Center Opera House, in alternating programs this week featuring the giant of its past, George Balanchine, and its current choreographers. When you are dealing with new works of any kind, some will hit and some will miss, which was exactly the feeling experienced at the end of the selection billed as "21st-Century Choreographers" on Wednesday evening. It was a bit of a marathon, with four works adding up to almost three hours, and some of the works tried one's patience to the extreme.

The program opened with Symphonic Dances, by the company's current ballet master-in-chief, Peter Martins. Actually premiered in 1994, the work is set to Rachmaninoff's superb score of that name, op. 45, the composer's final work and a notable exception to my general aversion to Rachmaninoff's instrumental music. The Martins choreography is visually pleasing, but little about it stood out as remarkable over the course of forty minutes: without a story, the elegant vocabulary wears thin too quickly. In the solo female role, Teresa Reichlen, who hails from Fairfax County, was a wispy and altogether lovely presence, all long legs and lightness. The general appeal of the choreography was not helped by the mediocrity of the orchestral performance, here given by the company's own orchestra under interim music director Andrews Sill. The orchestra has been through a bit of a rocky period in the last few years, which the new tenure of conductor Andrew Litton, a Washington favorite with the National Symphony Orchestra, will hopefully help to stabilize, starting next season.

The undisputed high point of the evening was the delightful new choreography to Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, created last year by Alexei Ratmansky. The setting of an art museum is suggested by projections (designed by Wendell K. Harrington), based on Wassily Kandinsky's Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles, dating from 1913, abstract shapes in bright colors that are reflected in movement by the dancers' costumes (designed by Adeline Andre). Although the music runs almost as long as the Rachmaninoff, played capably here in Musorgsky's original piano version by Cameron Grant, Ratmansky's choreography is so varied, brimming with originality, that it never tired. Sterling Hyltin was raised by the strong Tyler Angle in soaring leaps in "The Old Castle" movement, and in a striking reversal, women playfully incarnated the heavy-footed oxen in "Bydlo" and men the antic birds in the "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks." The "Catacomb" movement, for the entire cast, was bathed in shadows of red light.

Other Reviews: Sarah Kaufman, New York City Ballet’s life-affirming new works boost the spirit (Washington Post, April 10) ---, New York City Ballet sparkles and blurs in opening program (Washington Post, April 9) Alastair Macaulay, With Each Star Turn, a Feeling of a Collective Force Begins to Brew (New York Times, January 21) ---, The Art Gallery as Spinning Montage (New York Times, October 3, 2014) ---, Celebrating Old Times With New: A Premiere (New York Times, May 9, 2014) New York City Ballet on Ionarts: 2014 | 2013

Tiler Peck and Craig Hall made a beautiful pairing in Christopher Wheeldon's somewhat limited, repetitive This Bitter Earth, although it would have been just as visually pretty if it had been performed in silence, so little did it seem to have to do with the music, a recording from the soundtrack for Shutter Island. Both music and choreography felt endless in their over-repetition in Everywhere We Go, Justin Peck's abstract ballet to a suite of music by Sufjan Stevens (orchestrated by Michael P. Atkinson). Both choreographer and composer relied heavily on the copy-paste method, with some whole sections of the choreography simply repeated toward the end, not to mention a number of dancers who slipped and fell, for whatever reason.

The company's second program, seen on Thursday night but not for review, was worthwhile just to have a look at Balanchine's choreography for Agon, which was crucial in my making sense of Schoenberg's twelve-tone score for this work. Maria Kowroski was brilliant, almost superhuman, in the outrageous contortions of the Pas de Deux in the ballet's second part. Balanchine's vivacious choreography to Bizet's Symphony in C, last seen from American Ballet Theater in 2013, was also outstanding, especially the elegant extensions of Sara Mearns in the slow movement's pas de deux.

These programs are repeated through April 12, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Philadelphia Orchestra Breathes as One

We welcome this review from first-time contributor Michael De Sapio.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin (pictured), appeared at the Kennedy Center Tuesday night in a program of surefire romantic favorites -- Edvard Grieg's A minor piano concerto and Sergei Rachmaninoff's second symphony -- presented by Washington Performing Arts. The soloist in the Grieg was pianist Jan Lisiecki, who plays with a maturity and decisiveness that belie his mere twenty years. Lisiecki got the concerto off to an electrifying start with a thundering volley of octaves, yet his performance as a whole was notable for its intelligence and reflection. Grieg treats piano and orchestra as partners in this well-proportioned concerto, the piano more often than not emerging naturally out of the orchestral sound-picture; appropriately, Lisiecki played the role of a partner rather than a prima donna. He and the orchestra created moments of still, contemplative beauty in the second movement and the slow section of the finale. After a well-deserved standing ovation, Lisiecki offered an encore of a Chopin prelude (op. 28/15, the “Raindrop”).

Right from the opening bars of the Grieg, one had a palpable sense of ease and trust between the Philadelphians and their dynamic young conductor, who has been leading the orchestra since 2012 (including helping to lead it out of its financial troubles). Nézet-Séguin didn't so much conduct the music as coax it effortlessly out of the orchestra; the music-making had an organic flow. The expressive intention was so unanimous across the orchestra that regular eye contact with Nézet-Séguin was hardly necessary; conductor and orchestra simply breathed as one. Everything flowed naturally from the famed “Philadelphia sound,” a rich fullness of blend crowned by plush strings.

Other Articles: Anne Midgette, Philly beguiles with symphonic power (Washington Post, April 9) ---, Yannick, unique: Philadelphia Orchestra hopes it’s found its savior (Washington Post, April 2) Philadelphia Orchestra on Ionarts: 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 December 2007 | June 2007 | 2005 | 2004

In fact the ensemble's performance was so impeccable that by the time the Rachmaninoff rolled around I realized there was no point picking it apart, so instead I focused on the work itself. A conductor once told me that Rachmaninoff thought of himself as a contrapuntal composer. Accustomed as we are to thinking of him as the composer of gushing tunes and luscious harmonies, this comes as a surprise. It made sense, though, when you listened to the introductory Largo of the symphony, with its winding string lines intertwining in an orchestral frieze of almost Bach-like intensity.

Was Rachmaninoff really a nostalgic Romantic who completely rejected modern sounds? That he was a lush Romantic there is no doubt; if you want gushing melodies, the third-movement Adagio offered a veritable waterfall. Yet the symphony also had moments with a starkness, brusqueness, and rhythmic energy which seemed modern in spirit. It seems only a small step from Rachmaninoff's sinister second-movement scherzo to the scherzos of Shostakovich. Washington audiences are very generous with their standing ovations, but the thunderous one that greeted the last note of the Rachmaninoff was well merited. No matter how well-worn these pieces, they are always welcome with playing of this caliber.

Trifonov, Exploding Expectations

Remember the time before you had ever heard Rachmaninov's third piano concerto, or maybe any music by Rachmaninov. This was one of the possible reactions listening to Daniil Trifonov play a piece purporting to be Rachmaninov's third concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra on Friday night. In the Russian pianist's NSO debut last year, playing Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, the feeling was similar, as if Trifonov had jettisoned all the assumptions about the piece, the expectations for how it should be played, searching for something radically different, entirely his own. With his take on the third concerto, too, it was best not to think of how other pianists, even the composer himself, had played the work and just accept it on Trifonov's terms.

Such an interpretation is upsetting to lots of people, especially those who love Rachmaninov's keyboard concertos, a body of listeners that does not include your reviewer, but it is a remarkable gift. This understanding was announced right in the first movement's opening theme, which Trifonov played in an almost disembodied way, showing true independence of mind in directing the orchestra with his hands through the keyboard. As he launched into the more challenging parts of the movement, it was positively wild -- feral -- playing, and guest conductor Krzysztof Urbański and the musicians had to be on their toes, which they mostly were. Even amid overgrown tangles of notes, Trifonov drew out little wisps of themes, much of which went by almost too fast for a listener to understand. The cadenza, with its massive blocks of chords leaping about, was electrifying, a volcanic outburst that evaporated into delicate washes of sound accompanying the return of fragile woodwind solos.

The second movement was marked by a sense of distracted reverie, with the technical challenges again mastered effortlessly, down to the huge booming octave section that provides the transition into the finale. The last movement, no surprise, was taken extremely fast, a little chaotic, possessed, with Trifonov seeming to nip at the heels of the fleeing themes. In response to loud ovations, Trifonov offered yet more strangeness, a poetic, slightly disturbed rendition of the Alla reminiscenza movement from Nikolai Medtner's Mélodies oubliées, op. 38. A bewildered friend initially thought Trifonov might have been improvising, and that was exactly the sense that the performer may have intended, a "forgotten melody" resuscitated, but so fragile it is immediately lost.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Brilliant soloist gives powerful, ambiguous performance (Washington Post, April 3)

The other part of the evening's drama was to have another audition of Krzysztof Urbański, the 30-something music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He made his debut with the ensemble two years ago, but since the announcement that the NSO will be searching for Christoph Eschenbach's successor, one has to consider Urbański as a possible candidate. This time around, my impression of him was much the same: a confident conductor, who did not use a score for the second half's performance of Shostakovich's tenth symphony, but one who is perhaps too emotive for my taste, with a lot of squirming and head lolling, affectations that make one worry he might be missing things along the way.

Urbański's handling of the orchestral introduction of the second movement of the Rachmaninov concerto was undistinguished, but he certainly marshaled implacable crescendi of orchestral force in the Shostakovich, giving the musicians their head to crush the hall with amassed sound. Urbański's choice of excessively fast tempi, in the second and fourth movements, seemed to have the musicians scrambling a bit, and a lack of clarity in the conductor's gestures at times did not help. In spite of the leadership, one might say, the NSO turned in an incendiary performance of this piece, with its obsessive intertwining of the composer's name theme (D-Eflat-C-B, for DSCH) and the name theme of Elmira Nazirova, a student of Shostakovich's, in the third movement. The two themes, so musically mismatched -- the former predominantly half-steps and the latter so quartal and quintal (played here with ideal force and vigor in the French horn) -- are forced together by the score.

This concert repeats this evening.

Yuliya Gorenman and Russian Composers

Beethoven, Piano Sonatas, Y. Gorenman (2010)

Charles T. Downey, Pianist Yuliya Gorenman takes on Russian composers at Katzen Center (Washington Post, March 23)

Pianist Yuliya Gorenman won fourth prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in 1995. Since coming to the United States to continue her studies, she has settled in Washington, teaching and serving as musician-in-residence at American University. Her recitals there, including a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, have lately had a national focus, ending with Russian composers in a program heard on Saturday night at the Katzen Arts Center.

Gorenman opened with Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons,” a set of 12 brief pieces commissioned for a Russian monthly magazine, one for each month of the year in 1876... [Continue reading]

Yuliya Gorenman, piano
Katzen Arts Center
American University