“I'm American, You know” - Interview with Marc Minkowski, Part 2

This continues the interview with Marc Minkowski.

J.S.Bach, Mass in B-minor, Minkowski / LMdL / Stutzmann, Balzer, Crow et al. naïve 5145 UK | DE | FR Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Minkowski / Mahler Chamber Orchestra, LMdL members Archiv 474209 UK | DE | FR Bizet, Carmen Suite, L'arlésienne Suites, Minkowski / LMdL naïve 5130 UK | DE | FR Gluck, Orphée Et Eurydice, Minkowski / LMdL / Croft, Delunsch, Harousseau - Archiv 471582 UK | DE | FR Gluck, Armide, Minkowski / LMdL / Delunsch, Kozená, Podles et al. Archiv 459616 UK | DE | FR Handel, Hercules, Minkowski / LMdL / Daniels, Croft, von Otter, Pujol Archiv 469532 UK | DE | FR Handel, Giulio Cesare, Minkowski / LMdL / Mehta, Kozená, von Otter, Mijanovic Archiv 474210 UK | DE | FR Mozart, Symphonies 40 & 41, Minkowski / LMdL Archiv 4775798 UK | DE | FR Offenbach, Orphée Aux Enfers, Minkowski / Lyon & Grenoble Opera Orchestras / Gens, Naouri, Fouchécourt, Podles, Petibon, Cole, Dessay et al. EMI 56725 UK | DE | FR Rameau, Une Symphonie Imaginaire, Minkowski / LMdL Archiv 472036 UK | DE | FR

Sitting in the small backstage dressing room of Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus during a rehearsal break, Marc Minkowski and I move on from Bach and his new recording of the B-minor Mass to talk about the vast repertoire for which Minkowski isn’t known to those who only follow his recordings: Bruckner’s “Nullte” Symphony and Wagner’s The Feast of Pentecost (“a very moving and problematic piece, best done in the [Dresden] Frauenkirche”) were on his programs recently; there are plans to do Wagner’s Fairies; he did John Adams’s Fearful Symmetries (“one of my favorite pieces”); and volunteers how much he likes performing Gershwin, Bernstein.

Given that Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is successfully doing Brahms and Les Musiciens recently recorded Bizet (see review), I wonder how far into Romantic music the HIP bands can or should advance and what it is they can bring to it that is special. “We’re doing [Stravinsky’s] Pulcinella next year,” chuckles Minkowski. “In some pieces, some combinations of instruments are really magic, and very different to reproduce in the modern symphonic sound. I definitely think there is some interesting work to be done with Brahms, and even with several composers of the 20th century the use of gut strings can be very interesting. In Pulcinella I’m trying to find some instruments that are a little less round and a little less massive than today. If you listen to the disc of Stravinsky, the sound is so razor sharp and so full of life; that’s the sort of thing I try to reproduce. If you have a freelance orchestra that is so good and get some soloist to play some of these pieces, they can be quite wonderful. Or consider Berlioz; there’s an incredible range of colors using old instruments. But for me it is very important that the people are extremely good, that they have time to rehearse and to research what we want to achieve; but certainly a modern excellent symphony orchestra would also do it very well.

“Just recently I’ve done a Haydn symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra and I had a great time. Of course, it’s not the same sound I have with Les Musiciens du Louvre (because we are also recording the complete London Symphonies in some months), but they know their Haydn very well, they have their tradition of playing, and they’re very at ease with it. But many other modern orchestras completely panic when you bring Haydn.” When I tell him that it’s Dennis Russell Davies’s goal to “wrestle Haydn and Mozart back from the clutches of historical performance-practice groups” he empathizes, but says that he prefers to do it if the orchestra has a culture of playing Haydn already. “But being a teacher to an orchestra, that’s too heavy when you have to explain everything. Some of my colleagues can do it well, but it’s not at all my thing. It’s not just a question of time, but also of patience. Sometimes they want to learn, and sometimes they want to but can’t. But generally, yes: no segregation of Haydn.”

On the question of how he motivates an orchestra to perform above its usual standards—his orchestral concert with the Bavarian State Orchestra last season was one such standout event—he can’t think of something special. “It just happens. I am just what I am and I go there to make music in the way I want to do it and people follow me. And most of the time it works. Not always,” he adds laughing.

Will being music director of the Sinfonia Varsovia bring new music to his repertoire and recorded output? “We should practice a little more together before recording, I think, because we need to know each other better, but we are thinking about Gershwin and some other American music, which has worked very well. But also Polish music, of course, like Penderecki and Górecki. We’ll have to see, but something different from Les Musiciens it will be, that’s very important.

“There is something I’d like to say,” he interjects before I get on with my questions. “I am not usually thought of as American, but I actually am half American through my mother and have dual citizenship. My grandmother was the American violinist Edith Wade (a student of George Enescu’s, Carl Flesh, and Fritz Kreisler’s, who made her New York debut at Aeolian Hall in April of 1915). Through her I am actually a descendent of William Clark (of Lewis and Clark fame). But for some reason, I perform very rarely in the United States—something that will hopefully change in the future, because it’s an important part of me.” So if Peter Gelb called you up, you wouldn’t say no? “No,” Minkowski says, and smiles from ear to ear.

His repertoire choices are not different from his choices of what to record, except that he doesn’t get to record everything he plays in concert, of course. “When I have a very important project, though, it helps to have a recording project like this crazy St. Cecilia project. Haydn, Purcell, and Handel, all of which have anniversaries this year. And then I wait for a lot of repertoire until I am ready to do it. That’s why I waited so long for Mozart—and Beethoven.” Upcoming projects are the Haydn, possibly a Vivaldi program with Nathalie Stutzman, and perhaps some Berlioz. When I ask him if there are still a few composers he feels could be brought out of neglect through his advocacy, he’s ambivalent. “I did a lot for Offenbach, a lot for Rameau, a lot for Handel. Maybe Gershwin,” he adds after a while, “because you always hear the same things, but there are other interesting parts to his output. But really, I would like to record famous pieces now.”

Part II --- return to Part I

Von Otter's Bach

Bach, Arias, A. S. von Otter, Concerto Copenhagen, L. U. Mortensen (released on April 14, 2009) Archiv B0012820-02

Anne Sofie von Otter strikes me as primarily a dramatic singer, but with her rich, puissant voice, turned upon well-conceived programs of music, she can command one's interest and attention as a recitalist, too. Even so, Bach is not necessarily for everybody, and her contributions to this recent selection of arias and duets are uneven enough that it should not receive a completely positive review. Von Otter tends to be suave and mellow at slow tempi (like the sultry chest-voiced and chromatic Schläfert allen Sorgenkummer from BWV 197) but becomes too mannered in the faster selections, over-enunciating and chopping up the melodic line with explosive consonants. She explains her approach in the liner notes, a sort of interview with Kenneth Chalmers, as an exploitation of the text and its sonic qualities. One can understand the intention, but the results in a couple of the tracks, perhaps because of the closeness of the microphones (seated far away in a live recital, the technique would come off much differently), are disappointing.

The best parts of this recording are really on the instrumental side. Lars Ulrik Mortensen, whose recording of the Bach harpsichord concertos with the same ensemble, the Concerto Copenhagen, was recently under review, leads an incisive and well-scaled performance from the continuo organ (with a solo turn in the sinfonia from BWV 35). This is a bonus especially in the selections with little vocal interest, as when the singers simply carry a chorale tune, with the instruments weaving the interesting texture around it. The instrumental obbligati are all well played, especially the three different types of Baroque oboe. In short, it is the playing more than the singing on this disc that makes it worthwhile.

57'04"

“I'm American, You know” - Interview with Marc Minkowski, Part 1

Marc Minkowski, still exhausted from recording sessions of Handel, Haydn, and Purcell’s tributes to St. Cecilia, squeezes me in for a short interview during a rehearsal break in Salzburg where he and his orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, are practicing for a performance of a Haydn concerto, Mozart arias, and the “Posthorn” Serenade. Going over the sixth movement of the Serenade, Minkowski gently, quietly coaxes his original-instrument players into getting phrasing and transitions just right. Suddenly, a rare sight: posthorn soloist Jean-Baptiste Lapierre, at first heard playing his part offstage, enters stage left—on a bicycle! Maneuvering carefully around the second violins, Minkowski, and then the first violins, he steers with one hand and manages to perform his part—flawlessly, at that—holding his instrument in the other. Better yet, he navigates the small strip between podium and the edge of the stage apron, back and forth, without crashing into the orchestra seating of the House for Mozart. His colleagues acknowledge this feat, twice repeated, with generous, bemused applause. (Surely this skill was not part of his job description when he joined Les Musiciens.) Too bad I have to leave Salzburg that night, missing the actual performance and audience reaction.

Minkowski apologizes for having little time; his exhaustion, visible and audible, is not put on. But he patiently listens to questions, volunteers anecdotes, and inquires if I’ve received “the Bach.” Bach is the obvious starting point for the conversation, since his recording of the B-Minor Mass has just been released in France and I had duly listened to it over the last few days. On the notion of “talking about Bach,” Minkowski takes a deep breath, shakes his head as if to jog his brain, and laughs. So much music has piled up since the recording sessions that he needs a moment to get into Bach mode.

The Mass is the first Bach Minkowski has recorded as a conductor, and the beginning of a series of recordings of the great sacred Bach works. This will include the Passions, obviously, and also the Christmas Oratorio? “Maybe.” Why Bach only now? “I stopped myself to record any note of Bach for many, many years—same with Mozart. Mozart, actually, I was performing a lot on the concert stage, but I thought I should be mature enough, because there are so many recordings of all these things and—better be sure you are in the mood. And the same with Bach. And with him that feeling was even stronger, because I played very little of Bach’s music in concert. A cantata here and there, some orchestral suites, but not a lot. After doing a lot of different repertoire, after performing a lot of Handel, Rameau, 19th-century composers, practicing Brahms, Beethoven, there is a moment where I had to go to the roots of this music, which are all coming from Bach. So I thought it was time.”

J.S.Bach, Mass in B-minor, Minkowski / LMdL naïve 5145 (101:05) UK | DE | FR

So when exactly does the point come where one thinks, “The world needs my B-Minor Mass”? Minkowski is nearly horrified of the presumptuousness implied in that question and he waves his hand saying “No, no, no, that’s not the point, no, no!” in that inimitable way only a French accent can vocalize “nonononono.”

“It’s just that all these studies about one singer to a part, they took a long time to be convincing. But for me, now I am convinced and I am happy that I waited, because if you read the writings of Mr. Parrot and Mr. Rifkin it’s so clear”—here he seems to pick up on my quizzically raised eyebrow, because he specifies, “Well, it’s not so clear . . . it’s clear, but there is”—he pauses to think for a few seconds and chuckles—“there is no chorus evidence, anyway.

“In any case, I thought that was a good, new world, a new sound, a new way of having the polyphony of Bach performed. And I’m a great fan of Glenn Gould playing Bach on the piano, because I think there is so much architecture and grandeur present. And I think that if you have a small body of singers, you can achieve the same clear polyphony in his works like a pianist alone or an organist or violinist.” Clear doesn’t mean small or timid, though, and that’s certainly true when listening to his recording. “Well, no, I hope not. The Mass is a monument, I think, like the Bach Chaconne for violin, it’s so incredibly—‘big,’ even with just one instrument.”

Which Bach recordings, since he has mentioned listening to them, did he enjoy particularly? “There are many, and they are maybe of opposite styles, but definitely Peter Schreier when he sings and conducts. His St. John Passion is fabulous. I think it’s so intense and so dramatic—and sounds to me so Germanic, so true. I mean it’s not done in a way I would do it, of course, but I’m completely convinced by the interpretation and the quality of the work. On the completely opposite side, I was a member of Philip Herreweghe’s orchestra [as a bassoonist] and I recorded the B-Minor Mass and the Matthew Passion and some cantatas with him. That was a completely different approach, but I was probably also influenced playing these works with him. Another B-Minor Mass I’ve been listening to for many, many years is Parrot’s recording, but also Rifkin’s, Junghänel’s, and even one of Karajan’s; there are always things that I enjoy and don’t like. And when it comes to Bach, generally, of course most of all Harnoncourt and Leonhardt. I was raised with their cantatas, the big LP sets, the brown covers, the score inside: that’s my adolescence right there.”

When I point out that he takes some parts of the Mass quite a bit slower than other HIP conductors, he chuckles, rather pleased, which, at the time of the interview I interpreted as a sort of approving “Mission Accomplished” agreement. But in direct comparison with two other recent HIP accounts, Veldhoven and Suzuki, the numbers don’t bear that out. Not only is Minkowski at 101 minutes faster than either, there are only two parts, the Agnus Dei and “Qui sedes ad dextram patris,” that are slower than both of theirs. In fact, upon closer inspection, Minkowski’s turns out to be the second swiftest B-Minor Mass on record, bested only by Junghänel, and even then only by a matter of seconds. Still, there are parts where he sounds rather more deliberate than Veldhoven and less hectic than Suzuki. In any case, he doesn’t address the question of tempos except by acknowledging that he is not ideological about such matters.

He is keener to point out that the first part of the Mass strikes him as substantially different from the rest, “darker, more extreme.” The second part he finds “more a story of contrast, of different styles, a small mosaic, very moving but a bit lighter, more of a panorama and inspired from liturgy, whereas the first part is a real prayer. When I see trumpets, timpani, and a 3/8, for me it’s a sign that this is a ‘fly to the sky,’ something that needs to lift off. So my idea is to make the beginning ‘flying’ as much as possible. Certainly [this in response to my suggesting his Gloria imparts hints of a Missa in tempore belli] I never have any feelings of aggressiveness in it. But of course it’s virtuoso music and 3/8 is a sign for me that we should play ‘in one.’ If you have agile enough singers who can do these coloraturas, then it can work. Which I think is what Bach had done. When Bach writes for virtuosity, whether it be for instruments or for the voice, as in Cantata 51, it’s because there were people who could do it.”

To Minkowski’s merriment, I ask him about the birds that contributed to the recording. If you listen closely—he asks me to point it out—very, very closely and loudly or with good headphones, and only between movements—you can hear the chorus of chirping birds delightedly extolling the virtues of Bach and sunshine.

“Yes—they already recorded in this church (Santiago de Compostela). Gardiner did a very nice cantata disc to which I listened and, although I heard the birds, I very much liked the acoustic. So I went there one year before our recording and I heard them even more than last summer, because the weather was a bit colder last summer. The birds are in a big tree, just behind the church, but our recording engineers said it wouldn’t be a problem and I thought that birds are part of nature, after all. There is a recording of Jordi Savall of Marin Marais (“Suitte d’un Goût Etranger”) and they’re much louder on his than on mine.”

Part I --- continue to Part II

Photos of Marc Minkowsky © Philippe Gonthier, courtesy naïve

Handel's 'Ezio'

Handel, Ezio, A. Hallenberg, K. Gauvin, V. Priante, Il Complesso Barocco, A. Curtis (released on May 12, 2009) Archiv 477 8073 Online score: HWV 29

Alan Curtis's outstanding series of Handel opera recordings continues in the composer's anniversary year with two releases, an Alcina with Joyce DiDonato (review forthcoming) and the first complete studio recording of a much less known opera, Ezio from 1732. It was staged a few years ago at the London Handel Festival, and there is an older recording of most of the score, but Curtis's recording naturally sets a standard for this opera. Although Bärenreiter published Michael Pacholke's new edition of Ezio in its excellent new Handel collected works edition, Die Hallische Händel-Ausgabe, in 2008, Curtis made his own edition from the sources. The editorial problems are likely less pronounced than some other Handel operas, since Ezio was given only five performances and never revived during Handel's lifetime, meaning that the composer did not revisit the work and adjust it for new singers.

Ezio is named for a Roman general, Flavius Aetius, in the waning years of the Western Roman empire. Under Valentinian III, he famously defeated Attila at the Catalaunian Plains in 451, saving the empire from the Huns and delaying the ultimate fall of the empire by a few more years. Fear of his general’s growing popularity, however, led the emperor to have Aetius murdered only three years later. Inevitably, amid the wild jealousy and bitter hatred of the declining empire, Valentinian III was himself murdered by Aetius’s friends the following year. The endless cycle continued as Petronius Maximus replaced Valentinian on the throne, only to be murdered within a matter of months.

Alan Curtis's Handel: Tolomeo (2008) Floridante (2007) Radamisto (2006) Rodelinda (2005)

While Monteverdi skewered this sort of poisonous political atmosphere in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Handel adapted his libretto (.PDF file) from one by Pietro Metastasio, which he encountered in its musical setting by Pietro Auletta during a trip back to Rome. Metastasio, the 18th-century opera reformer, believed that his libretti should serve a didactic purpose, instructing both the average viewer and rulers, a moralizing style that was still influential as late as Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, for example. Most of the bloody matter of political assassination is removed from the story, which is even given a happy ending. Thus the hard-knuckled ruthlessness of the late Roman empire becomes the province of castrati and trouser roles in Handel’s theater.

The alto castrato Senesino, simultaneously one of Handel’s greatest stars and a thorn in his side, created the title role, with the contralto Anna Bagnolesi taking the part of Valentiano. They were only part of a dream cast of singers, for whom Handel outdid himself in terms of crafting demanding music to each voice. The opera was recognized as a critical success but did not enjoy the wave of popularity that would guarantee more than the handful of performances it had. Few modern listeners are likely to find it all that absorbing as music drama either, but for Handel fiends and general Baroque addicts alike this recording is now the reference for this opera.

Sonia Prina has a molten, convincingly male sound as Valentiano, reminiscent in many ways of Marilyn Horne: she is one of Curtis's favorites, having also been cast in his Rodelinda. Ann Hallenberg has a gentler tone, appropriate to the more reserved and calmer Ezio. On the soprano side, Karina Gauvin, whom we have long admired, is a shimmering Fulvia. The rest of the cast is strong, many of them featured in other recordings from this conductor and generally adding striking embellishments to the score. Alan Curtis's instrumental forces are in fine form, with stalwart horns answered by hooty recorders and clean strings in Act III's Se la mia vita, for example, and the continuo line enlivened by varied sounds from harpsichord and theorbo. All in all, fine listening.

186'49"

In Brief: At the Lake Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• A dear friend from music school sent this to me this week, a clip from a very funny television show I have not watched in ages: Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Vicki Lawrence performing a movement from Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire. Or something. [YouTube]


• We already seconded Hilary Hahn's take on Tweeting during concerts -- go crazy at intermission or on the bus afterward, but please refrain during the performance. Alex Ross has a survey of other reactions pro and con. [The Rest Is Noise]


• Also with hat tip to Alex Ross, Universal Edition has launched an absolutely fascinating blog in honor of the upcoming Gustav Mahler year. The video interviews with conductors, especially this very engrossing one with Daniel Barenboim, are worth your time. [Gustav Mahler 2010-2011]


• John Hodgman speaks at some correspondents dinner to roast President Obama. Who knew that he used to play the clarinet and viola? [Wonkette]

Beethoven Sonatas - A Survey of Complete Cycles Part 6, 2000 - 2005

Incl: D.Barenboim III • I.Biret • S.Kovacevich • S.Lipkin • A.Lucchesini • A.Øland • A.Sako • C.Sheppard • D.A.Wehr • G.Willems

	Gerard Willems 1997 - 2000 - ABC The pianos used were Australian Stuart & Sons instruments which differ from a standard grand piano in a few salient points and promise, among other factors, greater dynamics and increased sustain. (Nigel Tufnel approves: This piano's number of pedals goes to four!) Recorded at the Newcastle Conservatorium of Music. Availability - directly from Australia. Country / Label USA UK France Germany ABC 2003 No No (Import) Import ABC 2013 + Concerti & Diabellis Import Yes Import Yes (2014)
	Anne Øland 1995 - 2001 - T.I.M. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany T.I.M. Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Andrea Lucchesini 1999 - 2001 - Stradivarius Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Stradivarius No No No No
	Akiyoshi Sako 2001* - Camerata Live recordings from Kobe Shimbun Matsukata Hall. Nine individ. volumes which can, with some effort, be tracked down on Amazon. (* Patching sessions done in 2003.) Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Camerata Yes Perhaps Maybe Possibly
	Stephen Kovacevich 1992 - 2003 - EMI / Warner I remember the Gramophone Magazine fuelled hype well, when this came out. It felt disingenuine, shortly after the magazine had felt EMI's brunt for not backing the Rattle-Vienna Beethoven Symphony cycle sufficiently. Especially given all that lavish praise, it went out of print surprisingly fast. It's now, 2017, been re-issued by Warner. (Which have of course acquired the EMI Classics catalogue in the meantime.) Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany EMI 2003 oop oop oop oop Country / Label USA UK France Germany Warner 2017 Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Ichiro Nodaira 1998 - 2003 - Nami / Livenotes Available in Japan in 12 volumes on 12 CDs. Very complete, incl. Diabelli Variations, the WoO 47 Sonatas, et al. Availability: Country / Label USA UK Japan Germany EMI No No Yes No
	David Allen Wehr 1998 - 2004 - Connoisseur Society Piano used was a Yamaha CF111S. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Connoisseur Yes 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
	Seymour Lipkin (stereo) 2002 - 2004 - Newport Classics Recorded at the Curtis Institute where Lipkin is on the piano and chamber music faculty. (He also teaches at Juilliard.) The cycle is available on CD as three sets of three discs or on one CD ROM as mp3 which comes with the complete score, as well. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Newport Classics 1 - 2 - 3 1 - 2 - 3 1 - 2 - 3 1 - 2 - 3 Newport mp3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Craig Sheppard 2003 - 2004 - Romeo Records Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany Romeo Records Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Idil Biret 1994 - 2005 - IBA This sonata cycle is part of a Beethoven Edition that launched Idil Biret's own label, Idil Biret Archive. It's practically (if not technically) a sub-label of Naxos, the company that has brought her from relative obscurity to becoming a household name. The Beethoven Edition will include not only the sonatas and concertos but also Liszt's Symphony transcriptions which are being re-released on CD for the first time since Biret took them down on LP for EMI in the mid-eighties. The whole thing is also available as one massive 20 CD box. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany IBA Yes Yes Yes Yes
	Daniel Barenboim III 2005 - EMI (DVD) Live performances of the complete sonatas at the Staatsoper Unter der Linden in Berlin, paired with masterclasses. The soundtrack (as it were) has since been released on Decca, as part of their "Beethoven for All" series. Availability: Country / Label USA UK France Germany EMI DVD Yes Yes Yes Yes Decca 2012 Yes Yes Yes Yes

This listing of all Beethoven Sonata Cycles will continue as more sets reach completion or as I find more information about sets already completed.* There are certainly plenty sets under way that should or may reach completion soon: Among them Angela Hewitt (Hyperion), Igor Tchetuev (Caro Mitis), Jonathan Biss (Onyx), Akihiro Sakiya (DPIC Entertainment), Martin Roscoe (Deux-Elles), James Brawn (MSR), Paavali Jumppanen (Ondine) [Completed & Added], Yusuke Kikuchi (Triton) [Completed & Added] et al. I will also add a selection of historically important attempted cycles that were never finished but include >20 >9 sonatas. That would add Rudolf Serkin (CBS, 10 sonatas missing), Bruce Hungerford (Vanguard / Piano Classics, also 10 sonatas missing), Emil Gilels (DG, opp.2/1, 14/1, 54, 78, 111), and Glenn Gould (CBS/Sony, opp.7, 22, 49, 53, 79, 81a, 90 missing, op.106 separate, opp.7 [partly], 49/1, 101 available on CBC recordings). There are seemingly abandoned cycles that will not be included, such as those of  Giovanni Belluci,  Bruno Leonardo Gelber,  Yoshihiro Kondo, or  Per Tengstrand. There are cycles that are unworthy of discussion or outright fraudulent, i.e. not actual piano playing and/or of excrutiating quality and/or cobbled together from other performances. Most famously Joyce Hatto, but apparently also Vladimir Morrone, Giancarlo Andretti, Alicja Kot, and Claudio Colombo.**

* If you count, as I did, Backhaus II and Arrau II as complete, despite one and two (respectively) missing sonatas. I do not count Walter Gieseking (tapes of 4, 5, 7, 20, 22 for a radio cycle are lost, a studio cycle for EMI was missing seven sonatas when he died), Wilhelm Kempff "0" (Polydor, opp.2/3, 22, 27/1, 28, 31/2, 101 missing).

** Invaluable research on this end done by Todd, resident Beethoven-Sonata expert (and addict) at the Good Music Guide Forum.


The (Great) Incomplete Cycles
Part 1: 1935 - 1969
Part 2: 1967 - 1974
Part 3: 1977 - 1989
Part 4: 1990 - 1996
Part 5: 1996 - 1999

Part 7: 2006 - 2009
Ronald Brautigam Special
Part 8: 2010 - 2013
Part 9: 2014 - 2016
Part 10: 2017 - ____

If you have additional information about recording dates, availability, cover art -- or corrections and additions -- your input is much appreciated.

This survey is meant to list all complete sets of Beethoven's Piano Sonatas and their availability in different markets, not to review them.

An Index of ionarts Discographies

Follow @ClassicalCritic

À mon chevet: Debussy and Wagner

À mon chevet is a series of posts featuring a quote from whatever book is on my nightstand at the moment.

The outer events of Tristan und Isolde and Pelléas et Mélisande are far from dissimilar -- or, to put it differently, the two love-affairs whose progress they relate would appear much of a muchness in a divorce-court. [...] But it is necessary to distinguish sharply between Plot, meaning the outward paraphernalia of events, and Subject -- the interior exposition of the heart of the matter. I have outlined the mere plot, in its Tristan and Pelléas version; but the differences of emphasis in the two works render this similarity surprisingly unobtrusive. For the subject of Tristan und Isolde is Passion, or rather, as Mann put it, 'sensuality, enormous sensuality ... sensuality unquenchable by any amount of gratification'. Whereas the subject of Pelléas et Mélisande is loneliness, lack of connection -- in the end a frigid nihilism. This fundamental difference in the two treatments of virtually the same plot, must always be borne in mind during the following account of the correspondences between the two works.

Both operas subsist in a kind of social void. Constant Lambert once remarked that comparison of the off-stage sailors' choruses in the first acts of Tristan and Pelléas provided a microcosm of their respective composers' mannerisms. In the former they sing vigorous anti-Irish songs in a four-square Meistersinger-Guild style, in the latter they are restricted to mysterious cries of 'hisse-hoé, hisse-hoé'. These choruses could also stand for the way in which, in both operas, the world at large remains as it were off-stage. This is exceptional in Wagner, all of whose other operas concern themselves with a wide range of relationships, whether social, familial, psychological, or ritualized.

-- Robin Holloway, Debussy and Wagner, pp. 60-61

A friend reminded me of this book recently, when we spoke about a new book on the sopranos who created the role of Mélisande (review forthcoming), and then lent me his copy. It was a doctoral thesis in the 1970s, published shortly after by Ernst Eulenburg, that examines Debussy's appropriation, either conscious or unconscious, of Wagnerian harmonic and orchestrational structures in his works. Far from being strictly an anti-Wagnerian opera, Pelléas actually has a lot in common with the Wagner operas that Debussy particularly admired, Tristan and Parsifal. The case laid out in Holloway's music examples is pretty much water-tight. More to come.

Out of Frame: 'Tetro'

Vincent Gallo (Tetro) and Alden Ehrenreich (Bennie) in Tetro (photo © American Zoetrope)

Any film signed by Francis Ford Coppola is going to get our attention, even though he has not made a good movie since the 1980s. The legendary American filmmaker, who turned 70 this spring, has spoken of embarking on a second directing career, and his latest movie, Tetro, is the first success of this period of his life. It concerns two sons of a domineering father, an egotistical conductor named Carlo Tetrocini (Coppola's marvelous resurrection of Klaus Maria Brandauer), who are close in youth, both run away from home, and find one another again in the gorgeously shot La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires (cinematography by Mihai Malaimare, Jr.). Shot primarily in black and white, the movie upends time expectations by placing scenes from the past in remembered color, reminiscent of the much more gimmicky use of color as vivid memory in Rumble Fish. The story often descends into melodrama, wearing its emotions on its sleeve, with smoldering 40s-style film noir closeups to impart the seething anger especially of the two male leads, Vincent Gallo and the relative newcomer, Alden Ehrenreich, standing in for the young Matt Dillon of The Outsiders.

Other Reviews: Washington Post | Los Angeles Times | Village Voice | Variety | Manohla Dargis | MTV | TIME | Movie Review Intelligence

The movie has resonances in Coppola's own life: his father was principal flutist in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and then the NBC Symphony under Arturo Toscanini. Coppola Sr. later became a conductor, composer, and arranger, of his son's film scores among other things. In an interview, Coppola identifies himself with Bennie, idolizing his older brother, and the closeness of "The Family" in spite of its many deep-seated issues, referred to throughout the film, recalls the themes explored in the Godfather movies. Coppola financed this movie himself, with proceeds from his successful wine business, writing the script and serving as his own lead producer. It has all the benefits of sole creative control -- a single-minded unity of purpose and style -- and many of the pitfalls, as the film is allowed at times to wallow in self-indulgence, going far over the top in emotional terms.

Maribel Verdú (Miranda) and Vincent Gallo (Tetro) in Tetro (photo © American Zoetrope)

But it is a beautiful film to watch, especially thes scenes set among the glaciers of Patagonia, with absorbing performances by all of the actors. Vincent Gallo, as the scruffy older brother who now goes by the nickname Tetro, is a tortured writer seeking solace from his failures in Argentina, and his psychological unraveling is teased apart bit by bit throughout the movie. Alden Ehrenreich is appealing and open-faced as the younger brother who seeks him out and attempts to bring him back to writing. In the supporting role of Tetro's girlfriend, Maribel Verdú -- a dead ringer for the young Talia Shire, Coppola's sister featured in the Godfather movies -- is both maternal and sultry. The minor role of the literary critic, known only by the mysterious pseudonym Alone, is played with icy hauteur by the sunglass-wearing Carmen Maura, who was so magnificent in Volver and Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios. One of the best parts of the film is an arresting and authentically flavored score by Osvaldo Golijov. Regular readers know that Golijov's music has often not succeeded as serious listening to my ears, but as a film composer, especially one asked to evoke the colorful, moody, sensuous sounds of Argentina's streets, he is unsurpassed. An Academy Award nomination will hopefully come his way.

Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro opens today at the E Street Cinema. Another film recently reviewed, Departures, also opens today, at Landmark Bethesda Row.