Aimard Chases the Fugue

J. S. Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, P.-L. Aimard (released on August 19, 2014) DG 479 2784 | 112'05"

Every performance by Pierre-Laurent Aimard is full of unexpected things, and his recital at the Library of Congress on Friday night was no different. The experience of watching the French pianist play some of the preludes and fugues from the first book of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier -- what he did with the sustaining pedal, how he approached the keyboard -- helped me understand the sounds that are captured on his recent recording of the work.

Most of the Bach preludes and fugues were fairly close to how they were rendered on the disc, especially the pair in E-flat minor, one of the highlights of both recording and recital -- the operatic lament of the prelude heavily pedaled, the fugue a little deliberate. The A-flat prelude was one of the pieces that ticked away like a clock, with Aimard's quirky rolling of chords to set it apart. There Aimard applied the pedal in a fluttering way, while in the C# minor fugue, the pedaling created a resonant wash-like acoustic effect. In the F-sharp prelude, by contrast, the two voices danced in a clean and articulate way, the three lines of the fugue each given an independent character. Sometimes the choices were extravagantly weird, like the choppy, even truculent insistence on bringing out the subject in the E-flat fugue, or the endless trill in the tenor voice on the final chord of the G minor fugue, marking that Picardy third for what seemed like an eternity, just in case you missed it. The most complicated fugue, the A minor, reveled in untangling each strand of this complex web of moving parts. The B-flat prelude was shaped as a sort of wild toccata, with a rather fast take on the fugue, which helped make this piece into a convincing conclusion for the Bach selections.

Other Reviews: Philip Kennicott, French pianist Aimard delivers strange recital at Library of Congress (Washington Post, November 10)

Beethoven's A-flat sonata, op. 110, was equally odd, the arpeggios light and feathery, with the pedal deployed again to create an often murky sound. Aimard took almost no pause before launching into the scherzo, with its silly folk-song references (snatches of Unsa Kätz häd Katzln ghabt, or 'Our cat has had kittens', and Ich bin lüderlich, du bist lüderlich, or 'I'm a slob, you're a slob') all performed with an archly raised eyebrow. The recitative introduction to the last movement had a mercurial spontaneity, but what Aimard was really after here was its concluding fugue, which spun rapidly out of control from the moment the subject returns in inverted form. Not that it fell apart, although there were a few loose spots, but in trying to observe Beethoven's tempo marking literally ("poi a poi nuovo vivente") you had the sense of Beethoven forcing the music out of the performer's control -- that is, the fugue, most controlled of forms, slips out of its collar and runs away.

The final piece, the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel, op. 24, by Brahms, was probably a case of the musician biting off more than he could chew, a long-winded and exhausting work that was not entirely in Aimard's fingers or brain. There were many intriguing diversions: the sweet perdu quality of the fifth variation, the sotto voce sixth, the hunting calls and obsessive horse-galloping motif in the left hand of seventh. The lesson, ultimately, is that even the best fugues of both Beethoven and Brahms are not half as ingenious as a Bach fugue, perhaps because they were trying to be twice as clever.

The next concert at the Library of Congress will feature recorder virtuoso Matthias Maute and Ensemble Caprice (November 21).

Beatrice Rana Returns

Chopin, Preludes / Scriabin, Sonata No. 2, B. Rana, recorded at the Concours Musical International de Montréal (ATMA Classique, 2012)

Charles T. Downey, Beatrice Rana, a pianist, returns to D.C.
Washington Post, November 4, 2014

Last year Beatrice Rana, on the heels of her silver medal at the Van Cliburn Competition, gave her Washington-area debut at Wolf Trap. The Italian pianist was back on Saturday afternoon for a concert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, presented on the Hayes Piano Series by Washington Performing Arts. Her startling technique remains among the most faultless of young pianists today, and it was displayed, in this recital, in some dazzling repertoire.

Rana took some of the movements of Bach’s first partita (B-flat major, BWV 825) with rhythmic freedom... [Continue reading]

Beatrice Rana, piano
Washington Performing Arts
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

Perchance to Stream: Dedication of the Lateran Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio and online video from the week gone by. After clicking to an audio or video stream, you may need to press the "Play" button to start the broadcast. Some of these streams become unavailable after a few days.

• The ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Wien, conducted by Peter Rundel, performs Georg Friedrich Haas's Concerto Grosso Nr. 1 for four alphorns and orchestra. [ORF]


• The Orchestre National de France performs Schubert's third symphony, with conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, plus Mendelssohn's "Lobgesang" symphony with the Choeur de Radio France and soloists Christiane Karg, Carolina Ulrich, and Maximilian Schmitt, recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. [France Musique]


• René Jacobs leads the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin in a concert of music by Galuppi and Pergolesi, with soprano Im Sunhae soprano and mezzo-soprano Isabelle Druet as soloists. [RTBF]


• From the Ratisbon Baroque Music Festival last June, the choir Vox Luminis performs music by Heinrich Schütz and members of the Bach family, recorded at the Schottenkirche St. Jakob. [France Musique]


• A performance of Gaetano Donizetti's opera Caterina Cornaro, starring Maria Pia Piscitelli (Caterina Cornaro) and Enea Scala (Gerardo), Fwith Paolo Carignani conducting the chorus and orchestra of the Opéra National Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon, recorded last July. [RTBF]


• Christoph König leads the Solistes européens in music of Debussy and Bizet, plus the Brahms first piano concerto with Anna Vinnitskaia as soloist. [RTBF]


• Pianist Cédric Tiberghien plays Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto with the Orchestre National d'Ile de France and conductor Enrique Mazzola, who also conducts Kodaly's Hary Janos and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. [France Musique]


• A recital by pianist Till Fellner, with music by Mozart, Bach, Haydn, and Schumann. [RTBF]


• Pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger joins the Modigliani Quartet to perform Louis Vierne's Quintet for Piano and Strings, op. 42, plus a Schubert string quartet, D. 87, recorded at the Auditorium du Louvre. [France Musique]


• Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in music by Strauss and Wagner, including the Four Last Songs with soprano Dorothea Röschmann. [RTBF]


• Laurence Equilbey leads the Insula Orchestra and the choir Accentus in music by Mozart, Beethoven, and Weber. [France Musique]


• Matthias Pintscher leads the Ensemble Intercontemporain in music by Clara Iannotta (Intent on Resurrection), Luigi Nono (Omaggio a György Kurtag), and Helmut Lachenmann (Concertini), recorded at the Cité de la Musique in Paris. [France Musique]


• Listen to Mariss Jansons conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in his hometown of Riga in Latvia, with music by Dvorak and Shostakovich. [BR-Klassik]

• From this past summer's Festival de Saint-Denis, Sofi Jeannin leads Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien and the Maîtrise de Radio France in chants by Hildegard von Bingen, followed by a new piece by Ibrahim Maalouf, based on Hildegard's music. [France Musique]


• John Storgards conducts the BBC Philharmonic in music by Elgar, Nielsen, and Walton. [BBC3]


• The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales perform Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, with Mark Wigglesworth conducting Anna Larsson and other soloists. [BBC3]


• Listen to a performance of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier from last summer's Salzburg Festival, starring Krassimira Stoyanova (Marschellin), Sophie Koch (Octavian), and Mojca Erdmann (Sophie). [RTBF]


• Riccardo Chailly leads the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester in a selection of music by Richard Strauss, recorded last June in Leipzig. [ORF]


• Listen to some archived performances of music by Richard Strauss, with Marek Janowski conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, with soloists including Lucia Popp, Sumi Jo, and Soile Isokoski. [France Musique]


• John Storgards conducts the BBC Philharmonic in music by Mozart, Panufnik, and Sibelius (Symphony No. 2). [BBC3]


• Musica Alta Ripa, the Knabenchor Hannover, and Göttinger Knabenchor, with countertenor Henning Voss, perform music by Henry Purcell, William Turner, Thomas Tallis, and others, recorded last May at the Göttingen Handel Festival. [ORF]


• Yuri Temirkanov leads the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in music by Liadov, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich. [BBC3]


• Gianandrea Noseda conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in music by Elgar, Beethoven, and Sally Beamish. [BBC3]


• Edward Gardner conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in music by Schubert, Henze, Larcher, and Adams. [BBC3]


• Anna-Maria Helsing conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in music of Mahler, Weber, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, and Berg, with mezzo-soprano Monica Groop and soprano Johanna Rusanen-Kartano, recorded in 2013 in Helsinki. [ORF]


• Ensemble Chelycus, with soprano Nele Gramss and other soloists, perform music by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Antonio Cesti, Antonio Draghi, and others, recorded in 2013 in Bremen. [ORF]


• Pianist Muza Rubackyte performs a recital with music by Beethoven, Bach, and Liszt, recorded at the Salle Gaveau. [France Musique]

Dip Your Ears, No. 180 (Cantatas for Ascension Day)

J.S.Bach, Cantatas for Ascension Day J.E.Gardiner / EBS, Monteverdi Choir / L.Ruiten, M.Bragle, A.Tortoise, D.Henschel SDG

Gardiner, Ascending

In 2000 John Elliot Gardiner went cantata-hopping around the globe. The results were spirited but uneven. Four cantatas ruined by extraneous noises have been added now to complete the task. And how! Much more than a creditable capstone to this sensually most pleasing of Bach Cantata cycles, it combines some of Bach’s best with the best of Gardiner. The central work “Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen” The Ascension Oratorio BWV 11 sounds like a miniature passion: Jubilant magnificence in glorious C and D-major, trumpets, and many familiar moments where Bach parodies previous works, including that supremely touching closing chorale from BWV 43 also on this disc. Perhaps the best in the bunch! 

More "Dip Your Ears" reviews of Gardiner’ Bach Cantatas here (v.1 & 8) and here (v.24)

Aimard and the Fugue, Part 2

J. S. Bach, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, P.-L. Aimard (released on August 19, 2014) DG 479 2784 | 112'05"

Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a pianist known for putting together intelligent and challenging recital programs. He is an unflinching modernist, champion of Messiaen and other 20th-century giants, but in recent years he has shown an interest in the fugue, especially in the works of J. S. Bach. A few years ago, he made a recording of Bach's Art of Fugue, and this year he is giving recitals (like one at the Salzburg Festival) featuring the music from his latest disc, the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier. This evening at the Library of Congress, he will give a free concert combining a selection of the Book 1 preludes and fugues with music by later fugue-obsessed composers (Beethoven's op. 110, and the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, op. 24, by Brahms).

The new Bach recording is a pleasure to listen to, with an affable quality that seems to reflect the extraordinary sabbatical taken by Aimard as he worked on this music. As revealed in an excellent documentary a few years ago, Aimard submits his performances, and the instruments he plays on, to exacting standards of sound, almost to the point of obsession. Aimard's intensity comes across in his face in live performance, which although one cannot see here is expressed in some deep breaths and sighs captured in the sound. He often takes a no-nonsense approach rhythmically, with the sense of a machine unwinding on a little rotor in the A minor prelude; at the same time, although the pedal is often left untouched, as in the C minor prelude, taken at a serious clip, the playing is expressive, too.

The choice of sometimes bizarre but fun articulations often brought a smile to my face, like the way Aimard wallops the first note of the A major fugue's subject, followed by a rest that dares you to make a sound. A crispness of articulation seems to show an appreciation of HIP players on the harpsichord, heard in the C-sharp prelude and D minor fugue, for example, and the improvisatory freedom of toccata-style preludes like the B-flat major. The sensitivity of touch and sound creates some beautifully layered voicing, as in the pile-up of entrances in the E-flat prelude, which is one of my favorite pieces in the set. The most beautiful performances are the mournful arioso of the E-flat minor prelude, like an operatic recitative accompanied by theorbo, and to a lesser degree the E minor prelude, with its explosion of fast notes.

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Sterling Bruckner

Mendelssohn, Violin Concerto, J. Jansen, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, R. Chailly (Decca, 2007) Bruckner, Symphony No. 7, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, H. Blomstedt (Forte, 2007)

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, founded in 1781, is one of the oldest orchestras in the world. The band that Felix Mendelssohn once led is a regular visitor to the area, last invited by Washington Performing Arts Society way back in 2004. Since conductor Riccardo Chailly took the reins, they have been in the area only once, in Fairfax in 2007, and did not make a stop in the American capital city on their 2010 tour. No matter when they appear, as they did again on Wednesday night, presented by Washington Performing Arts in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, you can be sure that Ionarts will be there, even if the rest of Washington did not have the good sense to fill the hall.

Nikolaj Znaider returned, too, with the Mendelssohn violin concerto for this performance, the piece that he also played on the 2010 tour. The violinist has been a regular guest of the National Symphony Orchestra in recent years, playing the Elgar concerto in 2010, Beethoven in 2007, Bruch in 2005, but this was our first chance to hear him play the Mendelssohn live. He took savagely fast tempi in the outer movements, investing this over-familiar work with some needed sizzle, but with enough poise to give those high E-string flautando notes exceptional accuracy and freedom, with a real showman's touch. Chailly led the musicians in a rhythmically flexible and dynamically sensitive accompaniment, with mahogany-smooth string sound and mellow woodwinds. The second movement was not too slow, with impeccable double-stop technique from Znaider and absolutely whispered pianissimo playing from the orchestra. Znaider's off-string playing in the third movement was also right on the money, fast as a flash but without ever feeling rushed or discombobulated.

Other Reviews: Robert Battey, Gewandhaus Orchestra does German canon justice at Kennedy Center (Washington Post, November 6) Tim Smith, A trip through music history with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig (Baltimore Sun, November 6) Marcus Karl Moroney, Majestic, Magnificent Mendelssohn from the Source (ConcertoNet, November 4)

We have been hearing a lot of Bruckner's seventh symphony (E major, WAB 107) in the last few years -- the Philadelphia Orchestra and the NSO most recently -- but you will hear no complaints from me. Chailley kept the cymbal crash in the slow movement, even though to bring two percussionists (percussion and triangle) on the tour just for that one climactic moment was an extravagance -- and one that I admire. The first movement began almost imperceptibly, the molten cello theme appearing slowly, first shadowed by elegant horn solo. Chailley's tempo was expansive, with lots of room to stretch the tempo, and the pedal point-anchored crescendos and solid brass sounds, especially from the Wagner tubas, as in the triumphant conclusion of the first movement, were even outdone by the shimmering soft accompaniment given by the musicians to the delicate flute solos. In the second movement, the violin sound on the G string was forceful and intense, and the scherzo was suitably fast and implacable in pacing, the one moment of rapid energy in a long and sustained musical form, with a more relaxed and luscious-toned trio. Chailley's sure hand over the arc of this piece meant that after that almost obsessive scherzo, the finale fell into place with intensity and focused energy, making for an experience to be cherished.

The next visiting ensemble will be Anne-Sophie Mutter and her Mutter Virtuosi (November 23), for which we will back in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, a program that includes a new piece by Sebastian Currier.

Things I've Seen Lately

At the turn of the last century, Louis Vuitton began his career with a novel idea, a steamer trunk for the fashionable and wealthy who were traveling the world on shiny new gilded steam ships. Vuitton covered his hand-crafted luggage with a weather-resistant wax canvas, and into the wax he embossed his signature emblem. Thus began a fashion empire and the beginning of the signature brand.

The architect Frank Gehry has created his own signature brand of building design which made him the perfect choice to design a home or, more precisely, land ship, to hold the historical collection of Louis Vuitton designs at the Louis Vuitton Foundation, in the Bois de Boulogne, in Paris.

Unfortunately for me I visited on the first day the center was opened to the public, and the line to enter was cued around the building. Nonetheless it was a beautiful fall day, perfect for strolling around the impressive, billowing sculpture. Clearly this new addition to the Paris cultural scene will be a destination point with many music, art, and performance programs going on.

Back in New York there has been an interesting phenomenon happening, the gallery as museum. Some of the best curated exhibits can now be seen in blue-chip galleries. Gagosian Gallery's West 21st Street location has a fascinating exhibit, Picasso and the Camera. Curated by Picasso scholar John Richardson, it's a pretty concise look at the influence the camera had on Picasso's work and being Picasso, his imprint on the camera. Lots of photos, some paintings I've never seen, from private collections and many drawings and preparatory sketches. The show is up through January 3rd.

On West 27th, Paul Kasmin, in partnership with the Dedalus Foundation, has a survey of Robert Motherwell works on paper. Again it is a museum-quality survey that explores Motherwell's role in blending European Surrealism with the work of the Abstract Expressionists in New York. A whole gallery of drippy, washy, splashy genius, including forty works from his Lyric Suite, an ode to Japanese Zen calligraphy.

The painter Sharon Horvath traveled to India this past year on a Fulbright-Nehru Scholarship. She was already a painter of dazzling scapes and imaginative environments, and her travels have added an interstellar dimension that she didn't previously have. I think she may have found her water-lilies. Horvath's work is up until the 8th at Lori Bookstein.

An exhibit that has created a bit of buzz and discussion was David Hockney's recent show of large inkjet prints of his iPad drawings, titled The Arrival of Spring, at Pace Gallery. Hockney has been an avid iPad user from the start. The program seems perfect for his matter-of-fact style. Spring rain in the Yorkshire countryside never looked better.

Sumi Hwang Incandescent at Phillips

Queen Elisabeth Competition: Voice 2014, S. Hwang (inter alii) (MP3, 2014)

Charles T. Downey, Soprano Sumi Hwang soars at the Phillips Collection
Washington Post, November 4, 2014

In 2012, Sumi Hwang won second prize at the ARD Music Competition in Munich, followed this year by the Grand Prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. The Korean soprano showed why at her American debut recital, a knockout hour-long program presented on Sunday afternoon at the Phillips Collection.

Hwang’s lyric soprano voice has a pearly clarity, the intonation just, and the tone even and pretty across its range. She had a pleasing simplicity in a set of three songs from Schumann’s “Myrthen,” Op. 25, giving a sense of excitement to... [Continue reading]

Sumi Hwang, soprano
Jonas Vitaud, piano
Phillips Collection