Goethe and Beethoven's 'Egmont'

Beethoven, Piano Concertos No. 1 (cadenza by G. Gould), L. Vogt, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, S. Rattle (EMI, 2002)

After an excellent German Requiem last week, Markus Stenz returned to the podium of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, heard on Saturday night in the Music Center at Strathmore. His all-Beethoven program was just as noteworthy for the range of sounds Stenz helped the orchestra create. Part of this success was likely due to Stenz's insistence that a pianissimo truly be a pianissimo, and part could be the result of his re-seating of the orchestra's string sections. The arrangement was similar to what Stenz used last week, although not noted in my review for lack of space: an antiphonal opposition of violins on either side, plus cellos in front of the violas in the center, with basses divided behind them on both sides. (Nothing in the music either last week or this week seemed to require an antiphonal sound.) This made the violas more hidden in sound, not exactly prominent even when they are in the front row, but it also likely forced the musicians to listen a little more carefully.

German pianist Lars Vogt last joined the BSO in 2002, before the foundation of this site. He had a star turn as soloist in Beethoven's first piano concerto, giving a pleasing weight in the keys but also beautifully shaped lines as he nestled comfortably in the sound envelope that Stenz helped the orchestra created around him. An early music crispness ran through Stenz's interpretation, light on vibrato and with a clean and short articulation on all three repeated notes of this most concise of head motifs in the first movement. A virtuosic handling of the first movement was capped by Vogt's choice of a long, contrapuntally complex, and at times truly weird cadenza: it sounded like Liszt or another 19th-century virtuoso, but it was actually written down by Beethoven himself, after the publication of this concerto. (Vogt has recorded an eccentric cadenza by Glenn Gould for this concert, over a decade ago.) The only drawback in the second movement, which was tender and musical, were occasional intonation disagreements between orchestra and piano, and the tempo choice, not too slow, was a nice twist. Vogt was rock solid in the parallel thirds, setting the third movement off at a brisk clip, and the left-hand crossings, giving each line crystalline clarity.

Other Reviews: Robert Battey, Guest conductor Markus Stenz pulls the BSO into an unknown but elite realm (Washington Post, March 14)

Beethoven's overture to Goethe's Egmont is plenty familiar; the rest of his score of incidental music, not so much. Of the nine pieces, the two songs for Clara, the woman loved by Egmont, are the most beautiful, sung here with a clear, measured tone by soprano Lauren Snouffer. Much of the orchestral music otherwise is fairly bland, adding up to not that much without the play it was meant to accompany. The narration read by British actor Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of Baltimore's Center Stage, was only a summation of the action of Goethe's play, but it did the trick. Stenz crafted a crisp and military March movement, and the overlap of words and music in the Melodrama was stirring. As he waits to die in prison, Egmont dreams of Clara, who appears in the guise of Freedom, inspiring Egmont to meet death with resolve, personified by the off-stage drummer that arrived on stage before the triumphant finale.

The play has obvious parallels in Beethoven's opera Fidelio, where the rescue fantasy becomes reality. This made the choice of the second Leonore overture an apt one to open this concert. Stenz's one fault, if it is one, is his sometimes exaggerated gesture. Occasionally both last week and this week, he seemed to rush the beat in his enthusiasm, which disconcerted the ensemble's unity at times, like the dramatic pauses in the opening section of this overture, tricking one of the horns into an early entrance at one point. Going over the top as he did, however, also led to striking dramatic contrasts, and the best moments were not necessarily the loud ones. The offstage trumpet solo, played from a balcony toward the rear of the auditorium, was particularly effective.

#morninglistening: Yundi Chopin

#morninglistening to #Chopin Preludes w/@YundiMusic post-#Chopin17 on @mercuryclassics#c… https://t.co/yQg7JdFOpR pic.twitter.com/k9X2S85TYu

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) October 31, 2015

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Perchance to Stream: Marathon 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 Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France gives a concert performance of Edouard Lalo's last opera La Jacquerie, starring Véronique Gens, Nora Gubisch, Edgaras Montvidas, and Florian Sempey, conducted by Patrick Davin. [France Musique]


• Concerto Italiano performs Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers on 17th-century instruments at the Perth International Arts Festival. [ABC Classic]


• More of the complete performance of Beethoven's violin sonatas, by Julia Fischer and Igor Levit, recorded at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. [France Musique]


• Olivier Schneebeli conducts Les Pages et les Chantres du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles and the Ensemble La Rêveuse, performing music from the convent of Saint-Cyr. [France Musique]


• Remember Nikolaus Harnoncourt with this recording of him conducting violinist Thomas Zehetmair and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in music of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Haydn. [France Musique]


• From the 2012 Salzburg Festival, Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts sacred music by Mozart at Salzburg Cathedral, with Concentus Musicus Wien, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Florian Boesch and other soloists. [ARTE]


• From the Vienna Staatsoper, listen to a performance of Peter Eötvös's opera Tri Sestri starring Aida Garifullina (Irina), Margarita Gritskova (Mascha), and Ilseyar Khayrullova (Olga). [ORF]


• Donald Runnicles leads the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, recorded in Glasgow, with Kim-Lillian Strebel and other soloists. [BBC3]


• From the San Francisco Opera in 2014, Nicola Luisotti conducts a performance of Verdi's Un ballo in maschera starring Ramón Vargas (Gustavo III), Julianna Di Giacomo (Amelia), Thomas Hampson (Renato), and Dolora Zajick (Madame Arvidson). [Radio Clásica]


• Semyon Bychkov leads the Vienna Philharmonic in music of Haydn, Brahms, and Enescu, with soprano Valentina Nafornita. [ORF]


• Marc-André Hamelin is soloist in Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto with the London Philharmonic, and Vladimir Jurowski also conduct's Zemlinsky's Die Seejungfrau. [BBC3]


• Olivier Latry joins the Orchestre National de France, under conductor Fabien Gabel, for music by Chausson, Poulenc, and Debussy. [France Musique]


• The Hugo Wolf Quartett plays quartets by Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Katrin Klose, recorded at the Wiener Konzerthaus. [ORF]


• Music of Handel, Bach, and Vivaldi performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and violinist Rachel Podger, recorded at Brangwyn Hall in Swansea. [BBC3]


• Dima Slobodeniouk leads the Orchestre National de Lyon in Liszt's Hamlet, Beethoven's fifth piano concerto (with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as soloist), and Stravinsky's Petrushka. [France Musique]


• The RSO Wien and baritone Jochen Schmeckenbecher, under conductor Cornelius Meister, perform Friedrich Cerha's Baal-Gesänge, plus music by Haydn and Mahler. [ORF]


• An hommage to Henri Dutilleux featuring Lisa Batiashvili, Valeriy Sokolov, Gérard Caussé, Gautier Capuçon, and Frank Braley, recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris. [France Musique]


• From 2012, Mark Elder conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in music of Berlioz. [CSO]


• Listen to the recording of Rossini's Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra starring Montserrat Caballé (Elisabetta), José Carreras (Leicester), and Valerie Masterson (Matilde). [ORF]

Classical Music Agenda (May 2016)

May is the month of Wagner's Ring Cycle, the first complete one staged by Washington National Opera. Wagner fanatics, like us, will be spending a lot of time in the theater. Here are the Top 10 choices, besides Wagner, for the month of May.

SOLOISTS:
The choice will be difficult on the first day of the month, but we probably fall on the side of the recital by mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and pianist Kevin Murphy (May 1, 2 pm), presented by Vocal Arts D.C. in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Replacing soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci, DeYoung will sing songs by Falla, Elgar, Brahms, Strauss, and Joseph Marx. Later that afternoon is the recital by pianist Murray Perahia (May 1, 4 pm), presented by Washington Performing Arts in the Music Center at Strathmore. Reason No. 1 that I would hate to miss this recital: he will play Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata.

More fireworks come later in the week with an all-Prokofiev recital by pianist Yefim Bronfman (May 3). This free concert at the Library of Congress will feature the sixth, seventh, and eighth sonatas from a leading Prokofiev interpreter.

Pianist Nelson Freire plays music by Bach (fourth partita), Beethoven (piano sonata op. 111), Shostakovich, and Chopin, in his recital at Shriver Hall in Baltimore (May 8).

The concert by violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Emanuel Ax, canceled last September because Perlman had to undergo emergency surgery, will take place this month (May 10), presented by Washington Performing Arts in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

ENSEMBLES:
Opera Bel Cantanti will give a rare performance of Mikhail Glinka's opera Ruslan and Ludmila (May 7 to 15) at the Randolph Road Theater in Silver Spring.

James MacMillan takes the podium of the National Symphony Orchestra, leading performances of Elgar's cello concerto, with soloist Alban Gerhardt, Vaughan Williams's fourth symphony, and his own piece The Sacrifice (May 12 to 14), in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Two programs from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra made the cut, beginning with a concert led by John Adams, pairing his own Harmonielehre with Beethoven's fifth piano concerto with Jeremy Denk as soloist (May 12 in Baltimore; May 15 at Strathmore). John Storgårds takes the podium the following week, leading performances of Holst's The Planets, a new work by Libby Larsen, and Tan Dun's Water Concerto (May 21 at Strathmore; May 20 and 22 in Baltimore).

The talented chamber ensemble Inscape gives two concerts this month. Joined by violinist Miranda Cuckson, they will bring music back to the wonderful Hammer Auditorium at the Corcoran, with music by Douglas Boyce, Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis, and Paul Moravec (May 8). The following week, in their home base at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Bethesda, they perform a more varied program with music by Bach, Wagner, Robert Moran, Steven Stucky, and Jeremy Podgursky (May 15).

The rest of the May schedule will scroll through the Ionarts sidebar.

#morninglistening: Braunfels Annunciation - #SurprisedByBeauty

#morninglistening #Braunfels, The Annunciation. One of his great Operas, at last reissued.… http://t.co/pkViXyvEuU pic.twitter.com/C23Il8XVsh

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) March 6, 2015

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NSO Back from Europe

Liszt, Piano Concertos, J.-Y. Thibaudet, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, C. Dutoit (Decca, 1992)

The National Symphony Orchestra is back from a grueling European tour last month, although they may not have recovered yet. The group actually played its first post-tour program last week, but this week's program is the first to reach my ears since the ensemble's return. Heard last night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Christoph Eschenbach conducted a truly puzzling program that opened with the world premiere of Tobias Picker's Opera without Words, commissioned by the NSO and given its world premiere at this performance.

I have not had the chance to hear much of Picker's music live, but I think of Picker more as an opera composer. This work, ostensibly a concerto for orchestra, did not do much to advance him in my estimation as an orchestral composer. One goes into such a piece expecting innovative orchestration, surprising uses of the instruments, and a range of styles and textures. In most of these expectations, it disappointed. There were solos for the string instruments, none all that remarkable, an extended one for the trombone; in the second movement, along with an odd bit for solo horn, there was a baffling passage for a single melodic line on the piano; the percussion was perhaps overly present, but aside from some lush moments in the fifth and final movement, little stood out in terms of orchestral color or form.

Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet gave a generally fine performance of the solo part in Liszt's second piano concerto. The orchestra did not seem quite on the same intonation page with the piano at the opening of the piece, with its interwoven woodwind solos, but Thibaudet took all the work's flowing runs and thundering octaves in stride, with a few minor exceptions. The work feels like such a hodgepodge: hints of a Tchaikovsky ballet score in the first big orchestral interlude; harmonic and melodic turns that nuzzle up to the edge of jazzy Gershwin; a devilish scherzo that morphs into a pompous march; an elfin dance finale. In the second movement, we suddenly wake up and find ourselves in a cello sonata for a short time, which was a particularly lovely moment in this performance.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Picker premiere leads NSO’s packed program (Washington Post, March 11)

It has been a very Brahms year so far, with recent reviews of the composer's fourth symphony, first symphony, and German Requiem. Christoph Eschenbach's way with the first symphony did not give me much hope that his interpretation of the third symphony would be my cup of tea. Indeed, right from the opening bars, with an affected swell of a crescendo, it seemed overblown. The orchestra, following his lead, blasted (brass) and oozed (strings) their way through this most charming of symphonies, a piece easily marred by most kinds of excess. Much of the first movement felt rushed, leading to clipped endings of phrases, and parts of it were mannered, with sudden changes in tempo or dynamic that did not seem justified. The second movement was schmaltzy and overly slow, and the third movement, with its ardent opening cello melody, was overdone by stretching and overplaying, although the return of that main melody, now in the horn, was gorgeous. More distortions of tempo filled the finale, on top of which three of the composer's Hungarian Dances was just overkill.

This concert repeats on Saturday night only.

Andreas Staier Waxes Saturnine

...pour passer la melancolie, A. Staier (Harmonia Mundi, 2013)

Early keyboard specialist Andreas Staier got his start as harpsichordist of the excellent historically informed performance ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln, sadly now defunct. Staier has released a series of excellent recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label, which we have followed with great interest at Ionarts. He always plays on interesting and historically appropriate instruments, whether in Mozart concerti or an especially delightful Beethoven Diabelli Variations. Although Staier has played somewhere in Washington some years ago, our first opportunity to review him in a live concert finally came on Wednesday evening, in a beautiful recital at the Library of Congress.

Staier played the same program as on his 2013 CD, ...pour passer la melancolie, devoted to the subject of melancholy as found in musical representations of the theme of Vanitas — down to the Courante of Clérambault's first book of Pièces de Clavecin, left off the program but definitely played. Thomas and Barbara Wolf brought their harpsichord built in 2005, modeled on a Nicolas Dumont instrument from 1707, loaned by the University of Maryland; happily, Staier did not play any part of the program on the Landowska Pleyel in the Library's collection. One obvious side of musical melancholy came in the rhapsodic freedom Staier took in the preludes and other free pieces, taken with a free sense of rubato that had the feel of improvisation. This was balanced by dance pieces in more strict rhythm, as well as fugues and other contrapuntal pieces that were more cerebral.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Contemplating mortality, with pleasure, at harpsichord recital (Washington Post, March 10) James R. Oestreich, Andreas Staier on the Harpsichord, Coaxing Gravity and Gloom (New York Times, March 7)

Minor finger slips or places where the key did not quite make the key sound only served to underscore the contemplation of the fleeting nature of human endeavor, in music or anything else. As he did with the instrument on the recording, a reconstructed historical instrument, Staier brought out a charming range of sounds from the Wolf harpsichord, by combining stops in unexpected ways. A full registration in the prelude from the first book of d'Anglebert's Pièces de Clavecin set up the more mellow Tombeau de Mr. de Chambonnières that followed.

In all of these lament pieces, like Louis Couperin's Tombeau de Monsieur Blancrocher and Froberger's plaint on his own misfortunes during a trip to England, Staier used the hesitations and slow pacing to create a sense of ineffable nostalgia. Never did the concept of the Doctrine of the Affections, espoused by late Baroque theorists, seem so relevant as this music in this performance steeped a room in sympathetic gloom. Insufficient applause prevented Staier from playing an encore, which may possibly have been the only piece from the CD he did not play, Froberger's lament on the death of King Ferdinand IV.

#morninglistening: Alice Cooper, Peter, and the Fucking Wolf Baby!

#morninglistening to #PeterAndTheWolf in Hollywood on @dgclassics w/@RealAliceCooper which… https://t.co/Ma4pqDbwZl pic.twitter.com/YUcwd9qKcj

— Jens F. Laurson (@ClassicalCritic) October 28, 2015

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