pianomania: RARITIES OF PIANO MUSIC AT SCHLOSS VOR HUSUM 2024: PATRICK HEMMERLÉ Piano Recital / Review

PATRICK HEMMERLÉ Piano Recital

Rarities of Piano Music

at Schloss vor Husum 2024

Monday (19 August 2024)

7 pm (via live-stream)

An August summer used to mean something special for me. Alas, that was in a past pre-pandemic life when a stretch of eight balmy evenings were spent in the company of piano music and similarly rabid pianophiles.

I am referring to none other than the Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum piano festival in the north German town of Husum (Schleswig-Holstein), the Mecca of arcane and rarely heard piano works. There is no other festival like it in the world. You won’t find the likes of Lang Lang or Yundi anywhere in sniffing distance, and someday Yunchan Lim and Yuja Wang might even have a chance to play here, if they get lucky.

The opportunity to attend a Husum recital, even remotely and six time zones away, represents a privilege for me and there is no way I was going to miss a performance of the complete Java Suite by Leopold Godowsky. French pianist Patrick Hemmerlé, presently based in Cambridge, is a new name for me and I was astonished at his grasp of the idiom to be found in its twelve movements or phonoramas (musical journeys in Godowsky’s words). Conceived as four suites of three pieces each, this is the Indonesian answer to Isaac Albeniz’s Iberia.

Hemmerlé did not play all 12 pieces in a single gulp, but wisely separated each suite with choice words in English (apparently his German was not strong enough) which helped break the ice between him and the audience. Each third piece was a loud and festive one, rewarded with the rightful applause that was proof he was getting his message across.

Each suite and each piece had a distinct feel of its own, and it was a pleasure to hear these in succession. Although Godowsky did not compose with authentic Javanese / Indonesian idioms in mind, his were impressions of an exotic land with requisite pentatonicisms sprinkled here and there. Much like Abram Chasins’ Three Chinese Pieces or Richard Rodgers’ March of the Siamese Children (The King and I), which sound naive for today’s ears but were quaint during their time.

Suite 1: Gamelan possessed the dizzying counterpoint that had so impressed Debussy. Wayang Purwa is a droll and retiring impression of a dalang (puppet master), while Hari Besaar, the only piece to quote a genuine Javanese melody, had the hustle-bustle of a major market day.

Suite 2: Chattering Monkeys at the Sacred Lake of Wendit is a gamboling Mendelssohnian scherzo, while Borobudur By Moonlight resembled some Ravelian nocturne. The eructations of Bromo Volcano and Sand Sea at Daybreak were of a joyful kind, with no reference to natural disaster. Thus far, Hemmerlé was fully in control of the technical intricacies, while playing completely from memory.

Even Sviatoslav Richter (bottom left)
was compelled to attend this recital.

Suite 3: Perhaps the least authentic were the Three Dances, short inconsequential diversions but did one notice that the third dance closes with the very phrase that opens the next number, Gardens of Buitenzorg? This was Godowsky’s most famous piano piece besides Alt Wien and his Chopin Etude conflations. Time stood still for three minutes of utter sensuousness, with Hemmerlé’s melting legato lines being something to savour, before another rousing romp in the Streets of Old Batavia.

Suite 4: I am in total agreement with Hemmerlé that In the Kraton is the best piece of the dozen. A sense of mysticism and ancient ceremony is totally palpable and its melody one to die for. I was less enamoured of Ruined Water Castle at Djokja which caused my mind to drift a little before the awakening caused by Court Pageant in Solo, which brought the suite to a loud clangourous conclusion.

This Husum premiere of the full set was truly a pleasure to behold. Until Hemmerlé makes a recording of this (he ought to!), one can still luxuriate in Esther Budiardjo’s miraculous recording on ProPiano.

The recital’s second half opened with Nikolai Medtner’s Sonata in G minor (Op.22), not so much a rarity these days because of numerous recordings. However, how often does one encounter this in recitals? Said to have been “born with the sonata form”, Medtner crafted a single movement of 18 minutes with thematic ideas that reach their logical conclusions such that one is floored by its sheer cogency. Hemmerlé’s performance was one of overflowing passion, such a satisfying one that one need not miss the famous 1954 recording by Emil Gilels in antiquated sound.

Hemmerlé concluded his recital with Czech composer Vitezslav Novak’s Variations on a Theme by Schumann (Op.4) from 1893, a true rarity by Husum’s lofty standards. Even its theme is little-known, taken from the Album for the Young (Op.68 No.34), a movement so forgettable that it makes a perfect subject for variations. By its end, you cannot get it out of the system, the literal ohrwurm or ear worm.

It is a charming work with eight variations (each with titles like Feuillet de Album, Serenata, Scherzo, Elegia and Alla Schumann, of course) and an extended finale, clearly a tribute to Robert Schumann himself. Its inventiveness comes through very well in Hemmerlé’s hands, who appears to have made the only commercial recording available. When people come to Husum, it is for performances like this!

Hemmerlé’s sole encore was a substantial one, his own arrangement of the opening aria from J.S.Bach’s cantata Ich Habe Genug (BWV.82) which was utterly beautiful and great way to end this varied and fascinating recital.