CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2015)

TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No.1

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.2

KIRILL GERSTEIN, Piano

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

James Gaffigan, Conductor

Myrios Classics 016 / ****1/2

This may come as a shock to some: the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 we know and love was never approved by the composer. This new recording revives the 1879 version of the warhorse, which Tchaikovsky conducted till his death in 1893, and has since been posthumously replaced by Alexander Siloti's popular edited version. This was also the version performed by Lazar Berman and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic at the 1994 Singapore Arts Festival.

What are the major differences? The cascades of opening chords in the 1^st movement are arpeggiated (spread out as if being played by a harp), and there is a major restoration of excised material in the development of the finale which is whimsically elaborative, almost altering its complexion. Furthermore, the final run of double octaves near the end is now maginally less brilliant than the Siloti version.

Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein gives an excellent account of these original thoughts, while the unchanged balance of the work has to yield to more explosive performances by Horowitz, Argerich and Freire. Its generous coupling is Prokofiev's monumental Piano Concerto No.2, a masterly and well-judged performance, in its revised version. The original was irretrievably lost during the Russian Revolution, but hope springs eternal for its eventual resurrection and recovery.    

KARAJAN AND HIS SOLOISTS I

Warner Classics 825646336258 (8 CDs) / *****

The recording legacy of Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) will forever be associated with the Deutsche Grammophon label but he had a very fruitful relationship with the British EMI label, cutting highly successful records from 1946 to 1984. This is the first volume of concerto recordings for EMI, dating from 1948 to 1958, with great soloists all of whom he outlived. The tragically short-lived Romanian pianist Dinu Lipatti's takes on Mozart's Piano Concerto No.21 and Schumann's Piano Concerto will be cherished for their surprising drive and lack of timidity.

The Schumann also features, despite an unfortunately incomplete 1^st movement, with the German Walter Gieseking, who also recorded Mozart (Piano Concertos Nos.23 & 24), Beethoven (Piano Concertos Nos.4 and 5), Grieg and Franck (Variations Symphoniques) with Karajan. True to his authoritarian reputation, Karajan's collaborations were noted for their pristine sense of order and total lack of histrionics.

However there is warmth to the Mozart concerto recordings with The Philharmonic Orchestra, partnering Dennis Brain (another soloist who died young) in the four horn concertos, and a British wind quartet in the Symphonia Concertante K.297b. The absolute rarities are Kurt Leimer's Piano Concerto in C minor and Left Hand Piano Concerto, with the composer as soloist, virtuoso works of neo-Romantic slant with influences of jazz and film music. Finally, Hans Richter-Haaser registers one of the most underrated readings of Brahms's Piano Concerto No.2. Essential listening, not just for Karajanophiles. 

Great Recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic

GREAT RECORDINGS
BY THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER

I was asked by The Straits Times to come up with a list of top recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra which will be performing in Singapore next week. Here was my shortlist, and much as I would have liked to include others, I was limited to 3 recordings by Sir Simon Rattle and 3 from his predecessors. This list (obviously highly contentious) was published in the 4 November edition of Life! (as a sidebow to Akshita Nanda's main article).

It will be a cliché to restate that the Berlin Philharmonic and great audio recordings were made for each other. Under Herbert von Karajan, its chief conductor from 1955 to 1989, the orchestra became the world’s leading recording orchestra. Its recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon label were synonymous with instrumental perfection, crystal clarity and interpretive authority, reproduced on state-of-the-art sound equipment, bringing the concert hall experience into the living room. Karajan’s recorded legacy with the Berliner Philharmoniker was continued by his successors Claudio Abbado (also on Deutsche Grammophon) and Sir Simon Rattle (on EMI Records).

3 Top Recordings from BPO & Sir Simon Rattle
(All on EMI Classics)

SCHOENBERG Gurrelieder (2001)

The Songs of Gurre, Arnold Schoenberg’s fin de siècle early symphonic choral masterpiece, calls for over 400 performers. This recording achieves the near perfect fusion of orchestral opulence and vocal magnificence, marshalled with unerring sense of drama and pacing.

MAHLER Symphony No.9 (2007)

Mahler’s swansong symphony, full of nostalgia and bittersweet regret, receives a moving performance that piques, stirs and ultimately overwhelms the senses.

BRAHMS Four Symphonies (2008)

As common as recorded Brahms symphony cycles are, this ranks at the summit. Recorded in concert, the spontaneity of a live event is never sacrificed in the quest for note-perfection. It retails at budget-price too.

3 Top Recordings from BPO & other conductors
(All on Deutsche Grammophon)

BEETHOVEN Symphony Cycle (Karajan, 1961-62)

Many collectors consider this to be Karajan’s finest of three recorded cycles with his beloved orchestra. Beethoven’s brio and fist-shaking angst are indelibly captured, unhindered by the slower speeds adopted in later cycles.

SECOND VIENNESE SCHOOL (Karajan, 1972-74)

The music of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern still represents to some an insurmountable hurdle, the triumph of musical objectivity over emotions and feelings. These recordings uncannily fuse unimpeachable intellect with aural beauty.

MAHLER Symphony No.6 (Abbado, 2005)

The choice pick from a crop that that reinforces the Berlin Philharmonic as the ultimate Mahler orchestra. The inexorable drive and sheer vehemence of tragic fate has seldom been better portrayed in this earth-shaking reading.