CD Review (The Straits Times, January 2018)

CHOPIN EVOCATIONS

DANIIL TRIFONOV, Piano

Mahler Chamber Orchestra 

Mikhail Pletnev (Conductor)

Deutsche Grammophon 479 7518 (2 CDs) 

****1/2

Here is yet another recording pairing both of Frederic Chopin's piano concertos, but this one is quite different. Spread over two discs, multi-award winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov plays the concertos in reverse order, which is chronologically correct. 

The Second Piano Concerto in F minor (Op.21) was composed before the First Piano Concerto in E minor (Op.11) but published later, hence the larger opus number. He takes an expansive view of both concertos, aided and abetted by veteran pianist-conductor Mikhail Pletnev's orchestrations which drags out the tuttis, highlights and adds quirky and piquant woodwind voices.

Trifonov's playing is however light-footed and scintillating which prevent the performances from sounding portentous or ponderous. His Chopin-inspired additions are excellent, teaming with his teacher Sergei Babayan on two pianos in the delectable Rondo in C major (Op.73), and two wonderful sets of variations. 

Chopin's own La Ci Darem Variations after Mozart's Don Giovanni and Federico Mompou's Variations On A Theme By Chopin, based on the little A major Prelude (Op.28 No.7), get performances which will be hard to better. Throw in further encores in the form of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu, Barber's Nocturne and shorter pieces by Schumann, Grieg and Tchaikovsky, one gets a more complete picture. This is truly Chopin advocated with dedication and love.    

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2011)

RACHMANINOV The Symphonies
Russian National Orchestra / MIKHAIL PLETNEV
Deutsche Grammophon 477 9505 (4 CDs)
****1/2

There was a time when recordings by Soviet-era Russian orchestras were praised for authenticity but vilified for poor sound. This changed when Russia’s first “hard currency” orchestra – the Russian National Orchestra – was formed by pianist Mikhail Pletnev with the encouragement of then-Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, and realised by recordings on the German “yellow label”. Rachmaninov’s three symphonies and choral symphony The Bells were recorded between 1993 and 2000, and remain close to definitive performances on disc.

Although Rachmaninov was not an overt nationalist, an over-arching Russianness pervades the symphonies, hung-over from Tchaikovsky and obsessed with the medieval chant Dies Irae (Day of Wrath). The melancholy and sense of doom are captured convincingly, also indelibly colouring the tone poems The Rock, The Isle Of The Dead and his final work, the three Symphonic Dances, almost a fifth symphony. This chief rival to this budget box-set is the Concertgebouw Orchestra led by Vladimir Ashkenazy (on Decca) but that does not include the cantata John Of Damascus by Rachmaninov’s teacher Sergei Taneyev, a masterpiece of Russian choral orthodoxy and counterpoint. A must have for lovers of Russian music.

THE ART OF AUTOGRAPHS (Part 2)

Mikhail Pletnev's near-illegible scrawl

Windows to the soul?

So what do artists’ autographs look like? They range from grandiloquent sweeps (Evelyn Glennie, Carlo Curley), beautiful cursives (Barry Tuckwell, Angela Hewitt, Anne Sophie Mutter), illegible claw-like scratches (Ivo Pogorelich, Mikhail Pletnev), to the very basic writing of one’s name (Seow Yit Kin, Marc-André Hamelin, Ronald Stevenson).

Krystian Zimerman (above) signs only with green ink, while Yo-Yo Ma uses two different styles, including one in Chinese characters. The French-American pianist Joel-François Thiollier always includes an aphorism or wisecrack, crafted on the spur of the moment.

A collage of autographs (from L):

Pinchas Zukerman, Marc Neikrug's 

hieroglyphics, David Finckel's reverse check 

and Oscar Shumsky's yin-yang

One of the most unusual specimens comes from the late American violinist Oscar Shumsky, which looks like the yin yang symbol – an S inscribed within the confines of an O (OS for his name, get it?). Other intriguing ones belong to pianist Marc Neikrug - which looks like some ancient script - and cellist David Finckel (of the Emerson Quartet), which comprises merely the Nike check and a dot. “Just done it!” it seems to proclaim.

Do these autographs reflect their owners’ personalities or characters? I am not a graphologist but I would like to think that something in an artist’s psyche comes through in their handwriting besides their music. SSO Music Director Lan Shui’s autograph is slick and stylised, just like his conducting. Russian maestros Mstislav Rostropovich (above), Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Vladimir Ashkenazy (below) all sign their multi-syllabic surnames in full – displaying a certain pride in their heritage.

Local composer Tan Chan Boon’s resembles an alpine peak, mirroring the loftiness of his Bruckner-like symphonies. Arch virtuosos like Arcadi Volodos and Peter Donohoe, who simply refuse to do autographs (a gesture of contempt for the very people who support their careers), probably suffer from some hidden inferiority complexes.