CD REVIEWS (The Straits Times, October 2016)

BACH Piano Works

NELSON FREIRE, Piano

Decca 478 8449 / *****

The music of Bach has not featured in the recordings of Brazilian piano virtuoso Nelson Freire, until now. That is a surprise given how well attuned he is to the baroque idiom. 

It might be argued that Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) never conceived his keyboard music for the modern piano, but if one considers these works to be transcriptions, Freire's view of Bach originals and hyphenated Bach (other composers' arrangements) can rank with the very best.

Four major works – Partita No.4 in D major, Toccata in C minor, English Suite No.3 in G minor and the Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue – are played first on this album, illustrating his utter clarity, immaculate phrasing and total command of counterpoint and infectious dance rhythms. There is a joie de vivre which he makes entirely his own. 

Bach's own transcription of Alessandro Marcello's Adagio (from the Oboe Concerto in D minor) and transcriptions by Busoni (of three Chorale Preludes) and Siloti (Prelude in G minor) are elegant and sound freshly minted. He concludes with the familiar Myra Hess version of Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring, a seamless reading that caps a totally enthralling recital, all 82 minutes of it.

DANCER ON A TIGHTROPE

BARTOSZ WOROCH, Violin

MEI YI FOO, Piano

Champs Hill 114 / *****

This anthology is a showcase of the solo violin’s “brave new world”, and it is not as forbidding as one might think. Its title comes from Sofia Gubaidulina's Dancer On A Tightrope (1993) for violin and piano, which opens with a repetition of the A note and builds up into a formidable caprice. Like a stuntman's balancing act on a high wire, it is a hair-raising experience for the listener.

The idea of polyphony on a violin began in the baroque era with Biber and Bach, and modern composers developed further ideas from there. Grazyna Bacewicz's thorny Sonata No.2 (1958) is such a work, and so is Paul Hindemith's fairly accessible Sonata Op.34 No.2 (1924), which culminates in variations on a song that also appears in Mozart's Piano Concerto No.27.

Prokofiev's Sonata Op.115 (1947) is the disc's most approachable piece, a tuneful neoclassical look back on old dances, meant to develop a violin student's technique. Likewise, Alfred Schnittke's Fuga (1953), a student work discovered after his death, is a far cry from his atonal and polystylist style of mature years. 

Polish violinist Bartosz Woroch’s highly impressive technique is ultimately servant to the music's digital and spiritual challenges. He is joined by Malaysian pianist Foo Mei Yi on prepared piano in John Cage Six Melodies (1950), short studies in Zen-like serenity. This is a stunning show of violin virtuosity, comparable with Gidon Kremer's legendary Paganiniana album from the 1980s.  

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2015)

RADIO DAYS

CONCERTO BROADCASTS 1968-1979

NELSON FREIRE, Piano

Decca 478 6772 (2 CDs) / *****

Until recently, Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire had flown under the radar, admired by cultists and cognoscenti but relatively unnoticed by the musical mainstream. His award-winning recordings for Decca in the past decade have firmly and deservedly placed him in the spotlight. These recordings of radio broadcasts from Germany, France and Holland during the 1960s and 70s reveal a fiery virtuoso whose light has never dimmed over the years. The repertoire here reminds one of his close friend and regular two-piano partner Martha Argerich, and he yields nothing to the tempestuous Argentine.

His view of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto is passionate, and sparks fly in Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Note also that he used the same rolled chord employed by Horowitz (not notated in the score) at the climax of the finale to thrilling effect. A rarity is Schumann’s Introduction and Allegro Op.134, a late work that had some influence on the young Brahms. Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto did not figure much in his concerts but his sympathy and trenchant response were never in doubt. There is an inexorable and magisterial sweep to Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto while no punches are pulled for Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, where he is found at the peak of his prowess. This is a truly worthy release in celebration of Freire’s 70^th birthday. 

HOMECOMING: A SCOTTISH FANTASY

NICOLA BENEDETTI, Violin

BBC Scottish Symphony

Decca 478 6690 / ****1/2

After exploring her Italian roots in the well-received album Italia, former BBC Young Musician of the Year winner Nicola Benedetti has now turned to the musical traditions of the land of her birth, Scotland. The obvious starting point was German composer Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy, which quotes a number of Scottish folksongs and embellished in orchestral finery. She gives a sumptuous performance of its four movements, equal to the best readings in the catalogue, and is well supported by the BBC Scottish Symphony conducted by Rory McDonald.

The balance of the album has a crossover element which is just as interesting, including colourful settings of songs by Robert Burns, James Scott Skinner and contemporary folk composer Phil Cunningham. Burns is represented by the love songs Ae Fond Kiss, My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose and Auld Lang Syne, the last being in the form of variations for solo violin. Benedetti has a tone that is long-breathed and sonorous, yet is capable of the frenetic folk fiddling to be found in Scottish jigs and reels, when she collaborates with folk musicians.

Almost stealing the show is Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis whose tongue-twisting agility in the Mouth Music And Tunes Set and the traditional song Coisich A Ruin (Walk, My Beloved) has to be heard to be believed. The disc closes with Bonnie Banks Of Loch Lomond, in a reading that truly stirs the heart. A very enjoyable 76 minutes, even if you are not a Scot.     

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2014)

BRASILEIRO

NELSON FREIRE, Piano

Decca 478 3533 / *****

This is a sparkling anthology of piano music from the homeland of celebrated Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire. Brazil’s most famous composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) accounts for 16 of the 30 tracks, all short pieces with strong melodic threads and infectious rhythmic interest. In Alma Brasileira (Soul of Brazil), Caboclo’s Legend, Saudades de Selvas Brasileiras (Longing for the Brazilian Jungle) No.2 and Valsa da Dor (Waltz of Grief), the listener is introduced to the spirit of “saudade”, a state of mind understood only by Brazilians equating with nostalgia and yearning. In Carnaval das Criancas (Children’s Carnival) and movements from Cirandas, Prole do Bebe (Doll’s Family) and Guia Pratico (Practical Guide), the simplicity of childhood songs is the main focus.

The other composers are less well known, but Carmago Guarneri’s Danca Negra, Alexandre Levy’s Tango Brasileiro , Joaquim Netto’s Minha Terra (My Country) and Francisco Mignone’s Congada occupy a similar ethno-musical pigeon hole as Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona’s famous dances. Freire lavishes much love and missionary zeal in these numbers and there is rarely a moment in the 74 minutes that sounds repetitious or outlives its welcome. This album is very enjoyable and hence ardently recommended.   

BOOK IT:

NELSON FREIRE @

21^st Singapore International Piano Festival

School of the Arts Concert Hall

Saturday 28 June 2014 at 7.30 pm

Tickets available at SISTIC

IN 27 PIECES

THE HILARY HAHN ENCORES

HILARY HAHN, Violin

CORY SMYTHE, Piano

Deutsche Grammophon 479 1725 (2 CDs) / *****

Just a few years back, the American violinist Hilary Hahn commissioned 26 composers worldwide to write an encore piece for violin and piano lasting about five minutes in playing time. A further work was selected from a field of over 400 “blind” entries. The results are fascinating but somewhat predictable. Presumably every composer wishes to have his or her piece performed more than once, hence all chose the tonal and aurally accessible path. From Briton Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Hilary’s Hoedown (2 minutes) to Azeri Franghiz Ali-Zadeh’s Impulse (6 minutes), the pieces fall roughly into three broad categories: scherzo-like and virtuosic, still and ruminative, and ethnically-influenced in the case of Asian composers.

Hahn’s technical armamentarium seems limitless as she negotiates a multitude of styles, flavours and moods. For a sample of diversity, try Avner Dorman’s toccata-like and minimalistic Memory Games, the raga-simulations of Kala Ramnath’s Aalap and Tarana, Michiru Oshima’s sentimental Memories, David del Tredici’s meditative and hymn-like Farewell, or bluegrass fiddling in Mason Bates’s Ford’s Farm. Nowhere does she and her piano-partner sound less than committed.  Enough of Bach, Paganini or Ysaye to close a concert. Thanks to Hahn, these new encores will be winningly received.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2011)

LISZT Harmonies du soir
NELSON FREIRE, Piano
Decca 478 2728 / *****

This recital of piano music by Franz Liszt runs for under an hour, but every minute is well spent. Brazilian virtuoso Nelson Freire deliberate eschews outright fireworks and goes for the poetic. There are neither vulgar operatic fantasies nor showboating transcriptions, and the most overt display comes in the brooding Second Ballade in B minor which portends “tragedy on an epic scale”, and the ecstatic chords of the penultimate Transcendental Etude, Harmonies du soir (Evening Harmonies). These performances highlight Liszt’s much underrated greatness.

Of the much vaunted Hungarian Rhapsodies, Freire picks one of the shortest, the Third, contrasting lugubriousness with shimmering tinkles of the Hungarian cimbalom (dulcimer). The Six Consolations, hardly Liszt’s most flashy of cycles, find a sympathetic interpreter who fleshes out its genteel spirituality. Those hankering for some of Liszt’s scintillating fingerwork will relish moments in the concert etude Waldesrauschen (Forest Murmurs), Valse Oubliee No.1 and Petrarch Sonnet No.104, and Freire duly obliges.