CD Reviews (The Straits Times, March 2015)

SVIATOSLAV RICHTER

Complete Album Collection

Sony Classical 88843014702 (18 CDs)

****1/2    

The reputation of legendary Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) had already preceded him when he made his debut American concert tour in late 1960. Tickets to his six Carnegie Hall recitals were sold out in advance and studio recordings of concertos and popular repertoire had been lined up. This box-set captures all these concerts and the rave reception deservedly accorded by the New York audience. 

His first recital on 19 October had five Beethoven sonatas, with a blistering account of the rarely-performed F major Sonata (Op.54) preceding the tumultuous F minor Appassionata Sonata (Op.57). His all-Prokofiev recital on 23 October was a revelation; many in the audience were encountering the recently-deceased Soviet composer's Sixth and Eighth Sonatas for the very first time.

The best way to sample these discs is to replicate the exact sequence in which the Americans were being exposed to Richter's gripping genius. His repertoire was selective but far-reaching, with Haydn, Schumann, Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Rachmaninov and Scriabin thrown into the mix. The recitals on 26 and 28 December have the same programme but different encores. The only caveat: the Carnegie Hall in-house recording equipment was rudimentary and the sound is wretched. 

The studio recordings of Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 (Chicago Symphony with Erich Leinsdorf) and Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1 (Boston Symphony / Charles Munch) with RCA Victor have excellent sound and are acknowledged classics. Two discs of 1988 live recordings of Brahms' Sonata No.1, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1, Chopin Etudes and Liszt solo works showed that his visionary spark and phenomenal technique had not dimmed through the years. These performances demonstrate why Richter was regarded by many as the greatest pianist of the 20^th century.  

RACHMANINOV

Complete Works For Piano

VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY, Piano et al

Decca 478 6348 (11 Cds) / *****

The Russia-born pianist-conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy has the distinction of being the only person to have recorded every single note Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) wrote for the piano, which includes solo works, concertos, chamber music and songs. 

This labour of love with the Decca label began in 1963 soon after his defection from Russia to the West, continuing till 2012 with a final disc of miscellaneous short and unpublished works. This box-set relives some of the best Rachmaninov playing on record, including Ashkenazy's second (and more opulent) cycle of the four piano concertos and Paganini Rhapsody, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.

Among the solo works, his view of the nine Etudes-Tableaux Op.39 and Corelli Variations (two recordings of each from 1973 and again in the mid-80s) remain unsurpassed for passion, colour and sheer Russian-ness. Unforgettable too are the two Suites (Op.5 & 17) and Symphonic Dances for two pianos where he is partnered by Andre Previn. 

Only the Piano Sonatas Nos.1&2 fall somewhat short of his highest ideals, the former recorded in 2011 after he had been diagnosed with arthritis. Making cameo appearance are his wife Dody and eldest son Vovka, both pianists, in the Romance and Waltz for six hands and assorted piano duets. For Ashkenazy's authority, sheer breadth and depth of emotional investment, this set is close to indispensable.

STEVEN SPOONER Piano Recital / Review

STEVEN SPOONER Piano Recital

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (12 May 2012)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 May 2012 with the title "Voting in the halcyon era of great pianists".

Originally entitled a Sviatoslav Richter Commemorative Recital, American pianist Steven Spooner, piano professor at University of Kansas, gave his audience a choice of four different recital programmes to choose from. This element of serendipity, interaction, and ultimately spontaneity, was an unusual departure from the norm of a concert pianist having a fixed recital programme that is played to death within a given season.

It also harked back to the halcyon era of great pianists (the likes of Anton Rubinstein, Josef Hofmann and Rachmaninov come to mind) who had such wide repertoires that the entire length, breadth and depth of piano literature is explored over a series of evenings. As it turned out, the audience voted out the austere Richter recital, favouring instead programmes inspired by Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Spooner’s own arrangements.

Thus a Chopin group opened the evening, with a Polonaise, four Mazurkas, a Waltz and the Second Scherzo, all exhibiting a sensitive ear for gradations of sonority, and an intuitive feeling of rubato. For the Polish dances, the lilt was delicious, lingering ever so slightly but not overdone. Outright virtuosity came to the fore in the Scherzo, but there was never a forced or ugly sound.

Three short works that Horowitz loved came next, first a delicate Scarlatti Sonata in D minor, Rachmaninov’s melancholic Prelude in G sharp minor and the lovely cantabile of Liszt’s transcription of Schubert’s Serenade. In the latter, the intimate voices became so intertwined in a tender love duet that was simply hard to resist.

Spooner then played two of his own Virtuoso Etudes, first an improvisation on My Funny Valentine in the manner of Keith Jarrett, followed by a Latino toccata that interpolated Scarlatti’s repeated notes with Ginastera’s cascading chords as if it were played by Spooner’s idol, the ageless Argentine Martha Argerich. The operative word here is “if”. 

The recital was so absorbing for both pianist and audience that the customary quarter-hour intermission was completely forgotten when Spooner offered to play requests. Most votes went to Liszt’s Thirteenth Hungarian Rhapsody with Horowitz’s elaborations, last heard here played by Arcadi Volodos in 2005. If anything, Spooner displayed a greater sense of freedom in the slow lassu introduction, and more than matched the regaled Russian in the furiously fast friss to close. 

Then there were calls for Liszt’s B minor Sonata and the hymn Amazing Grace. Amazingly, Spooner played the descending G minor octave scales that open the 30-minute long Sonata. Settling comfortably in G major, the famous John Newton hymn later emerged from the mist and was subjected to the full gospel treatment. That cunning little act of “preluding”, a practice of old and now almost forgotten, lives again!   

PIANOMANIA POLL: Who is your favourite bald pianist?

There is no fear of being politically incorrect in Pianomania, which was why I created this crazy poll on favourite bald pianists, especially when yours truly is aspiring to be one. The bald part is leading the pianist part by a fair distance, I must confess. We had a respectable 93 votes over three months, averaging almost one vote a day, so obviously people having been reading. Thank You!

No.1 SVIATOSLAV RICHTER (1915-1997)

By far the overwhelming winner of this poll with 56 votes (60%) was the late great Russian with the notorious habit of cancelling concerts at the last moment. He often performed with a score with very dim illumination, but his performances had a devastating intensity, never mind the wrong notes. His recordings of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto and Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata (on Deutsche Grammophon) are the ones to have.

NO.2 RUDOLF SERKIN (1903-1991)

The great Austrian pianist (17 votes, 18%) settled in USA and became one of its legends. His memorable recordings included Brahms Piano Concertos (with George Szell), Mendelssohn Piano Concertos and much chamber music on Columbia Masterworks (now Sony Classical). For a purist who wouldn't touch Rachmaninov with a 10-foot pole, his Prokofiev Left Hand Concerto and Bartok First Piano Concerto are well worth hearing.

No.3 SHURA CHERKASSKY (1909-1995)

My personal favourite bald pianist (14 votes, 15%), having heard him perform "live" at the Victoria Concert Hall in 1994. His playing had an inimitable directness and swagger, only matched by his delicate mincing walk to the piano. On that evening presented by the National Arts Council (Thank you, Goh Ching Lee!), he played no less than 4 encores!

NO.4 WALTER GIESEKING (1895-1956)
NO.5 SIR CLIFFORD CURZON (1907-1982)
NO.6 SOLOMON (1902-1988)

Oldies but goodies, and it is great that people still remember them for their artistry, well documented in their recordings. Gieseking (11 votes, 11%) was king in Debussy, Ravel and Rachmaninov, besides his mastery in German composers. Curzon (10 votes, 10%, his original surname was Siegenberg) was at his best in Austro-German repertoire, gloriously captured in his Decca recordings. Solomon (9 votes, 9%) his surname Cutner was dropped) was unfortunate to have loss the use of his hands because of a stroke, but his EMI Classics recordings showed why he was one of the greats.

NO.7 VLADIMIR KRAINEV (1944-2011)
NO.8 DMITRI BASHKIROV

Two Russians, both well known as teachers, polled 7 and 5 votes respectively. I had the fortune of witnessing Krainev perform, just once in 2006 at The Joy of Music Festival (Hong Kong). He played music by Brahms and Shostakovich, and impressed with an air of authority and big sonority.

N0.9 PETER DONOHOE, NELSON GOERNER & BELA SIKI

All (3 votes, except Toradze who had just 1 vote have performed in Singapore. Bela Siki, now in his 90s, is remembered for being the first person to perform Bartok's Third Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (1981). He then followed several years later by playing Dohnanyi's Variations on a Nursery Tune and Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain in the same concert!

After starting this poll, I discovered to my horror that I had forgotten many more follicularly challenged pianists, including a number of great ones! So they appear here in this collage. See how many you can name!

1st row: Ignaz Paderewski (who once had lots of hair), Armen Babakhanian (prizewinner at Van Cliburn & Leeds), Robert Taub, Xu Zhong (Chinese virtuoso who gave the Singapore premiere of Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto), David Helfgott (remember him Shine?), Ivan Moravec (one of the greats), William Grant Nabore.

2nd row: Kong Xiang Dong (Winner at Sydney 1992), Alberto Portugheis (Ginastera champion), Christoph Eschenbach (became bald as a conductor), Sergei Prokofiev, Alexis Weissenberg (a late lamented great), Philip Fowke, Valery Afanassiev.

3rd row: Glen Inanga (the balder half of the Micallef-Inanga Duo), John Lill, Dan Zhaoyi (famous teacher of Li Yundi), Louis Lortie, Menahem Pressler (of the Beaux Arts Trio), Arie Vardi (another teacher of Yundi), John O'Conor.

4th row: Friedrich Gulda (how could I have forgotten him?), Michael Ponti (the Hamelin of the 1960s and 70s), Nikolai Medtner, Philippe Cassard, Wayne Marshall (perhaps better known as an organist), Rodion Shchedrin, Dag Achatz (of those famous BIS piano recordings).

Its not how much hair you have on your head, but how you play that matters.

CD Review (The Straits Times, October 2010)

SVIATOSLAV RICHTER
Pianist of the Century
Deutsche Grammophon 477 8122 (9 CDs)
*****

Was the Ukraine-born pianist Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997) really the greatest pianist of the 20th century? If not, he ran the likes of Horowitz, Rubinstein and Rachmaninov pretty close. Richter had a vast repertoire, and his recordings over the decades, including bounteous bootlegs of dubious quality, are legion. These vintage DG studio recordings dating from 1956 to 1962 however represent him in peak form. The original LP programmes and cover designs have been reproduced, even if the playing time of some discs is very short. CD 6, with Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Vienna Symphony and Herbert von Karajan, runs under 37 minutes.

The flipside are some of the best recorded performances in the catalogue. Has Richter’s magisterial reading of the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto ever been bettered in modern times? Few of today’s pianists can find the same brooding quality, ironic charm and steely ferocity for Prokofiev’s Eighth Sonata. The sulphur-spewing eruptions that open and close Scriabin’s Fifth Sonata rip up the speakers like no other. While peerless in Russian repertoire, his Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and few minutes of Debussy are no less authoritative. This set is a collector’s item worth treasuring.