SILVER AGE / Daniil Trifonov / Review

SILVER AGE

Daniil Trifonov, Piano

Mariinsky Orchestra

Valery Gergiev

DG 483 5331 (2 CDs)

 

The “Silver Age” was used by impresario Sergei Diaghilev referring to an epoch of musical activity in Russia that lasted from the death of Tchaikovsky to the rise and entrenchment of Soviet socialist realism. That period of creative efflorescence spanned some thirty years, from the mid-1890s through the fin de siecle and First World War to the late 1920s. Prize-winning Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov, having served Rachmaninov’s music (mostly the piano concertos) well on Deutsche Grammophon, now turns his attention to the piano works of Scriabin, Stravinsky and Prokofiev.   

 

In the notes, he describes “an increasingly fractured, social, political and intellectual environment – a cocktail of different artistic expressions, in agitated interaction.” This handsome double album has a convenient dichotomy: solo works fill up the first disc while concertos occupy the second. The formula works pretty well for continuous listening except for issues of chronology.

Great Russians:
Scriabin, Stravinsky & Prokofiev

 

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was a Chopin devotee before turning into a self-styled mystic and messianic spiritualist. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) began as the folksy disciple of Rimsky-Korsakov, later espousing primitivism (for The Rite of Spring) and neoclassicism. Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was the enfant terrible of modernism but eventually settled down to an appeasing lyricism during the Stalin years. Trifonov, for reasons best known to him, somehow gets these dates jumbled up.

 

The first disc opens and closes with Stravinsky. However one first gets to hear his neoclassical phase with the Serenade in A (1925), a four-movement suite based on antique forms. Its polite sensibilities are however rocked by Prokofiev’s five Sarcasms Op.17 (1912-14), music from his iconoclastic phase, deliberately grotesque and provocative as one can get. Then its a thirty year leap forward to his Sonata No.8 in B flat major (1944), the most lyrical (albeit its fair share of barbed wire and gunfire) of his “War Trilogy” and the dainty Gavotte from the ballet Cinderella (1940-44). Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1910) as transcribed by Guido Agosti makes a suitably sonorous end to the recital, but should this have been the Prokofiev sonata instead? Make no mistake, Trifonov performs these varied works, despite stylistic differences and quirks, to the manner born.

 

In a logical and natural progession of things, Scriabin’s youthful Piano Concerto in F sharp major (1896), with its Chopinist musings, ought to precede Prokofiev’s brooding yet swashbuckling Piano Concerto No.2 (1913, reconstructed 1923) with Stravinsky’s Three Movements from Petrushka (1911) as sandwich filling. From a listener’s stand point, that should have been ideal, but Trifonov however reverses the sequence, opening with Prokofiev before going back in time to Scriabin. In doing so, he seems to be reclaiming the nostalgia of the pre-Bolshevik revolution era, by turning his back on decadance to witness the last hurrah of lush Romanticism.

 

It is interesting to note that both concertos have not been particularly well-served by DG over the decades. For the Scriabin, there is only the eccentric Antol Ugorski (remember him?) with Pierre Boulez from the late 90s. Trifonov is preferable here. For the Prokofiev, which has enjoyed a renaissance at the turn of the millennium, Trifonov’s rivals are two Chinese pianists: Yundi Li (with Seiji Ozawa) and Yuja Wang (with Gustavo Dudamel). Wang edges this contest simply because her reading generates the greatest excitement.

 

Make no mistake, Trifonov double-disc album is a worthy addition to any pianophile’s library. He is a commanding artist in his native repertoire, but do have a programming facility ready on your disc player to enjoy the music in a chronological and historically-informed sequence. 

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2015)

VIRTUOSITY:

MUSIC IS LIKE A MIRROR

EuroArts 2061288 (DVD) / ****

The 14^th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, held in Fort Worth (Texas) in 2013, was the first edition of American's most prestigious competition to take place after the death of its muse, the American pianist Van Cliburn (1934-2013). He had become an international superstar and national hero after winning the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958. 

The competition’s  documentary movie, directed by Christopher Wilkinson, follows its predecessors by having a linear narrative, beginning with 30 competing pianists arriving from all over the world, the piano selection process and performance footages, all the way to the prize presentation ceremony. Where it departs from the others is its focus on pianists as individuals with high hopes and ambitions, who stake their reputations and lives for their art, as well as the role of music critics.

Even the “losers” get a look-in, particularly the elimination of baby-faced American Steven Lin (an audience favourite who was perhaps deemed to lack gravitas, left) and the angst-ridden Italian Alessandro Deljavan (who probably displayed too much angst for comfort). 

In the bonus section, there are performances by the eventual prizewinners Vadym Kholodenko (in Liszt's Wilde Jagd), Beatrice Rana (Ravel's Scarbo) and Sean Chen (Scriabin's Sonata No.5). Somehow through the proceedings, one gets the subliminal message that this competition, with typically American glitz, glamour and big money, was becoming a triumph of youthful proficiency and marketability over plain and good old (and sometimes boring) artistry.  

SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No.9

Violin Concerto No.1

LEONIDAS KAVAKOS, Violin

Mariinsky Orchestra / VALERY GERGIEV

Mariinsky 0524 / *****

Here are two works of Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) that could have landed him in trouble, even risking time in a gulag. In the eyes and ears of Soviet cultural watchdogs under the Stalinist regime, their musical message would have been marked as subversive. His Ninth Symphony Op.70 was composed in 1945 near the end of the Great Patriotic War, and instead of a grand life-affirming Ninth in the joyous manner of Beethoven that was expected, the result was a short and unusually wry account of faux-rejoicing. There are three fast movements of enforced gaiety separated by two dark slow movements. The 4^th and 5^th  movements are linked by a mocking bassoon solo, an instrument he frequently associated with bumbling bureaucracy.

The First Violin Concerto (originally Op.77, later revised to Op.99) was completed in 1948, but its premiere was witheld until 1955, after the death of Stalin. A pessimistic tone and the incorporation of Jewish klezmer elements were deemed inappropriate during a climate of artistic censorship and anti-Semitism. It has now become one of the most performed 20^th century concertos, and Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos gives a searing performance that does not stint on its communicative power and shock value. The Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev are close to ideal interpreters, acutely aware of the music's trenchant qualities and having Shostakovich's ironic idiom in their blood.   

VALERY GERGIEV WITH LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA / Review

VALERY GERGIEV WITH

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Esplanade Concert Hall

Wednesday (19 November 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 November 2014 with the title "Fine performance, cool response".

Not since 2010 when the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra performed here has a pair of orchestral concerts at the Esplanade been so keenly anticipated. Tickets were sold out in advance, and even the gallery seats behind the orchestra had its full share of takers at $200 apiece. The London Symphony Orchestra, which last performed here in 2004, did not offer any Elgar or Vaughan Williams but all-Russian repertoire on two evenings, conducted by its Russian Principal Conductor Valery Gergiev.

Dmitri Shostakovich’s Festive Overture was a most apt curtain-raiser, allowing the orchestra to flex its virtuoso biceps from the outset without any hint of irony. The rousing brass fanfare was followed by a series of impressive solo runs from the woodwinds, establishing the tenor of the work, which flourished on its fast paced and high octane delivery.

With its credentials laid on a plate, the orchestra then partnered the high-flying young Russian pianist Denis Matsuev, controversial 1^st prize winner of the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, in Rachmaninov’s ever-popular Second Piano Concerto. He is a pianist with talent and technique to burn, but one intent to make the listener hear every single note he nails on the keyboard.

Posing like a Russian rival to Lang Lang, the opening chords were taken at a lugubrious pace, the objective of which was unknown as its plodding was immediately undone by the orchestra in the tutti exposition of the main theme. Technically, Matsuev was faultless but what he chose to do with the music was often questionable, such as racing through the slow movement like a grand prix driver late for supper.

When the music needed to breathe, ruminate and reflect, there was just that constant and needless urge to showboat. At least the big melody of the finale had its moments to luxuriate – not once but twice – but that was just the foreplay to more of that “wham, bam, thank you, m’am”. The closing cadenza leading to the most thrilling part of the work was a blinding blur, and the crashing cascade of chords to close was calculated for maximal applause.

There were two encores, Anatol Lyadov’s Musical Snuffbox, which sparkled like a diamond in Matsuev’s fingers, and the Grigory Ginzburg transcription of Grieg’s In The Hall Of The Mountain King from Peer Gynt, where the temptation to crucify the piano became simply too irresistible.

Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony thus came as a relief in the concert’s second half. His late and penultimate work, composed after years of exile from Russia, has yet to match the popularity of the Second Symphony. An over-arching sense of nostalgia and regret makes it the most Russian of his three symphonies. Under Gergiev’s direction, one could feel its brooding and attempts to assuage the palpable pain with melody on its outset.

Finally, the playing had become less harried and hurried, with the orchestra truly imbibing its Slavic essence, and “stewing in Russian juices”, as one long-dead critic has been oft-quoted. It never felt draggy through its forty minutes, and there were many moments of genuine warmth and excitement, chief of which was in the central movement’s vehement march-like episode.

Concertmaster Roman Simovic’s violin became an object of beauty as the slow movement closed while clarinet, cor anglais and flute solos all shone. A more nuanced and moving performance would be hard to find, but due to the finale’s short-winded and all-too-abrupt end, the applause was less than vociferous. The curtain calls were brief and the encore of Prokofiev’s March from The Love For Three Oranges greeted more politely than lustily.

What, no standing ovation for LSO?

It was strange to note that the Singapore Symphony Orchestra received a standing ovation at the BBC Proms in London in September, while hardly a soul stirred to rise for the London Symphony Orchestra in Singapore. Was the closing work too subtle, the audience too reticent, too measly or too discerning? One can only hope that the all-Prokofiev programme in the second evening is more warmly received.  

TCHAIKOVSKY INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 starts today!

The prestigious International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow starts today, and will run till 30 June. Simultaneously , the violin, cello and voice competitions will also be taking place in different venues in Moscow and St.Petersburg.

The 30 competitors for the Piano competition, with their performing repertoire, and a sample video of playing, may be found on this link: http://www.tchaikovsky-competition.com/en/2011/piano/competitors

Interestingly, the top two prizewinners of the recently concluded Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition are among the contenders, Daniil Trifonov (1st) and Boris Giltburg (2nd). The 3rd prizewinner of the last Tchaikovsky Competition in 2006 - Alexander Lubyantsev - is also in contention. This time, under the directorship of Valery Gergiev, a 1st prize will be awarded.

To access live and archived performances, please click on the Webcast icon on this link:

http://www.tchaikovsky-competition.com/en