YET ANOTHER HUSUM BLOG 2018 / Part 2

Van Cliburn with Nikita Krushchev.
"Is he the best? Then give him the 1st prize!"

Sunday 19 August 2018

MATINEE: STUART ISACOFF Lecture-Talk (11 am)

This year marks the 60^th anniversary of Van Cliburn’s triumph at the 1^st Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958. In his book When The World Stopped To Listen, the American write Stuart Isacoff detailed the circumstances that led to Cliburn’s unexpected victory and the ramifications it had to the Cold War. 

His 90-minute lecture-talk was illustrated by slides (and an exhibition of historical photographs) and video clips at the competition and in the company of Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev. It also relived the tensions between the superpowers and how Cliburn’s love for Russian music and the Russian people (and their whole-hearted reception and reciprocation), led to a temporary thaw in relations, and a new appreciation for classical music’s role in world peace. 

Isacoff’s anecdotes were filled with humour, and the breezy account was much enjoyed by a very receptive audience who were full of questions. Will there be a future Van Cliburn  to ease the Trump-Putin-Kim jam the world is in now? Probably not.

MUZA RUBACKYTE Piano Recital (7.30 pm)

The ethos of the Husum Rarities Festival is the quest of different harmonies. So it was totally appropriate to hear the 12 Preludes Op.36 (1914-15) of Louis Vierne, the French composer far better known for his organ music. He was a contemporary of Rachmaninov, so the rich textures and harmonies of the late Romantic period were not unexpected. The wonder was why we have not heard these works as often as those overplayed preludes by Chopin or Rachmaninov. 

Rubackyte does a wonderful job, producing a robust and beefy sonority, especially in the numbers which are thick with chords and more complex harmonies. She also passionately presses the case for her compatriot Mikulajus Ciurlionis, a selection of Preludes and Nocturnes are beautifully rendered.

The highlight would have been the shockingly short-lived Reubke’s single-movement Sonata in B flat minor, dedicated to his teacher Franz Liszt. The poor man died at the age of 24 (probably from tuberculosis, the AIDS of the 19^th century), and should have accomplished very much had he lived another 24 years more. 

Anyone who would respond to Liszt’s B minor Sonata would very much warm up to the thematic transformation and metamorphoses to be found in the Reubke. The main theme returns strategically and becomes like an old friend. Rubackyte was not totally secure with the work, had several short memory lapses, and over-compensated by banging. Not the most persuasive case to be made here, and the same overwrought manner also affected her two Liszt encores, Les Jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este and the Third Liebestraume.  

Rush hour at the Holm in Flensburg.

In a Flensburg record shop.

Monday 20 August 2018

ANTONIO POMPA-BALDI Piano Recital

The Italian Antonio Pompa-Baldi gave one of the best recitals in the 2017 Festival, and was a natural to be re-invited. His programme this year mirrored the successes of last year, which included an early Romantic sonata and a selection of popular songs in excellent arrangements. 

Last year’s Czerny was replaced by Hummel, Mozart’s most successful pupil, and his E flat major Sonata was a pleasure to listen to – the lightness of Mozart unencumbered by Beethovenian angst, and a sweet Rondo to close. Completely different was Sergei Liapounov’s 12^th Transcendental Etude, in Memory of Franz Liszt, which sounds like an overblown version of Liszt’s own Heroic Elegy that is his Fifth Hungarian Rhapsody. It is heavy and portentous, full of sighs and grumbles with without a fast friss to provide that extra frisson to drive these showy rhapsodies.

The balance of his programme was much lighter, such as Chabrier’s Bouree Fantasque, which is jocular and frolicsome. With Pompa-Baldi’s variegated touches, one can literally hear the jokes. As with last year’s festival, Roberto Piana’s transcriptions return with a garland of Neapolitan songs, such as Santa Lucia, La Danza, Funiculi Funicula and Core N’grato among others, performed with much gusto. Would it be unkind to refer to these as high class lounge music? In the same vein, Poulenc’s Napoli, three movements which include a Barcarolle, Nocturne and Italian Caprice close the recital on a spirited high.

As before, Pompa-Baldi was generous with encores – five in total. He seems to think that the number five is obligatory. These include his own transcription of Rachmaninov’s Vocalise (which like the Sergio Fiorentino version, is straight-forward but beautiful), two Piazzolla tangos (Libertango and Oblivion), Grieg’s Notturno in C major and a true rarity, Serenade by Frenchman Gabriel Grovlez. AP-B’s pianism is a gift that continues giving.  

VAN CLIBURN MEMORIAL CONCERT in Fort Worth, Texas

On 27 February 2013, the world lost one of its great statesmen of music with the death of American superstar pianist Van Cliburn (1934-2014). He was the first winner of the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958, when the world was embroiled in an arms race between the Soviet Union and the Western world which we now know as the Cold War. He brought peoples and cultures together in peace and friendship through the common bond of music. 

In 1962, the First Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was organised in the Texas city of Fort Worth, where Cliburn and his family resided. Since then, it has become the world's most publicised international piano competition and the one with the highest profile. In memory of Van the Man, a free piano recital lasting almost 4 hours was held on Thursday evening 27 February 2014 in Sundance Square in Fort Worth, just a stone's throw from Bass Performance Hall, where the competition has its home. Eight pianists associated with the competition, all award winners, performed a selection of great piano works.  

The audience stood to attention when Jose Feghali
(1st prize, 1985) played The Star Spangled Banner,
the US national anthem,
which Van used to open all his recitals with.

Yakov Kasman (2nd Prize, 1997) performed
Rachmaninoff's Second Sonata, in the 1913 version
which Van Cliburn favoured.

Simone Pedroni (1st Prize, 1993) unusually programmed
John Williams' Suite from the movie Lincoln
(another great American),
and followed with Liszt's Funerailles.

The youngest pianist of all, Steven Lin (Jury Discretionary
Award, 2013), looking a bit like Lang Lang here,
offered the Minuet and Clair de lune (Suite Bergamasque)
by Debussy and Mendelssohn's Fantasy Op.28.

Maxim Philippov (2nd Prize, 2001) played
Schumann's First Sonata Op.11.

Alexey Koltakov (Finalist, 2001) in Liszt's Dante Sonata.

Jose Feghali appeared a second time, now with
Schumann's Kinderszenen  and the
Bach-Hess Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.

Antonio Pompa-Baldi (2nd Prize, 2001) spoke about how he 
"lied" to Van Cliburn, and performed Liszt's Second Ballade,
Poulenc's Paths of Love and Liszt's Ernani Fantasy.

Alexander Kobrin (1st Prize, 2005) finished off with
selections from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons.

Kobrin was joined by Philippov
in a 4-hand version of Moscow Nights.

Moscow Nights was famously performed by
Van Cliburn in Moscow, thus sealing the friendship
between Americans and Russians.

All the pianists line up for a final bow.

The empty stage.
The world's a sadder place with the passing of Van Cliburn.
May he rest in peace.

All photos taken from the screen (www.cliburn.org)

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, February 2014)

LEGENDARY VAN CLIBURN

Complete Album Collection

Sony Classical 88765407232

(28 CDs + DVD) / *****

Exactly one year ago, the American pianist Van Cliburn (1934-2012) died from metastatic bone cancer. Although he shot to fame by winning 1^st prize at the inaugural Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958, his meteoric concert career lasted all about twenty years before a self-imposed retirement. This handsome box-set encompasses his complete recordings on the RCA Victor label and a documentary DVD. He had a smallish repertoire of mostly Romantic works but nothing was less than whole-hearted and conceived on a grand scale.

The concertos by Tchaikovsky (No.1), Rachmaninov (Nos.2 and 3) and Prokofiev (No.3) give an insight to his lush, all-embracing sound, outsized technique, and are justly celebrated. Also not to be ignored was his magisterial sweep in Edward MacDowell’s underrated Second Piano Concerto. Of the larger solo works, sonatas by Liszt, Chopin, Rachmaninov (No.2), Prokofiev (No.6) and Barber exhibit that passion and largesse that made him a hero. Given his celeb status and popular appeal, the record label offered him the luxury of issuing albums titled My Favourite Encores, Chopin’s Greatest Hits, The World’s Favourite Piano Music and the like, where his mastery of smaller works is particularly delectable. Here was a pianist in a million, one who will be sorely missed.

LA CREATION DU MONDE

CLAUDE DELANGLE, Saxophone

Swedish Wind Ensemble / Christian Lindberg

BIS 1640 / ****1/2

The saxophone is a versatile instrument equally at home with the classics and jazz, a quality exploited by many 20^th century composers. From one of the world’s great classical saxophonists comes this marvellous album of saxophone concertante works. The main work is Frenchman Darius Milhaud’s La Creation Du Monde (The Creation Of The Earth), a short ballet which uses Afro-American themes and rhythms to depict the coming of an African Adam and Eve. Composed in 1923, it was one of the first works, like Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue, to successfully marry jazz and classical idioms.

               

The other major work is American Paul Creston’s Alto Saxophone Concerto (1944), whose eclecticism and tonal allure follows in the manner of Copland, Barber and Bernstein. The saxophone “crosses over” on numerous instances in Roger Boutry’s Divertimento (1963), Anders Emilsson’s Salute The Band (2006, composed for the 100^th anniversary of the Swedish Wind Ensemble), and arrangements of John William’s Catch Me If You Can and Astor Piazzolla’s tango Escualo (Shark). French virtuoso Claude Delangle gets de luxe accompaniment by conducted by no less than the great trombonist Christian Lindberg. A must-listen for wind enthusiasts.

QUEST FOR THE NEXT CLIBURN / Article on the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for The Straits Times

Here is the article about the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition which I wrote for The Straits Times, published on Saturday 8 June 2013.

Come Sunday afternoon, one very talented pianist will be crowned Gold Medallist of the 14^th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at Bass Performance Hall, in the gentrified Texan city of Fort Worth. With this accolade comes a bounty of fifty thousand American dollars (SGD 62,5000), instant fame or notoriety, concert engagements around the globe, and a stellar career of performance artistry. Of these, only the first three are a given. The Cliburn, and others of the “Big Five” fraternity of international piano competitions (which include the Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Queen Elisabeth and Leeds), has been accused of extravagance and the inability to uncover true talent. 

There are several pathways in which a young artist can achieve fame and fortune in an overcrowded world of classical performance. One is to be recognised and championed by a famous and well-established conductor, orchestra, impresario or recording label. That is the rare privilege of a select handful, such as Chinese pianist Lang Lang and his Russian counterpart Evgeny Kissin, who perform at the world’s top concert venues and command astronomically high fees. The other is to get noticed by winning important music competitions, high-profile events of often-gruelling intensity and arduousness which have been compared with the Olympics, Tour de France and Wimbledon.

Van Cliburn's ticker tape parade in New York City in 1958.

World-renowned pianists like Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia and Krystian Zimerman were discovered through winning major competitions. Even Ivo Pogorelich, Youri Egorov and Peter Donohoe made their names by not winning competitions, the controversy which arose buoying them to critical successes and notices. Arguably the world’s most famous piano competition winner was Van Cliburn himself, who won First Prize in Moscow’s Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958 amid Cold War neuroses and Soviet-American intrigue.

Hailed as “the Texan who conquered Russia”, he garnered a ticker-tape parade in New York City befitting war heroes, sold a million records of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto and became a figure of adulation like Neil Armstrong or Elvis Presley. However within twenty years, his career had all but fizzled out, with the legend living out the comforts of celebrity retirement until his death from metastatic bone cancer on 27 February this year.

A jubilant Alexei Sultanov in 1989. 

Held every four years, The Cliburn - named after Fort Worth’s most illustrious resident - has attempted to recreate a similar success for its winners but results have fallen short. Only the Romanian Radu Lupu, winner in 1962, has gone on to become a household name, albeit without the glitz or glamour of Cliburn himself. Most other winners have languished in the periphery of consciousness, or in the case of 1989 winner Alexei Sultanov, suffered a precipitous comedown. The 19-year-old Uzbek “wild child”, dissatisfied with his American victory, attempted both the Chopin and Tchaikovsky competitions without winning either. He fell into alcoholism and died after a series of strokes at 35.

Asia ruled  at the 2009 Cliburn. Joint winners Nobuyuki Tsujii and Zhang Haochen.

To its credit, The Cliburn and its foundation has a policy of managing the careers of its six finalists for a period of three years post-competition, helping them find their feet in the uncertain world of the concert stage. Both its 2009 joint-winners have benefited. The blind Japanese Nobuyuki Tsujii, already a star in his homeland, became known universally. The Chinese student Zhang Haochen, then only 19, has steadily built a base upon his musical maturity, sensitivity and personal modesty. Zhang has already performed with both the Singapore Symphony and Singapore Chinese Orchestras to rave reviews, while tickets to Tsujii’s 25 June Esplanade Concert Hall recital have already been sold out. Neither would have been heard in Singapore if not for the competition.

What about the cohort of 2013? Having heard its 30 pianists (whittled down from 132 in live auditions held worldwide) in two 45-minute preliminary round solo recitals, There seems to be two trends emerging; the prodigious youngster (22 years and younger) with fingers of amazing dexterity versus the world-wizened veteran (pushing 30, the upper age limit) of experience and well-formed ideas.

A study in contrasts: Clean-cut tomoko Sakata, mature Alexei Chernov and the Beatles-mullet of Sean Chen.

Judging by the six pianists selected by the 13-member jury formed by performers, professors and a soul music critic, the former demographic seems to be favoured. How else would the youngest participant, Japanese Tomoki Sakata, 19, he of the ultra-slick Albeniz, Liszt and Pabst transcriptions, have edged out the Russian Alexei Chernov, 30, whose darkly hewn and deeply-felt Beethoven Sonata Op.111 was one of the most satisfying performances of the competition thus far? Interestingly, the only American pianist to progress to the grand concerto final was the Chinese American Sean Chen, 24, whose vision of Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata was glib and superficial.

The always passionate Alessandro Deljavan, for whom music has no half measures.

Ultimately it comes down to an enviable but elusive combination of a natural, unforced virtuosity, rare artistry, stage presence, charisma and likeability, qualities which Cliburn possessed in loads. In this respect, my votes went to the balding and hirsute Italian Alessandro Deljavan, 26, whose performances of Chopin Twelve Etudes Op.25 and Schumann’s Fantasy Op.17, evincing a passion and pain borne of life’s turmoils and torments. A touching life story, one of losing his father at an early age and needing to support his family through teaching and performing, was wholly believable given the depth of his playing. He, with five others, was eliminated after the semi-finals stage.

Beatrice Rana plays and looks far older than her 20 years.

That leaves my two other favourites Italian Beatrice Rana, 20, an artist of uncommon maturity of expression, and China’s Dong Fei-Fei, 22, whose fair China doll looks belie an inner fire and febrile intensity, to vie for top honours. If this competition raises the living life-as-artistry philosophy to the highest echelons of the world’s performing stages, this competition would be deemed a success. The teacher of Deljavan and Sakata, the American-born Italian resident William Grant Nabore, 71, who had three other pianists in this competition, summed it up nicely, “We are hopefully looking out for maturity and true artistry. Just about anybody can play the piano.”   

  

Dong Fei-Fei is anything but bone china.

Photos courtesy of Fort Worth Star-Telegram (the other ST).

Finalists of the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition named

The names of the 30 finalists selected for the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (2013) have been announced. This is ironically the first competition in which the great American pianist Van Cliburn (above), after whom the competition is named, will not be in attendance. Van Cliburn passed away on 27 February 2013, after succumbing to liver and bone cancer.

They are as follows (in alphabetical order):

Luca Burrato (Italy)

Sean Chen (USA)

Alexei Chernov (Russia)

Sara Daneshpour (USA)

Alessandro Deljavan (Italy)

Fei Fei Dong (China)

Francois Dumont (France)

Yury Favorin (Russia)

Lindsay Garritson (USA)

Jayson Gillham (Australia)

Giuseppe Greco (Italy)

Ruoyu Huang (China)

Claire Huangci (USA)

Vadym Kholodenko (Ukraine)

Nikolay Khozyainov (Russia)

Marcin Koziak (Poland)

Kuan-Ting Lin (Taiwan)

Steven Lin (USA)

Alex McDonald (USA)

Gustavo Miranda-Bernales (Chile)

Nikita Mndoyants (Russia)

Oleksiy Poliykov (Ukraine)

Beatrice Rana (Italy)

Tomoki Sakata (Japan)

Scipione Sangiovanni (Italy)

Hyung-Min Suh (Korea)

Alessandro Taverna (Italy)

Jie Yuan (China)

YouYou Zhang (USA)

Eric Zuber (USA)

The competition takes place from 24 May to 9 June 2013 at the Bass Performance Hall in Forth Worth, Texas.