ALEXIS WEISSENBERG
The Champagne Pianist
EMI Classics 679086 2
(10 CDs) / *****
This
handsome box-set provides a timely reassessment of the recorded legacy of
legendary Bulgarian-born pianist Alexis Weissenberg (1929-2011). He had suffered
bad press durin his later years, accused of an overly objective and unemotional
view of the classics. This could not be further from the truth. The popular
piano concertos, Tchaikovsky’s No.1
and Rachmaninov’s No.2 (timed at 40
minutes and 38 minutes respectively), take on an unusually expansive scale,
despite having the usually business-like Herbert von Karajan at the helm. These
do not sound sluggish or cautious in the least. Likewise in Rachmaninov’s No.3 with Leonard Bernstein, its
staggering 47 minutes begin very leisurely but rightly builds up a head of
steam by the time the 1st movement’s cadenza is reached.
This
cross-section of Weissenberg’s oeuvre
shows him at his most eclectic. His own freely improvised cadenzas for Mozart’s
Piano Concerto No.21 make very
interesting listening. His view of both Chopin concertos is unsentimental, and Brahms
No.1 comes across as mightily stolid.
These are contrasted by a flashy Prokofiev No.3,
and a penchant for syncopated idioms, with Ravel’s G major Concerto and Gershwin’s Rhapsody
in Blue and I Got Rhythm Variations in
full tilt. His disc of Bach transcriptions, with a view to monumentality rather
than authenticity, is excellent. The
encore album of assorted short pieces is also enjoyable, closing with his
teacher Pancho Vladigerov’s jazzy Improvisation.
His unique insights – urbane with a touch of the eccentric – are unlikely to be
repeated.
SPHERES
DANIEL HOPE, Violin
Deutsches
Kammerorchester Berlin
Deutsche Grammophon 479
0571 / ****
This concept album by British violinist Daniel
Hope is founded on “music of the spheres”, the harmony of the worlds that
transcends time, place and universes. He ponders: is there music beyond our
insignificant existence, and what is the sound of the cosmos? All this
nebulousness is translated into 75 minutes of still, quiet, serene and tonal
music, easy listening for the ultimate chill out.
The usual suspects are here, including J.S.Bach
(his Prelude in E minor) and Arvo
Part (the ubiquitous Fratres).
Whatever one thinks of the soppiness of Ludovico Einaudi (I Giorni and Passaggio)
or Karl Jenkins (Benedictus from The Armed Man), they certainly could
write tunes to save their lives. Also throw in some minimalists – Philip Glass
(Echorus, a homage to the humanity of
Yehudi Menuhin) and Michael Nyman (Trysting
Fields from the Peter Greenaway movie Drowning
By Numbers) into the mix.
Sound bites from younger composers like Lera
Auerbach, Elena Kats-Chernin, Max Richter, Gabriel Prokofiev (Sergei’s
grandson), Alex Baranowski, Aleksei Igudesman and Karsten Gundermann, touched
with New Age sensitivities and here you have it all. Hope plays with much
sensitivity and beauty. That the best music comes from Fauré’s choral piece Cantique de Jean Racine says it all; the
whole seems less than the sum of its parts.
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