TANYA GABRIELIAN Piano Recital / Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum 2023 / Review

TANYA GABRIELIAN 

Piano Recital

Rarities of Piano Music 

at Schloss vor Husum 2023

Wednesday (23 August 2023)

 

Here I am in the northern German town of Husum (Schleswig-Holstein), attending another recital of seldom-heard piano pieces which the fabled festival is famous for, except that I am not. It is 1.00 am in Singapore, but I have been afforded an online-ticket by the Rarities of Piano Music at Schloss vor Husum festival to attend the recital by American pianist Tanya Gabrielian.

 

Tanya Gabrielian, not to be confused with Diana Gabrielyan or Tanya Bannister, presented a first half of familiar music in unfamiliar transcriptions. The Russian Alexander Siloti (1863-1945) was Liszt’s student and Rachmaninov’s first cousin, whose transcriptions represented a mostly undiscovered treasure trove. Everybody knows J.S.Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV.565) for organ, and the Busoni and Tausig piano transcriptions. Siloti’s take was more faithful to the original and far less fussy or florid than his rivals’. It repays further study, as is Siloti’s version of Gluck’s Melody from Orpheus. Cast in B flat minor instead of Sgambati’s D minor, it is also easier to play, with less risk of accidents caused by crossings of hands.

Alexander Siloti with Liszt,
and Rachmaninov.

 

Gabrielian brought out the music with simplicity and taste. Even rarer were the transcriptions of Ravel’s Kaddish (with a ravishing cantor’s singing line), Bizet’s Aragonaise from Carmen (just as rousing as those violin Carmen fantasies) and Rachmaninov’s Italian Polka. The last was originally conceived for four hands, so the version for two hands pales in comparison, not to mention Arcadi Volodos’s uproarious transcription. However, Gabrielian dressed it with some delicious rubatos.

 

The other transcriptions were Siloti’s own editions of already established transcriptions, such as Schubert-Liszt Valse-Caprice No.7 (from Soirees de Vienne), Glinka-Balakirev The Lark and Paganini-Liszt Etude No.6 in A minor (based on the famous Caprice No.24). Unless a score is handy, one might not notice the differences made by Siloti. However by listening alone, one will surmise that the Paganini Etude is even more virtuosic with Siloti’s tinkerings.

 

There were no transcriptions in Gabrielian’s more varied second half. Aaron Copland’s Three Moods are titled Embittered, Wistful and Jazzy, revealing the American’s quite astonishing range. There are some interesting Scriabin and Messiaen-like harmonies in the first two (one imagines them titled Anguissemente and Ennui), while the last is a gay foxtrot (not referring to the modern usage of that word). Gabrielian conceded to choosing a less taxing Leopold Godowsky piece, but the Meditation in E flat major for left hand is really quite lovely, the thumb bringing out its lingering melodic line. He’s not called the “Disciple of the left hand” for nothing.

 

The final work demonstrated why Carl Maria von Weber’s sonatas are not so often heard. His Third Sonata in D minor Op.49 does not really capture the imagination, despite Gabrielian’s determined effort contrasting the first subject’s dotted rhythm (Allegro feroce) with the second subject’s lyricism (Tranquillo e lusingando). The obligatory note-spinning was balanced by the second movement’s Theme and Variations on a bel canto-like subject, with lots of nice touches, arguably the sonata’s best movement. The Rondo finale goes through its usual barnstorming, mercurial passages with big octave and chord moments which Gabrielian bravely weathered to its hectic close. Honestly, if Sviatoslav Richter cannot convince me that this was a great masterpiece, nobody can.

 

Gabrielian offered two encores, the first of Bartok’s Hungarian Folkdances from Csik District and Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor Op.27 No.1, both being beautifully shaded. As Husum recitals go, this was par for the course. Oh, how I miss Husum, and cannot wait to return someday soon.

Memories of a balmy Husum summer,
and soon may I return.