CD Reviews (The Straits Times, February 2010)

ALFRED BRENDEL
THE FAREWELL CONCERTS
Decca 478 2116 (2 CDs)
*****

All good things must come to an end. For the revered pianist and scholar Alfred Brendel’s sixty years on stage which came to a grand close in December 2008, this handsome tribute celebrates his musical loves. Mozart is represented by a sonata (K.533) and the early Piano Concerto No.9 in E flat major (K.271), his longest work of the genre. With the Vienna Philharmonic directed by Sir Charles Mackerras, this performance captures all its elegance, grace and ebullient wit. From the final recital in Hanover, Haydn’s Variations in F minor in his hands exude a freshness that is ever-rejuvenating.

The second disc houses Beethoven’s Sonata in E flat major (Op.27 No.1), an underrated masterpiece with its sublime hymn-like slow movement, alongside the final Sonata in B flat major (D.960) of Schubert. These are great and unshowy performances which underline Brendel’s superior musicality and humanity. Having conquered Mussorgsky, Stravinsky and Balakirev in his younger years, he had risen to “higher” things, ideals also espoused in his encores: a Beethoven Bagatelle, a Bach-Busoni chorale prelude and the song-like beauty of Schubert’s Impromptu in G flat major. At mid-price, this album is one for keeps.

CAROLINE GOULDING Violin Recital
Christopher O’Riley, Piano
Janine Randall, Piano
Telarc 80744

****1/2

Another year, another child prodigy turns professional. The 16-year-old American violinist Caroline Goulding’s début recording is an enjoyable mix of Fritz Kreisler lollipops – including the lesser known but delectable Gypsy Caprice and Berceuse Romantique - and unashamed Americana. The latter is varied enough, beginning with the Paganini-inspired Red Violin Caprices by John Corigliano, adapted from his score for the Oscar-winning movie.

Popular American folk and dance movements are relived in Paul Schoenfield’s Four Souvenirs, including the samba, tango and square dance. A suite of familiar songs from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess gets the Heifetz treatment, while the Belgian Henri Vieuxtemps’ Yankee Doodle Variations is pure tongue-in-cheek. The idiomatic and resourceful Goulding completes her coast-to-coast musical tour with Gaelic fiddling in two dances from Cape Breton in Canadian Nova Scotia. Do try this!

MAHLER Symphony No.9
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic
ALAN GILBERT
BIS SACD-1710

****1/2

The young American conductor Alan Gilbert began his tenure as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic last year, which included an Asian tour that swung by Singapore. This recording of Mahler’s last completed symphony (1908-09) with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, where he was chief conductor from 2000 to 2008, shows why he was so highly fancied. Under Gilbert’s leadership, the Swedes play like they own the work, from the opening movement’s world-wearied trudge to the finale’s catharsis of quiet resignation and mortality. In between, the music swings from the banalities of a Ländler (Austrian country dance in 3/4 time) gone demented to the crazed slashings of the vehement Rondo-Burleske, all imaginatively characterised without resorting to hysterics or caricature.

There are more famous recordings by Karajan, Bernstein, Walter et al but this expertly-judged reading more than holds its own among the finest. Its 82 minutes, opulently recorded with BIS fabled sound, is contained within a single disc, rendering it an excellent bargain as well.

A Few Words with ALAN GILBERT

A FEW WORDS WITH ALAN GILBERT
Music Director, New York Philharmonic Orchestra

This interview took place in October 2009, when the NYPO visited Singapore, and was used for an article in the January 2010 issue of Singapore Airlines inflight magazine Silver Kris.

The Japanese-American conductor Alan Gilbert has just begun his tenure as the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in its 2009/10 season. The first American-born maestro since Leonard Bernstein to head the prestigious orchestra, he is also the first native New Yorker. After completing its Asian tour in October, the NYPO heads to Europe in January-February 2010.

What was it like growing up in New York City?

Many people think it strange living in the Big Apple, but I loved it. I was a true New York kid. It has so much to offer in terms of cultural diversity and wealth of possibilities, like going to museums and concerts. I have lived in many cities, but miss its incredible range, and there is no place quite like it.

NYPO family: Alan Gilbert with his parents

Michael Gilbert and Yoko Takebe.

Best kept secrets? It isn’t true that New York is all expensive. You can get cheap tickets on the day of events, attend free concerts in Central Park and visit museums on their free days. I love the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) – it is always reinventing itself to present art in new ways – and the Frick Collection, which is small but exquisite, and will always have a fond place in my heart. I never thought we’d come to this, but Fairway (the 24-hour grocery store) on Broadway and 74th Street has a great organic food department on its second floor!

Factoid:

New Yorker Alan Gilbert has never visited the Statue of Liberty!

The NYPO has recently performed in North Korea and Vietnam, and there are plans afoot for Cuba. How do think music and politics can mix for the betterment of society?

We don’t sit down and discuss what taboos we’d like to break. We are musicians who play great music, and who hope to reach the widest audience possible. There is lots of talk about politics and the orchestra has not stayed away from it. However we want to create a bond between different cultures by connecting on a human level. We have a common heritage which can be found in our shared experiences. If something good can come out of these exchanges, it would be a great result for all.

What does it feel like performing in different venues and cities of the world?

Every place is different. Each has a different atmosphere, a “perfume” – the diffuse feeling which you cannot begin to describe. Yet one is struck by how similar these places are as well, whether it is Chicago, Tokyo, Hamburg, Paris or Hanoi. Music is able to transcend boundaries without you even saying a word.

What roles do you think classical musicians can play in contemporary society?

Classical musicians should be incredibly dedicated to education, to refresh and rejuvenate audiences by introducing music to kids, families and schools. We need to have a palpable influence, to go out, demonstrate and make them aware that we exist. Once in the concert hall, intellectually stimulating programmes will draw those who are curious about history and philosophy to see connections between the works. Classical music seems to be excluded from contemporary culture, so we have work of catching up to do.

Orchestras have been compared with museums, and there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they are not just recycling old ideas. The great museums are repositories of art and centres for research, the ones which encourage young artists to present art in new and innovative ways.

Having performed there, what were your thoughts of Vietnam?

Hanoi was a fascinating place, presenting a kaleidoscope of impressions. The food was of an exotic nature and wonderfully unfamiliar. I remember people sitting by the streets and eating from roadside stands. We performed at the small but very charming Opera House (left) with terrific acoustics. The audience showed complete concentration, was very receptive and appreciative.

What do you remember as the most unusual location to have given a concert?

[He pauses long and hard for a thought.] That must have been a concert with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra which we did in a little town in the South of France near Monte Carlo. It was town square without a stage or amphitheatre, surrounded by sidewalk cafes, and we sat and performed on the cathedral steps. It had unbelievable acoustics and people peered out of windows to watch us perform, just the perfect summer night!

I feel very lucky that my job allows me to travel and to meet people. It is physically demanding, but keeping busy gives me the energy never to be tired!

Here is the Silver Kris article (co-written with Editor Pearl Lee), with some differences.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

AUTOGRAPHS: Music Directors of the New York Philharmonic

Fact: The New York Philharmonic Orchestra is the American orchestra that has performed the most times in Singapore, led by its four most recent Music Directors. Here are what their autographs look like:

ALAN GILBERT (Music Director 2009 onwards)

conducted the NYPO at Esplanade Concert Hall

in his first season and Asian tour.

LORIN MAAZEL (Music Director 2002-2009)

visited Singapore twice, conducting the NYPO

at the Esplanade Opening Festival (2002)

and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (2006).

KURT MASUR (Music Director 1991-2002)
had a single visit with the NYPO in 1998

with a concert in the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

ZUBIN MEHTA (Music Director 1979-1991)
led the NYPO to Singapore in 1984 and 1990,
with concerts at Victoria Concert Hall,
National Stadium and on the Padang.

New York Phlharmonic Orchestra Asian Horizons Tour / Review

ASIAN HORIZONS
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Alan Gilbert, Conductor
Esplanade Concert Hall
Monday (19 October 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2009.

The Esplanade Concert Hall has played host to some of the world’s great orchestras, and the New York Philharmonic – last heard in the 2002 Opening Festival – became its first returnee. Under new Music Director Alan Gilbert, who took over the baton from Lorin Maazel this season, the orchestra performed with both authority and added spring to its steps.

Its opening mission was to partner German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann (left) in Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, and seldom has the orchestral introduction sounded this clear and immaculate. No doubt a smaller force was employed, and despite what early critics decried as “a concerto against the violin”, the balance between soloist and orchestra was closer to an alliance of equals.

Zimmermann’s tone isn’t particularly voluminous, but this was more than made up by laser-like incisiveness and accuracy. Questions about his ability to emote were answered in the slow movement, spurred on by principal oboist Wang Liang’s exquisite solo. The gypsy-styled finale brought on the desired fireworks, but his encore of Bach’s Andante (from Sonata No.2) displayed the warm unflagging pulse of a human heartbeat.

Historians will note that the New York Philharmonic was from 1909 to 1911 helmed by one Gustav Mahler. Its Mahler credentials were immediately confirmed not just by virtuosity of execution but an instinctive feel for the Austrian composer’s First Symphony, with all its nuances and quirks. The opening hum and awakening buzz of nature was slow and deliberate, but one well worth waiting for.

What is Mahler (left) without his earthy country-dances, coloured with brimming life and tinged with the spectre of death? The second movement kicked into gear unapologetically and the ensuing Funeral March ambled drolly to principal bass Eugene Levinson’s unerring chant of Frere Jacques, and later delighting in strains of cackling Klezmer.

The joy of this band is in its subtlety and suppleness. Under Gilbert, who conducted from memory, the slow sections of the titanic finale were stretched to almost breaking point, only to rebound with great immediacy. Climaxes were built from almost nothing, later erupting with unfettered ecstasy. Overstatement of extremes is the essence and lifeblood of Mahler and the New Yorkers supplied in heaps, in turn greeted with the most vociferous of cheers.

Its sole encore, Intermezzo by Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar – showcasing more gorgeous strings - whetted the appetite for a second and much anticipated evening.