CD Reviews (The Straits Times, February 2017)

STRAVINSKY The Rite Of Spring

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO 

& ILYA RASHKOVSKIY, Pianos

GIOVANNI SOLLIMA 

& MONIKA LESKOVAR, Cellos

Alpha Omega Sound 14-01-12 / *****

This is a live recording of a concert held in Hong Kong's City Hall Concert Hall on 17 October 2013 to commemorate the centenary of Igor Stravinsky's epoch-making The Rite Of Spring, which premiered to a famous riot in Paris. Receiving its first Asian performance (and now World Premiere recording) was an unusual transcription of the ballet for 2 pianos and 2 cellos by Italian pianist-conductor Giuseppe Andaloro.

Adapted from the orchestral score rather than the four-hands piano version, there is a symphonic scope to its conception. Giovanni Sollima's cello replaces the famous bassoon solo with an other-wordly quality to its timbre. The cellos produce a wiry tone and are also employed percussively, thus extending the range of sonorities on the pianos. This vivid performance truly brings out the music’s virility and savage intensity.

Also employed for the same forces is Andaloro's arrangement of Ravel's La Valse, a sweeping performance contrasted with the languid and atmospheric stillness to Sollima's transcription of Debussy's Prelude To The Afternoon Of The Fawn for just 2 cellos. The memorable programme is completed by Lutoslawski's witty Paganini Variations for two pianos. 20^Th century music has never sounding this engaging or enticing.

  

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2013)

FRANCK Piano Works

DOMENICO CODISPOTI, Piano

Piano Classics 0052 / ****1/2

Pianists and followers of chamber music will be all too aware that in Franco-Belgian composer Cesar Franck’s evergreen Violin Sonata in A major, the piano part is far more technically demanding than the violin part. The glory of this masterpiece is the fine balance struck between the lyrical voice of strings and the keyboard’s thrilling, percussive thunder. But trust the Swiss-born virtuoso Alfred Cortot to transcribe it solely for the piano, such that the ten fingers of a beleaguered pianist have to muster both forces of melody and harmony in an ultimate act of perfect synchronisation. Prize-winning Italian pianist Domenico Codispoti has it all within his grasp, maintaining its precarious tightrope act without sacrificing musicality for virtuosity.

Even if one misses the violin for some moments, organ pipes are all but forgotten in Harold Bauer’s transcription of Franck’s Prelude, Fugue & Variation, originally for organ. The melodic thrust overshadows the counterpoint in this beautifully serene work. Franck’s best known piano work, Prelude, Chorale & Fugue is certainly not organ music reduced for piano. Codispoti’s mastery of its filigreed passages and chordal sonorities however bring an organ-like intensity in its climaxes that are a joy to behold. This is a very satisfying hour of listening, not just for pianophiles.

THE SODRE COLLECTION

MISCHA ELMAN, Violin

JOSEPH SEIGER, Piano

The Alpha Omega Sound / ****

The Russian violinist Mikhail “Mischa” Elman (1891-1967) was a student of the great Leopold Auer (who also taught Heifetz and Milstein), and is fondly remembered by violin connoisseurs for his sweet and silky tone, generous rubato and portamenti-laden playing that bordered on the sentimental and schmaltz. This recently unearthed 12 May 1955 live performance recorded by SODRE (the Official Service of Radio and Television Broadcasting of Uruguay) in Montevideo shows both sides of his artistry, as serious musician and sophisticated entertainer. One has to listen beyond a moment of serious tape distortion in the first movement of the Handel D major Sonata and creaking floorboards to appreciate why his art was so highly valued.

There is an arch-simplicity to Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata (Op.24), in a performance that simply sings. Though not one of his virtuoso scores, it is nonetheless impressive to hear its heart-on-sleeve lyricism brought out so disarmingly. Here is also a rare performance of Mendelssohn’s popular Violin Concerto in E minor (op.64) accompanied on piano. Elman makes no concessions for this and gives his all, and it is interesting to hear the countermelodies voiced by the piano instead of an orchestra. This rare recording is available through various online retailers. 

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, April 2013)

THE SODRE COLLECTION

JASCHA HEIFETZ, Violin

with BROOKS SMITH, Piano

Alpha Omega Sound / ****1/2

Here is another rarity, a live recital recorded on 12 May 1955, from the archives of SODRE, the official radio and television service of Montevideo, Uruguay. At that time, the great Lithuania-American violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) was beginning to make recordings with the RCA Victor label, culminating with the audiophile Living Stereo series. Despite the boomy piano and remastered monaural sound, Heifetz’s penetrating tone – warm and full-blooded – shines through with every note. The 72-minute programme was fairly typical for the era, two major repertoire works surrounding by shorter encore-like pieces and transcriptions.

Tomaso Vitali’s Chaconne, a glorious pastiche of the baroque style, opens the recital. Then the unaccompanied solo of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata (Op.47) catches the ear like no other. This is the longest work, in a performance bristling with passion and inner fire. Debussy’s late Violin Sonata follows, providing a different flavour to the palate. The short pieces by Dvorak (a lesser known Slavonic Dance), Lili Boulanger and Richard Strauss (Heifetz’s own transcription) are lyrical and utterly charming. Two out-and-out showpieces, Wieniawski’s Caprice-Waltz Op.7 and Ravel’s gypsy rhapsody Tzigane, complete this treasure chest. There is some tape distortion and recorded applause may be intrusive, but the listener gets the sense of being witness to history itself. An indispensable document.

PAVAROTTI 101

Decca CD-Rama 4782977 (6 CDs) / ****

Is it an act of sadomasochism to attempt listening to 101 consecutive tracks of Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) at one sitting? One tries, but it becomes a trial getting past two discs at a go. Like the cholesterol-laden pasta dishes the late great Italian tenor once loved, he is best savoured in small manageable doses. Possessing a most distinctive of voices, the radiance and warmth in which he bathes each aria that makes the experience memorable. The first disc is devoted to the verismo operas of Puccini, Leoncavallo and Mascagni, closing with Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot, which made him a household name.

The second disc continues with Verdi and bel canto giants Bellini and Donizetti. In Pour mon ame from Donizetti’s La fille du regiment, he nails nine high Cs with a gravity-defying nonchalance. The “King of the High Cs” goes one further to hit D flat in Cujus Animam from Rossini’s Stabat Mater, which appears in Disc 4, devoted to sacred songs. The last two discs feature popular Italian songs, including Rossini’s La Danza, Denza’s Funiculi Funicula, Leoncavallo’s Mattinata, di Capua’s O Sole Mio and Mudugno’s Nel blu, dipinto di blu, better known as Volare. Pavarotti is in his element here, and thankfully there is no more space for those ghastly crossover duets with pop stars. Pavarotti was one of the greatest voices of our time, so why was a short biography not included in this set, at the very least?

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2013)

RACHMANINOFF Piano Works

XIAYIN WANG, Piano

Chandos 10724 / ****1/2

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) wrote piano music all through his musical career. This recital disc is an excellent representation of piano music from different periods of his life. The Six Moments Musicaux Op.16 (1896) preceded the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony and displays his maturity in different styles, from the lyric, tragic to the epic. His first set of Études-Tableaux Op.33 (1911) follow the kaleidoscopic range of his Préludes, but with an accent on the virtuosic and fantastic. The Corelli Variations Op.42 (1931), based on the popular La Folia theme, date from his years of exile and look ahead to the familiar Paganini Rhapsody. 

Recordings of his piano music abound, but what makes this one special is the China-born pianist Xiayin Wang’s intuitive feel of Rachmaninoff’s idiom. One that combines brooding melancholy through long sustained melodic lines with a breathless technical facility for its exacting multitudes of notes, she never makes the music sound hectic or laboured. Sitting through each of these sets proves a pleasure, one that is sealed by the vivid and excellent recorded sound. It does not take a Russian to make Rachmaninoff sound convincing.

THE SODRE COLLECTION

DAVID OISTRAKH, Violin

with VLADIMIR YAMPOLSKY, Piano

Alpha Omega Sound / ****1/2

This extremely rare “live” recording from 9 April 1954 was unearthed in the archives of SODRE, the official radio and television broadcasting service of Montevideo, Uruguay. It represents the Soviet-era Russian violinist David Oistrakh (1908-1974) at the height of his powers while on tour to the West. His programme was unusually eclectic despite offering no Russian music within. It opens with Jean-Marie Leclair’s Third Sonata, in the four-movement sonata da chiesa form that was popular during the Baroque era. Nowadays, it is rarely heard outside of the period instrument circle, but Oistrakh’s politically incorrect and vibrato-rich account makes no excuses for the music, which is charming and unpretentious.

The gem of this hour-long recital is a complete performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the original piano accompaniment. This version is seldom ever recorded, although regularly played at conservatory and student recitals. Oistrakh performs it as if accompanied by an orchestra, with no punches pulled or half measures taken. It is a searing account, tender in the slow movement while the furious finale lives on a knife-edge throughout. The disc is completed by Belgian Ernest Chausson’s rhapsodic Poeme, also accompanied by pianist Vladimir Yampolsky. This invaluable addition to the Oistrakh discography may be purchased from various on-line retailers via the Internet.