CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2012)

INVITO AL VALZER

(INVITATION TO A WALTZ)

Fabula Classica 2242 / *****

This marvellous anthology of historical piano recordings is devoted to the waltz, highlighting some of piano’s greatest names from ages past. It begins with the original version of Carl Maria von Weber’s Invitation to the Dance, a deceptively difficult piece than the music suggests, played with much insouciance by Artur Schnabel. Listen to how Rachmaninov himself approaches Chopin’s Three Waltzes Op.64, with inner voices revealed and none of the speed-mongering that modern pianists favour. There are many showpieces on display; Joseph Lhevinne’s teasing ease in the Strauss-Schulz-Evler Blue Danube, Arthur Rubinstein in his namesake Anton Rubinstein’s vertiginous Waltz-Fantasy, or Claudio Arrau’s imperious take on the Liszt Mephisto Waltz No.1, before he abandoned it forever.

There are some rarities which are all but forgotten, such as Saint-Saëns’s Study in a Form of a Waltz, from the incomparable Alfred Cortot on one his better days, Mischa Levitzki’s charming little Arabesque-Valsante from the composer’s own fingers, or Arensky’s Waltz in C major, balletic grace on two pianos by Harold Bauer and Ossip Gabrilowitsch. For its sheer simplicity, Percy Grainger’s take on Brahms’s Waltz No.15 (from Op.39) should not be missed. These recordings date mostly before 1940, so do not expect pristine sound. The performances are quite something else, and demand study by today’s piano students.  

BEETHOVEN Diabelli Variations

ANDREAS STAIER, Fortepiano

Harmonia Mundi 902901 / *****

There are many recordings of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations but this is only its second recording on the fortepiano, the modern piano’s soft-edged and mellow-toned forerunner. In 1819, the published Anton Diabelli invited fifty of Vienna’s musical fraternity to write a variation each on a banal little waltz theme of his. Beethoven obliged with 33 if his own, and his 1823 publication has become one of the cornerstones of the piano repertoire. But what of the others?

German fortepianist Andreas Staier selects ten which include the likes of Carl Czerny (technically adroit as expected), Johann Hummel (florid and fussy), Franz Xavier Mozart (Wolfgang Amadeus’s son sounding very busy), Schubert (a graceful number unsurprisingly in the minor key) and Liszt (who was 8-years-old but already a barnstorming virtuoso in the Beethovenian mould). Staier also adds a dramatic prelude of his own that links the others with the Beethoven set. In his magisterial account played on a fortepiano modelled upon Conrad Graf’s original, Staier also uses several exotic pedals in some of the variations. Try Variation No.23 to hear the Turkish effect of the janissary stop, which makes the entire instrument shake, rattle and roll. Not just a sly gimmick, but a reflection of the tastes and trends of the age. Delicious.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, July 2009)

PARTNERS IN TIME
From BACH to BARTOK
TASMIN LITTLE, Violin
JOHN LENEHAN, Piano
BIS CD-1744

****

This unusual recital disc profiles the partnership of the violin and piano through the ages of time, from the Baroque into the 20th century. The works on display are also unconventional, beginning with the pseudo-Baroque of Fritz Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro on a Theme by Pugnani, full of Romantic exhibitionism, before settling on J.S.Bach’s E major Sonata (BWV.1016), not the most obvious of choices. British violinist Tasmin Little plays with great ardour and spirit throughout, unafraid of exercising generous vibratos regardless of period instrument conventions.

After the gentle classicism of Mozart’s C major Sonata (K.296), she champions Grieg’s little-known Sonata No.2, a totally enjoyable outing that is less overtly nationalistic than its famous successor. Tchaikovsky’s Melodie (from Souvenir d'un lieu cher) is one of music’s most lyrical utterances, and justly receives it due. The 20th century segment is however under-represented with Bartok’s folksy and un-modern Romanian Dances. Anything by Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky or Szymanowski would have been preferable, but there is little denying this album’s totally listener friendly approach.

CHARLES IVES Piano Trio,
Violin Sonatas & Songs
EMI Classics 2344502

****

It is one of the strangest quirks of history that Charles Ives (1874-1954), an insurance broker by day, is considered the “father” of modern American music. As a young man, he experimented with dissonances and atonality independent of European modernist movements. His music also freely used popular American melodies commonly heard in fairs, festivals, church services and marching bands, albeit in short snatches and sometimes distorted and wittily parodied.

The Piano Trio (completed in 1911) is one of his most characteristic works, its riotous middle movement humorously titled TSIAJ, short for This Scherzo Is A Joke. It is akin to a game of spotting as many songs you can in a melange of apparently random sequences. His violin sonatas are more accessible essays; No.4 is titled Children’s Day At The Camp Meeting and quotes Christian hymns. These performances by musicians of the New York Philharmonic with pianist Israel Margalit are idiomatic and enjoyable. Seven Ives songs – all short and pithy – also get sensitive readings by soprano Deborah Voigt and pianist Brian Zeger. Well worth the acquaintance.

HAYDN Keyboard Concertos
ANDREAS STAIER, Pianoforte
Freiburger Barockorchester
Harmonia Mundi 2961854

****1/2

The keyboard concertos of Haydn fall chronologically and stylistically in between J.S.Bach and Mozart, exhibiting qualities of both a solo and ensemble instrument. Performances on harpsichord and modern piano are common, but the early pianoforte comes closest to the music’s spirit. Light, lithe and bubbly describe Haydn’s three most popular keyboard concertos; the G major concerto (No.4) sparkles from start to end, contrasted with the understated elegance of the F major concerto (No.6).

The best known and most demanding is the “Hungarian” Concerto in D major (No.11) published in 1784, which concludes with an ebullient Hungarian-styled Rondo, now thought to be of Croatian origin. Andreas Staier who performs on a copy of a 1785 Walter pianoforte and supplies his cadenzas does not underplay its brilliance, which was the last word in virtuosity until the arrival of Beethoven. Even if Haydn’s star has been eclipsed in recent times, his music remains hugely entertaining.