CD Reviews (The Straits Times, March 2015)

BRUCKNER Symphony No.9

Lucerne Festival Orchestra

CLAUDIO ABBADO

Deutsche Grammophon 479 3441 / *****

It seems ironic that Italian conductor Claudio Abbado's last concerts, held from 21 to 26 August 2013 at the Lucerne Festival, had programmed the great unfinished symphonies by Franz Schubert and Anton Bruckner. That was not his original intention, but Fate meant it to be, as he succumbed to a long battle with cancer the following January. This live recording of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony in D minor, engineered from those concerts, however does not quite have a ring of finality to it. Such was Abbado's quest to continue probing and demand answers for the imponderables of music, and life itself.

He adds almost 3 minutes to his 1996 live recording of the same work with the Vienna Philharmonic, mostly in the first two movements. Both these edifices are breathtaking in scope, building up to the Adagio, Bruckner's crowning achievement of symphonic writing. This remains remarkable constant in both recordings, its magisterial pacing seems immoveable in its timelessness, but stultifying it is not. Like Bruckner who struggled but ultimately failed to complete his masterpiece dedicated “to the Glory of God”, Abbado finds peace in the movement's final bars which fade to nothingness. Rightly all applause has been edited out and the listener is left with his or her innermost thoughts. This is a fitting memorial to two great lives, Bruckner's and Abbado's.

MEZZO E MEZZO

MAKSIM, Piano

Universal Music 4706533 / ***1/2

It might appear out of character that Croatian pianist Maksim (Maksim Mrvica) gets a review in these pages. Self-styled so presumptuously as “The Piano Man”, and a tattooed and heavy metal Slavic version of Richard Clayderman, his electronically enhanced cover versions of classics and pop songs have done little to convince this listener that he is more than just another well-remunerated popular entertainer. One half of his latest album however suggests he may even be considered a serious artist.

That he has decided to record Modest Mussorgsky’s piano suite and immortal classic Pictures At An Exhibition complete and without any additions of any kind is a new turn for the books. As an interpreter, this is as good a performance to be found in any concert hall or international piano competition. He takes the opening Promenade in good stride, and its subsequent variations are sufficiently characterised to be interesting, as are the movements like Gnomus, The Old Castle, Bydlo or Ballet Of The Unhatched Chicks. His technique is more than up to scratch in the more virtuosic pieces such as Market Place In Limoges, the terrifying Baba Yaga's Hut and The Great Gate Of Kiev. On these counts, this classical “debut” may be considered an unqualified success.    

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2014)

MOZART Piano Concertos Nos.20 & 25

MARTHA ARGERICH, Piano

Ensemble Mozart / Claudio Abbado

Deutsche Grammophon 479 1033 / *****

This recording of a live concert in March 2013 at the Lucerne Festival marks the end of a legendary partnership that has endured almost half a century. Argentina-born pianist Martha Argerich and the late Italian conductor Claudio Abbado (who died in January) were as much a glamour item last year as they were in their first recording of Ravel and Prokofiev concertos in 1967. In the evergreen music of Mozart, their shared passion finds a spirit of playfulness and adventure that is undimmed by the years (she was 72 and he 79 at the time).

There is no fiery rhetoric or hot-headedness in the apparent pomp of Piano Concerto No.25 in C major (K.503), while cool heads prevailed in the storms and stresses of Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor (K.466). What one finds unequivocally is an unspoken serenity that transcends time and the ages, most evident in the lingering slow movements. The finales spark to life, but there is no rushing to strike awe or impress. Their partnership is just a celebration in the effervescence of living itself. Such is the eternal essence of joyous and glorious music making. 

JOHN OGDON

Complete RCA Album Collection

RCA Red Seal 88843039072 (6 CDs) / *****

This box-set commemorates the 25^th death anniversary of the formidable British pianist John Ogdon (1937-1989), who was best known for his mastery of Romantic repertoire and fearsomely virtuosic works often shunned by others. Six long-playing records for the RCA Victor label dating from 1967 to 1972 have been re-released for CD with the original artwork retained. Pride of place is Alkan’s 50-minute long Concerto for Solo Piano, from the twelve etudes in the minor keys. This stupendous reading remains one of the defining pioneer recordings of music by the French Romantic recluse. True to his penchant for monumentality, Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata and Rachmaninov’s two piano sonatas, replete with massive chords and big gestures, are accorded their due.

The true rarities are piano concertos by 20^th century American composers Peter Mennin and Richard Yardumian (Passacaglia, Recitative & Fugue) partnered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Igor Buketoff. Dissonance and neo-Bachian polyphony contrast these extremely well-crafted but unjustly neglected works. Two recital programmes of rarely-heard pieces by Danish composer Carl Nielsen and popular warhorses by Franz Liszt (the legendary 1972 recording from Tokyo) demonstrate the breadth and catholic tastes of an artist, cruelly afflicted by manic-depressive disease, who left us all too soon.     

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2014)

ROAD 66

SHANI DILUKA, Piano

Mirare 239 / ****1/2

This interesting concept album is a musical joy ride across the frontiers of American piano music, its title a fusion between the legendary Route 66 and Jack Kerouac’s coming-of-age beat classic On The Road. Each of the mostly slow and lyrical 18 tracks is represented by a quote from the novel, and there is little distinction between genres, whether classical, jazz, minimalist, contemporary or folk. John Adams’s soothing China Gates opens the anthology and this is followed by Keith Jarrett’s My Wild Irish Rose, Percy Grainger’s Lullaby and Samuel Barber’s Pas De Deux from his Souvenirs, all of which evoke a strong sense of nostalgia.

Within this realm, John Cage’s dreamy In A Landscape sits comfortably with selections of Bernstein’s aphoristic Anniversaries, and the candlelit glow of Chandeliers by Hyung-Ki Joo (of Igudesman & Joo comedy act fame) is gently echoed by the musings of Bill Evans. Soprano Natalie Dessay makes a cameo appearance in Cole Porter’s What Is This Thing Called Love?, sounding more sultry and smoky than ever thought possible. The Monaco-born pianist Shani Diluka, of Sri Lankan extraction, creates a piano sound that is crystalline and shimmering, and is beautifully recorded. 

CLAUDIO ABBADO

The Symphony Edition

Deutsche Grammophon 479 1046 (41 CDs) / *****

This landmark box-set was issued in 2013 to mark the 80^th birthday of Italian conductor Claudio Abbado (1933-2014). His death in January this year, following a prolonged battle against stomach cancer, has made listening to these performances all the more poignant. Abbado was a quiet and soft-spoken perfectionist, who demanded that the “truth” be found in the music rather than claiming to have special personal insights. Often he was accused to be undemonstrative or worse, even boring. This set emphatically disproves that notion.

Complete symphony cycles of Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Mahler are included, as well as selected symphonies by Haydn, Mozart and Bruckner. The “live” Beethoven symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic (where he succeeded Herbert von Karajan as supremo) in the early 1990s are justly celebrated, as is his more recent Mahler cycle. What makes his outlook special may be found with the smaller orchestras, such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Haydn and Schubert symphonies, and the Orchestra Mozart, which he founded, in the late Mozart symphonies. He was no period performance specialist, but how those performances come alive and sizzle. This is essential listening from one of the great conductors of the 20^th century.

This set retails at $159.50

(excluding postage & packaging)  at www.prestoclassical.co.uk

According to this photograph in The Straits Times, MAURIZIO POLLINI HAS DIED!

This article was published in this morning's Life!,
section two of The Straits Times. 

The classical music world has been mourning the passing of the great Italian conductor CLAUDIO ABBADO (1933-2014) who died in Milan after a long struggle against stomach cancer. Tributes are plenty in the news and mainstream media for one of classical music's patricians and most respected personalities.

Somebody in the newsroom has however made a booboo by posting a photograph of great Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini instead! Death rumours of Pollini have come and gone, but this is beyond ridiculous!

Here is the original photo of the two Italian maestri with the Berlin Philharmonic which was wrongly cropped. They got the wrong guy!

This is what the article should have been!

Great Recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic

GREAT RECORDINGS
BY THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER

I was asked by The Straits Times to come up with a list of top recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra which will be performing in Singapore next week. Here was my shortlist, and much as I would have liked to include others, I was limited to 3 recordings by Sir Simon Rattle and 3 from his predecessors. This list (obviously highly contentious) was published in the 4 November edition of Life! (as a sidebow to Akshita Nanda's main article).

It will be a cliché to restate that the Berlin Philharmonic and great audio recordings were made for each other. Under Herbert von Karajan, its chief conductor from 1955 to 1989, the orchestra became the world’s leading recording orchestra. Its recordings on the Deutsche Grammophon label were synonymous with instrumental perfection, crystal clarity and interpretive authority, reproduced on state-of-the-art sound equipment, bringing the concert hall experience into the living room. Karajan’s recorded legacy with the Berliner Philharmoniker was continued by his successors Claudio Abbado (also on Deutsche Grammophon) and Sir Simon Rattle (on EMI Records).

3 Top Recordings from BPO & Sir Simon Rattle
(All on EMI Classics)

SCHOENBERG Gurrelieder (2001)

The Songs of Gurre, Arnold Schoenberg’s fin de siècle early symphonic choral masterpiece, calls for over 400 performers. This recording achieves the near perfect fusion of orchestral opulence and vocal magnificence, marshalled with unerring sense of drama and pacing.

MAHLER Symphony No.9 (2007)

Mahler’s swansong symphony, full of nostalgia and bittersweet regret, receives a moving performance that piques, stirs and ultimately overwhelms the senses.

BRAHMS Four Symphonies (2008)

As common as recorded Brahms symphony cycles are, this ranks at the summit. Recorded in concert, the spontaneity of a live event is never sacrificed in the quest for note-perfection. It retails at budget-price too.

3 Top Recordings from BPO & other conductors
(All on Deutsche Grammophon)

BEETHOVEN Symphony Cycle (Karajan, 1961-62)

Many collectors consider this to be Karajan’s finest of three recorded cycles with his beloved orchestra. Beethoven’s brio and fist-shaking angst are indelibly captured, unhindered by the slower speeds adopted in later cycles.

SECOND VIENNESE SCHOOL (Karajan, 1972-74)

The music of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern still represents to some an insurmountable hurdle, the triumph of musical objectivity over emotions and feelings. These recordings uncannily fuse unimpeachable intellect with aural beauty.

MAHLER Symphony No.6 (Abbado, 2005)

The choice pick from a crop that that reinforces the Berlin Philharmonic as the ultimate Mahler orchestra. The inexorable drive and sheer vehemence of tragic fate has seldom been better portrayed in this earth-shaking reading.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, November 2009)

BARTOK Piano Concertos No.1 & 2
MAURIZIO POLLINI, Piano
Chicago Symphony / CLAUDIO ABBADO
Deutsche Grammophon 477 6353
*****

The great Hungarian composer Bela Bartok (1881-1945) wrote three piano concertos, of which the Third from his last year remains the most popular and accessible. Its two “ugly sisters” are far less often programmed because of the extreme demands on performers and audience. The First (1926) is particularly aggressive, the musical equivalent of a knuckle duster. Virtually a relentless parade of bare octaves and grinding chords, it is also a rhythmic nightmare for the orchestra. The Second (1931) is arguably the greatest of the three. A Stravinskyan opening theme, Bach-like neoclassical elements and Bartok’s own patented “night music” effects make this a most fascinating work.

Italian virtuoso Maurizio Pollini’s legendary 1977 recording has yet to be bettered, in terms of rapier-keen incisiveness and sonic projection. The reward for sitting through 50 minutes of undiluted musical violence is Bartok’s Two Portraits (with violinist Shlomo Mintz and the London Symphony) A work related to his First Violin Concerto, a lyrical theme takes on a reverse-Cinderella transformation – from idealised to grotesque. As always, Bartok rarely disappoints.

ANDRÉ PREVIN
The Great Recordings
EMI Classics 2679692 (10 CDs)
*****

The Berlin-born composer, pianist and conductor André Previn celebrated his 80th birthday this year. He is probably best remembered for his stint at the helm of the London Symphony Orchestra (from 1971 to 1980), where he helped make classical music accessible with a touch of Hollywood glamour. This budget-priced box-set contains blockbuster works he proselytised before they became chic like Messiaen’s 10-movement Turangalila, Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony (one of the first complete recordings) and Shostakovich’s cataclysmic Eighth Symphony.

A healthy dose of Musica Brittanica in Holst’s The Planets, Walton Belshazzar’s Feast and Elgar’s Enigma Variations also helped cement his popularity. Has there been a more satisfying Carl Orff Carmina Burana than Previn’s 1974 recording? His prowess as a pianist is also amply displayed in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto. At super-budget-price, this selection is practically self-recommending.