CD Review (The Straits Times, June 2017)

COLOURS OF BRAZIL

XUEFEI YANG, Guitar

Decca 479 8791 / *****

ALMA BRASILEIRA

CRISTINA ORTIZ, Piano

Intrada 016 / *****

There does not seem to be a line demarcating Brazilian classical music from its folk music. In the works of Brazil's most famous composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, choros or “street music” were freely used as his inspirations. Thus the term “crossover” almost becomes meaningless in these all-Brazilian recital discs by Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang and Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz.

Yang's offerings are more pop-oriented, with Villa-Lobos' Valsa-Choro, Scottish-Choro and Mazurka-Choro sitting happily alongside arrangements of Ernesto Nazareth's tango Odeon, Luiz Bonfa's very familiar Manha A Carnaval (from Black Orpheus) and works by Sergio Assad and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Yang's playing is vivaciously infectious, a contrast with Ortiz's more reflective selection. 

Villa-Lobos' A Lenda Do Caboclo (Legend Of The Half-Blood) and Valsa Da Dor (Waltz of Anguish) for piano are both imbued with longing and nostalgic pangs which only Brazilians know as “saudade”. The dances by Mozart Carmago Guarnieri, Brazilian Suites by Oscar Fernandez and short pieces by Fructuoso Vianna are folk-inspired and instantly likable. 

Vianna's tender Schumanniana was dedicated to Ortiz, a discovery she made after the composer's death. One will not get a more touching or personal performances than these.

CRISTINA ORTIZ Piano Recital / Review

CRISTINA ORTIZ Piano Recital

Victoria Concert Hall

Sunday (26 February 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 28 February 2017 with the title "Recital with distinct colour and texture".

It seems almost strange that the eminent Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz, veteran of the world's great concert stages and many well-regarded recordings, has never performed in Singapore until this evening. Now in her mid-sixties, she cut an elegant and sprightly figure, much of which translated well in her varied and very demanding solo recital.

Straight off, her playing stood out for its distinct colour and sense of texture, evident in the opening Sonatine by Maurice Ravel. Its formal lines were well-crafted through three movements. Limpid and crystalline in the first, this gave way to a drier but no less nourished sound for the neoclassical central Minuet before reaping a whirlwind in the vertiginous finale.

What struck this listener was not how virtuosic a work was, but how the music flowed through her fingers. This organic approach continued into Chopin's Third Sonata in B minor, often fodder for the world's piano competitions. Here she let the music breathe, and the feeling of urgent development was heightened with the exposition repeat judiciously omitted.

The Scherzo did not come across like a study for fast fingers, much to her credit. The Largo slow movement was no mere nocturne either, but an deeply felt expression of sadness. All this built up to a barnstorming finale, where despite a stumble of missed notes in the middle did little to faze her as she closed the first half with thrilling aplomb.

The second half was even better. Replacing the originally programmed Beethoven Moonlight Sonata with three Debussy pieces, she began appropriately with Clair de lune. The music was simplicity itself, but her use of the Steinway grand's pedals was exemplary. Creating a wash of shimmering sound was perfect for the watery realm of Poissons d'or (Goldfish, from Book Two of Images) and made ecstatic riding on the waves of L'Isle Joyeuse (The Isle of Joy).

In repertoire from her homeland, Ortiz has few peers. The three pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos were well contrasted, beginning with A Lenda da Caboclo (Legend of the Half-Blood) and Valsa da Dor (Waltz of Anguish). The lyricism of its folkloric subjects came through winningly, and more importantly, that feeling of saudade (the typically Brazilian sense of longing and sadness) became all the more palpable.

The recital closed with the coruscating Festa no Sertao (Jungle Festival, from Ciclo Brasileira) with cascades of octaves and chords, and a central whimsy of dizzying nostalgia. The small but enthusiastic audience was rewarded with three rarely-heard encores from a pianist who could have played all night.

Two of English composer York Bowen's 24 Preludes made for lush hearing with luxuriant and occasionally bluesy harmonies, and Brazilian Fructuoso Vianna's Corta-Jaca, a virtuoso study which cleverly incorporates popular folktunes. A repeat visit by Cristina Ortiz could not come any sooner.

DO NOT MISS: Singapore Debut Recital by Eminent Brazilian Pianist CRISTINA ORTIZ

DON'T MISS THIS 
EXCITING PIANO RECITAL!

SINGAPORE DEBUT RECITAL by

CRISTINA ORTIZ

Programme includes:

RAVEL Sonatine
CHOPIN Sonata No.3 in B minor, Op.58
BEETHOVEN Sonata in C sharp minor
  Op.27 No.2 "Moonlight"
VILLA-LOBOS A Lenda Do Caboclo
   Valsa da Dor, Festa no Sertao

Victoria Concert Hall at 7.30 pm
Sunday, 26 February 2017 
Tickets available at SISTIC

http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/cristina0217

Cristina Ortiz is one of the most prominent of Brazilian pianists today. Winner of the 1969 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as a teenager, she has gone on to play with the world's great orchestra and made many excellent recordings on the EMI, Decca, Collins Classics and Naxos labels. Her specialities are works of Romantic composers and the music of her homeland Brazil, particularly the piano pieces of Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Do not miss this rare recital presented by Christine N Concerts.

The Joy of Music Festival 2011: Concerto Gala Concert

Cheekily referred to as the "Mother of Piano Concerto concerts", the final gala concert of this year's The Joy of Music Festival and 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition closed with a big bang. There were four piano concertos in total, featuring four judges from the competition partnered by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.

The evening began on a lighter note with Cristina Ortiz performing Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto in F major, one of her signature pieces. Interestingly, the very first recording I had of this work (on EMI Classics) was performed by her as well, and bought in Hong Kong way back in 1981! Make no mistake, despite this being an "easy" work written for a teenaged Maxim Shostakovich (DSCH's son), this is by no means a walk in the park. Perfect timing, wit and humour are crucial for its success, and she succeeded with great aplomb. There was tenderness and nostalgia in the Rach-like slow movement, and perfect prestidigitation in the Hanon-like exercises of its riproring finale. Marvelous, just like old times!

I had never heard of the Russian piano pedagogue Tigran Alikhanov prior to this, but I did check out a Melodiya recording of his playing Taneyev and Mendelssohn chamber works, which was very impressive musically. In Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto, he is a livewire, capturing the ascerbic wit and mechanistic brilliance very well. There were some unfortunate lapses in the slow movement's 2nd and 5th variations but that did not cloud a very lively finale - perfectly hewn - to close an enjoyable Russian first half.

The pianists got older as they came. Peter Frankl is now 76, but would not have guessed it by the way he launched himself into Liszt's Second Piano Concerto in A major. A far more subtle work than its predecessor, its transformation of themes unfolded majestically in his hands. The sublime page with cellist Richard Bamping was particularly beautiful, and when it came to crunching chords and those outlandish octave glissandi on both hands, Frankl is up there with all those youngsters. A totally impressive showing. Let's hope he play's Bartok the next time around!

Finally it was the turn of Gary Graffman, who just turned 83, in the Left Hand Concerto by Ravel. These days he only performs concertos for the left hand, which means he plays this and the Prokofiev Fourth Concerto with some frequency. His was a thoroughly assured reading, although sometimes the piano gets drowned by all the dense orchestration. The central jazzy march was totally delightful, as if turning back the years, while the final cadenza - one of the most fearsome exercises thought possible - was taken with great confidence. A chorus of bravos greeted the fiery end of the concerto, and of a magical evening of concertos with the stars.

What will they think of next in 2014?

The Joy of Music Festival 2011: Chamber Gala Concert

Every three years, The Joy of Music Festival merges with the Hong Kong International Piano Competition for a mega-musical extravaganza. The jurors of the competition, themselves pianists of great repute, stay back to perform chamber music and concertos. The Chamber Music Gala on Monday 1 November featured Pascal Rogé and Cristina Ortiz with the string quartet, formed by members of the London Chamber Orchestra.

The quartet led by Andrew Haveron opened Joaquin Turina's Bullfighter's Prayer, a single-movement work of Spanish flavour tinged with French impressionist shades. It also played Haveron's transcription of the Blues from Ravel's Violin Sonata. Much in the spirit of the scherzos from Ravel and Debussy's string quartets, the violin part was generously shared with second violinist Magnus Johnston and violist Louise Williams, and Pierre Doumenge was the rock steady cellist.

The outrageous looking "Flaming Red" Steinway, which sat forlornly unperformed for the the entire duration of the competition, was eventually played by Pascal Rogé in Ravel's Piano Trio in A minor with Andrew Haveron and Pierre Doumenge. It has a nice and mellow tone, which suited the music well. The performance was one of great passion and care for intimate detail.

The concert concluded with Cristina Ortiz joining the LCO quartet in Cesar Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor. This is the singularly most performed work in The Joy of Music Festival, having been played a grand total of three times (the other two performances were with Pascal Rogé). 

It nonetheless is a great work, which reveals new insights every time it is heard. Ortiz has recorded it twice (most recently on Naxos), and hearing it live certainly beats any recording however good. Its cyclic form with recurring themes is better grasped, and its tension generated wirh each harrowing turn is also better experienced this way. A memorable concert, as always, but one simply cannot wait for the final Gala Concert with four piano concertos!

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2008: Gala Concerts Evening Two

What do you call a table of judges? A collusion?

The judges who performed in the Gala Concerts

are identified with the arrows.

Monday 20 October 2008

One of the most gratifying aspects of the Hong Kong International Piano Competition is the fact that the “tables get turned on the jury”, that is those members who stood in judgment of the competitors are now required to do their bit by performing in the very same stage. The good news is this jury is formed by top class performers, just the right people to serve as mentors for the young musicians.

The 2005 competition featured one such Gala Concert with the jurors in solo repertoire. This year boasted of two Gala Concerts, featuring chamber music and concertos, the latter led on the podium by none other than the head honcho himself, Vladimir Ashkenazy.

First on stage was the UK-based Endellion Quartet, which played chamber music with the five semi-finalists / finalists. Ironically, all four of its members appeared together twice in that round – in Miao Huang and Hye Jun Kim’s outings in Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A major (Op.81). The other pianists had chosen trios or quartets.

The Endellions – formed by violinists Andrew Watkinson and Ralph de Souza, violist Garfield Jackson and cellist David Waterman – are a world class ensemble. One immediately thinks of the great British quartets of the past – the Amadeus, Lindsay and Fitzwilliams. Their combined sense of purpose is immediately apparent in the opening pages of Beethoven’s second Razumovsky Quartet in E minor (Op.59 No.2), which was urgently driven and tension laden.

And this unity and focus was followed in the vastly varied canvas of the next three movements. Heavenly longeurs occupied the slow second movement, one was transported to the realms of late Beethoven quartets. Time stood still until the syncopated third movement, which had a curiously tipsy feel. The Russian Slava theme in its Trio was passed between each member like some coveted bottle of vodka. The finale displayed that joie de vivre, one that delighted in quick reflexes and tight overall ensemble, something to be expected in a quartet that is entering its 30th year of playing together.

The foursome was joined by Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz in Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major (Op.44). The quintet was unusually colour co-ordinated with deep blue tops and black bottoms (in the case of Ortiz, a midi-skirt). Ortiz’s piano stool is slanted forwards with the rear legs on blocks, suggesting she might have some orthopaedic affliction.

In any rate, the performance had a chemistry that only close friends could enjoy. The music benefited from its moments of heightened tension alternating with episodes to breathe and occasional rubato, all adroitly negotiated. These contrasts – in the bittersweet march of the 2nd movement and scales galore of the 3rd movement – including some passages of gay gypsy abandon kept this performance alive and vital.

The Hungarian Peter Frankl took centrestage in Brahms’s Piano Quintet in F minor (Op.34), and he too was colour coordinated with the Endellions. Frankl is a veteran chamber musician himself (a member of the piano trio that includes György Pauk and Ralph Kirshbaum), and this experience also showed with his close communication with the quartet. The simplicity in the opening theme soon made way for a passionate and fiery account of the work, which included the repeats, and hence double the excitement. Again, contrasts came into play in the serene and yearning slow movement, and the dramatic and explosive scherzo. The dissonance of the finale’s opening page exposed some intonation gone awry on the strings, but this anguished introduction soon worked its way to an impassioned close.

Both these quintets had not featured in the semi-finals, but I doubt whether any of the young pianists in the competition could have approximated the artistry and mastery witnessed this evening. Borne from years of musical experience, living and breathing this music, the results here were nothing short of wonderful.

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2008: Gala Concerts Evening Three

Tuesday 21 October 2008

This was the highly anticipated bumper evening of piano concertos. The orchestra was the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong augmented by 30 musicians from all around Asia, under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy. As expected, the City Hall Concert Hall drew its biggest audience thus far, a stark contrast with the smallish crowd that had turned out for the competition concerto finals. They had come to witness the stellar cast on show: Ashkenazy, Gary Graffman, Pascal Rogé and Cristina Ortiz. The competition proper had ended, and the bona fide stars have come out.

First up was the octogenarian Gary Graffman, who had celebrated his 80th birthday in Hong Kong. The American only plays works for the left hand these days, and his offering was Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.4 in B flat major (Op.53). His approach was one of feathery lightness, the piano part consisting for most part of single notes, balanced by a light orchestration (by Prokofiev’s standards). The accents were well placed, giving the music contour and shape. Its original dedicatee Ludwig Wittgenstein had rejected this work out of hand, but that’s most probably because he can’t match Graffman’s nimbleness and vision.

There was arch-lyricism (which Rachmaninov would have approved) in the slow movement, which unfolded like a set of variations, and rhythmic vibrancy ruled in the 3rd movement despite some messiness in the initial entry of the brass. The little finale (barely 2 minutes long) – light and ebullient - served as a delightful “encore”.

The second concerto fell to Frenchman Pascal Rogé, whose recording of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major (and its left hand companion) garnered the Gramophone Award in the late 1970s. The opening solos from the piccolo and trumpet were as good as hoped for, and the black silk pyjama-clad Rogé (looking every bit like Hugh Hefner) eased into his role perfectly. While I could have wished for a little more sensuality in some passages, Rogé is a complete natural in this music, revelling in its shimmering textures and rhythmic exuberance. Curiously, for all of Rogé’s multiple visits to Singapore, he has yet to play this marvellous concerto.

The slow movement’s nocturne-like waltz was delivered dreamlike, with a steady but not plodding pace. Also distinguishing themselves were orchestral solos from the flute, oboe and most importantly, cor anglais. The mad-cap finale made for a champagne-popping close that brought chorus of cheer from the audience. Their reward was Erik Satie’s Gnossienne No.5 (a respite from Rogé’s usual Je te veux), which sounded almost improvised on the spot.

The third performance of the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto within six days came from Cristina Ortiz, which was in many ways the best of the lot. Having lived with this music for decades, Ortiz feels that some licence is permissible - a little rubato here, and some added accents there, all of which added to the character of the music. Never mind the few missed notes in the slow second movement – which might have proved deleterious in a competitor’s case – it was just one of those things, easily shrugged off at the spur of the moment. While winner Jin Sang Lee’s was a textbook perfect look at a warhorse, Ortiz was a lifetime’s survey of what is great about this music. One can never get enough of such music, and such performances.

Vladimir Ashkenazy, who has made no less than three recordings of this masterpiece, proved to be the perfect maestro – keeping every thing on a tight rein, yet allowing the music to breathe. If there were some perfect moments, I would go for the hushed strings towards the end of the slow movement, and the excitable central scherzando section in the finale. Sublime beauty with genuine adrenaline rushes – all these make for great Rachmaninov performances.

Encore time: Ortiz declared that it could not be anything else but Villa-Lobos, in this case the A Lenda do Caboclo (The Legend of Caboclo), beautiful harmonies and that irresistible Brazilian lilt. Just perfect!

The Third Hong Kong International Piano Competition has been timed for 15 October – 2 November 2011, so watch this space!