CD Reviews (The Straits Times, March 2016)

EARL WILD

Complete RCA Album Collection

Sony Classical 88875030742 (5 CDs) / *****

The long-lived Earl Wild (1915-2010) carved a patchy concert career that awkwardly straddled between the dying embers of “Golden Age” piano-playing and an era of objectivity and an obeisant approach to musical scores. 

The epithet of “the last Romantic” applied to him as well as contemporaries Jorge Bolet and Shura Cherkassky, major artists whose careers were sidelined for decades before being finally recognised in their old age for uniqueness and individuality. Wild recorded for many labels but never received a sustained contract, and this box-set of RCA Victor recordings dating mostly between 1959 and 1973 showed what might have been.

All five discs house virtuoso works for piano and orchestra. The piano concertos by Xaver Scharwenka (No.1 in B flat minor) and Ignace Paderewski (A minor) must simply not be missed for their over-the-top romanticism and luscious melodies which Wild simply revelled in. His takes from 1969-1970 are still considered the gold standard for this under-performed repertoire, as are his 1959-1961 recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, Piano Concerto In F and I Got Rhythm Variations with the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler. 

One will also not find a more outlandish account of Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy. Here he adds his own flourishes and embellishments, which one suspects the composer would have heartily encouraged. Wild was an outsized maverick talent who will be sadly missed.

GREAT CHOPIN PIANISTS

Deutsche Grammophon 479 5404 (11 CDs) 

****1/2

This is a collaboration between the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw and the German yellow label to reissue performances of Chopin's piano music by past winners of the Chopin International Piano Competition. The 18 selected pianists date from the first competition in 1927, won by the Russian Lev Oborin, all the way to 2010, when another Russian Yulianna Avdeeva was crowned. 

In between are the famous likes of Maurizio Pollini (1960), Martha Argerich (1965), Garrick Ohlsson (1970) and Krystian Zimerman (1975), together with Dang Thai Son (1980), Stanislav Bunin (1985), Li Yundi (2000) and Rafal Blechacz (2005) among others.

Here the Deutsche Grammophon archive is mined and handily rehashed, which makes for an excellent introduction to first-time listeners of Chopin’s concertos, Études, Préludes, Ballades, Scherzos, Polonaises and Sonatas. The notes make no mention whatsoever that no first prize was awarded in 1990 and 1995, so performances by second-placed artists (Kevin Kenner, Philippe Giusiano and the late Alexei Sultanov, by no means second-rate pianists) are also included. 

Here is a true feast of piano's favourite composer, which include rare historical performances from Alexander Uninsky (1932), Yakov Zak (1937), Bella Davidovich and Halina Czerny-Stefanska (Joint 1st Prize, 1949) and Adam Harasiewicz (1955). Only a few performances were recorded from the competition's actual rounds, but that should not be a deterrent.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2011)

EARL WILD Piano Music
XIAYIN WANG, Piano
Chandos 10626 / *****

This is a tribute to great American pianist Earl Wild (1915-2010), for decades a proud upholder of the Romantic piano tradition when it was deemed unfashionable. He performed his last recital at 92 and mentored younger pianists (Singapore’s Abigail Sin was one of his students) well into his nineties. He also championed Gershwin music, once considered beneath “serious” pianists. Over an hour of this highly entertaining disc is devoted to Wild’s transcriptions of Gershwin, the big work being the Grand Fantasy On Porgy and Bess, 29 minutes of the best melodies dressed in his wondrously florid and subversively humourous style. He was more than a match for Liszt, Thalberg and Grainger.

In his Improvisation on Someone To Watch Over Me, he transforms the tune into a tango, but wickedly incorporating the Sinfonia from Bach’s Second Partita and a fugue. The Seven Virtuoso Études, based on Gershwin songs, have now become standards for today’s pianists. Finally, Wild’s own Piano Sonata (2000) shows a rare cognizance of popular 20th century styles, the finale being a literally wild Toccata a la Ricky Martin. Young Chinese pianist Xiayin Wang is a revelation, her rocking performances very much the equal of the late master’s own recordings. Have fun.

THE ROYAL WEDDING Official Album
Decca 277 9662 / ***

On April 29, when American troops were busily dispatching of Osama ben Laden and Singapore was gearing for General Elections, a small matter of the Royal Wedding took place in London. The pomp and pageantry of the ceremony, including the exchange of vows by Prince William and Catherine Middleton and various exhortations, was recorded in its entirety. The music amounted to almost an hour’s worth. There was to be no Elgar, his place taken by the underrated Charles Hubert Parry (1848-1918), whose music ought to be better known.

The Queen’s entrance was played out to his regal March Of The Birds, while the anthem I Was Glad greeted the bridal party. His Blest Pair of Sirens, representative of the best in English choral tradition, accompanied the signing of the Register. There were hymns for certain, both traditional (the ubiquitous Jerusalem, also by Parry) and contemporary (John Rutter at his most saccharine), partnered by the London Chamber Orchestra and organist Robert Quinney. Walton’s Crown Imperial provided the exit music, with Widor’s Toccata unceremoniously faded off, giving way to the carillons of Westminster Abbey. A pleasant diversion, but one more for the dyed-in-the-wool royalist.

ALBERT LIN Piano Recital / Review

ALBERT LIN Piano Recital
Esplanade Recital Studio
Tuesday (4 May 2010)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 6 May 2010.

Among the small field of Singaporean pianists over the years, there is always one among them who stands out as a maverick, one who bucks the trends and relishes in offbeat repertoire. In the past, it was Ong Lip Tat, Victor Khor and the ever-young Margaret Leng Tan who raised collective eyebrows. These days, that mantle has fallen upon the small shoulders of Albert Lin.

His solo recital was ambrosia for those wearied by Chopin and more Chopin. It was not pure Bach that opened the programme, but Bach-Godowsky. The hallowed Polish icon’s amplification of Bach’s Violin Sonata No.1 In G minor had a quality of being infused by steroids and acid. Its grandiloquent vistas resounded in the studio’s reverberant acoustic like an organ, and Lin lapped up every turn of the four movements with trenchancy and fervour.

Next were Singapore premieres of four selections from Canadian super-virtuoso Marc-André Hamelin’s suite Con Intimissimo Sentimento. Three Ländler (Austrian dances in three-quarter time) and a Berceuse exhibited a more intimate side of both pianists (composer and performer), revelling in more piquant, naughty harmonies and subtle rhythmic insight.

Very different was Singapore-based American Dirk Stromberg’s 9/11…In Protest Of…, an angry and reflective essay that represented an arsenal of 20th century devices, including Ivesian tone clusters and Cowellian harmonic sheens. The work closed as it began, with the sustaining pedal holding every note until they died out naturally.

Letting down his hair with a jazz selection, Lin eased out the blues and boogie woogie of four Nikolai Kapustin Preludes, followed by three Gershwin songs transcribed by the late-lamented Earl Wild, who died earlier this year. The free-wheeling perpetual motion spun in the latter’s Fascinatin’ Rhythm was simple infectious.

The intrepid keyboard adventure closed with Alexander Scriabin’s Fourth Sonata, ironically the most familiar work on the programme. The Andante was seductive, its melting lyricism soon taking wing in the volatile finale. Defying gravity was the illusion in this Prestissimo, and Lin rose Icarus-like, to a whisker of crashing and burning out in its final ecstatic pages. Taking risks is part of “live” performance, you either have it in you or not at all. Albert Lin is the Khoo Swee Chiow of the piano.

This recital was presented by the Young Musicians Society (YMS) as part of its AfterEight series of recitals.

What's the music in my MP3 player?

WHAT’S THE MUSIC IN MY MP3 PLAYER?

Way back in 2005, I bought myself my first MP3 player. Not an iPod, but an LG FM11 with a measly 256 MB, just 4 hours of listening capacity. What went into this portable jukebox? Piano music, of course, and here are the items which have remained more or less unchanged since 2008:

RACHMANINOFF-WILD 

Song Transcriptions
To The Children – Floods of Spring – In The Silent Night – Where Beauty Lies – Vocalise – O, Cease Thy Singing
EARL WILD

RACHMANINOFF-VOLODOS 

Andante from Cello Sonata, Op.19
ARCADI VOLODOS

Yes, I'm a complete sucker for Rachmaninoff's melodies and one will not find finer tunes than these, all dressed up in pianistic finery like Cinderella going to a ball. Both Wild and Volodos are great transcribers, as Rachmaninoff was himself.

GODOWSKY Java Suite
Gamelan – Wayang Purwa – Hari Besaar – Chattering Monkeys of Lake Wendit – Borobodur in Moonlight – Bromo Volcano and Sand Sea – Three Dances – The Gardens of Buitenzorg – Streets of Old Batavia – In the Kraton – Ruined Water Castle at Djokja – Court Pageant in Solo.
ESTHER BUDIARDJO

One of my all-time-favourite "concept discs", Oriental-flavoured and lusciously written music idiomatically and sensitively played by the wonderful Indonesian pianist Esther Budiardjo.

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.2

VLADIMIR KRAINEV

with Frankfurt Radio Symphony 

DMITRI KITAENKO

A great if underrated piano concerto, a sort of Rachmaninov with teeth. Krainev has all the chops and that vital Russian essence; possibly greater than Ashkenazy's famous Decca recording, and definitely streets ahead of Li Yundi...

RACHMANINOFF
Piano Concerto No.2
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
GARY GRAFFMAN
with New York Philharmonic
LEONARD BERNSTEIN

This was the Rach 2 that got me started on my road of discovery in classical music. As an impressionable 14-year-old in the 1970s, Rachmaninov can have the impact of being struck by a bolt of lightning. Even if it was on a made-in-Indonesia pirated cassette costing $2 sold at a roadside stall.

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.3

JOHN CHEN with Sydney Symphony 

JANOS FURST

Recorded "live" in the finals of the Sydney International Piano Competition 2004. A passion-filled performance that captures the blood and guts of a "live" performance. A storm of bravos ensue, including a just audible vocal contribution from yours truly.

Solo highlights from the 

2008 Sydney International Piano Competition:

CHOPIN Étude in A minor, Op.10 No.2 

DANIIL TSVETKOV
KAPUSTIN Intermezzo TATIANA KOLESOVA
POULENC Presto TAKASHI SATO
RAVEL La Valse DAVID FUNG
SCHULZ-EVLER Arabesques on the Blue Danube 

HOANG PHAM
SHOSTAKOVICH Prelude & Fugue in D flat major, Op.87 No.15 TATIANA KOLESOVA

Thrills and spills indelibly captured in the excitement of competition.

GREATEST PIANO DISCS OF ALL TIME I: RACHMANINOFF-WILD Song Transcriptions

GREATEST PIANO DISCS OF ALL TIME I:

EARL WILD'S

Legendary Rachmaninoff Song Transcriptions
Earl Wild, piano
Ivory Classics CD-74001

Full Price / TT: 77:55

This review was originally published in The Flying Inkpot.

At last! At long, long last! The legendary American pianist Earl Wild’s incomparable and matchless transcriptions of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s songs have found a new – and definitively permanent – home on CD.

For years, eleven songs in this selection (originally recorded in 1982) were available on the hard-to-find Dell Arte label, a gem of a disc that is deserving of the Penguin Guide’s coveted Rosette or its equivalent. That album never quite made it to Singapore and pianophiles had to make do with four songs (including two new transcriptions) recorded in 1991 that appeared on the Chesky label, appended to Earl Wild’s magisterial performances of Rachmaninoff’s Chopin and Corelli Variations. Now, all these performances and three more “live” recordings from 1983 make up eighteen glorious tracks (thirteen songs in total) for this well-filled disc.

Like much of Rachmaninoff’s music, his songs or romances (to be more precise) are characterised by a very strong melodic line, which make them ideal subjects for transcription. Curiously, Rachmaninoff only transcribed two of these for piano: Lilacs and Daisies (or Marguerites), both of which are given simple and rather understated treatments.

Earl Wild (left) does what Liszt had done for Schubert’s Lieder more than a century ago, taking the melodic line as a starting point and weaving a web of fantasy around it by way of imaginative figurations and harmonies. Each song becomes either an intimate Song without words (to borrow a Mendelssohnian title) or transformed Cinderella-like into a concert showpiece, but retaining the original’s innate beauty and mystique.

The most obvious candidate for transcription is the wordless Vocalise, Op.34 No.14, also a subject of others pianists. Unlike Alan Richardson’s very literal, almost note-for-note take (which has been recorded by both Evgeny Kissin and Emil Gilels) or Zoltan Kocsis’ famous version that leaves the filigree to the very last page, Wild’s transcription begins his elaborations midway through the song. Garlands of thirds, sprinkled liberally, herald an impassioned chord-filled climax that tops anything the original has to offer. Almost a full minute separates the two recordings of this song. Despite culminating in the same febrile state of ecstasy as the 1991 reading, the earlier (1982), takes more time to smell the flowers. Both performances represent elegance personified.

There are three takes of In the Silent Night, Op.4 No.3, whose durations range from 4’06” to 4”50”, suggesting that Wild is never a slave to the stopwatch and – like a singer – does not mind lingering on certain phrases and luxuriating in the lush ornamentation. Listening through the versions, one senses an urgency and edginess in the “live” recording from 1983, which is also the swiftest of the three. The presence of an audience apparently does make a difference to the performer.

In O, Cease Thy Singing, Op.4 No.4 (also known as O, Never Sing To Me or Ne poy krasavitsa), Wild skillfully marries the exotic-sounding Georgian melody (that merely serves as the introduction) with the declamatory first line of the song itself. Like the tale of Sheherazade and Shariyah communing at midnight, this is one oriental fantasy that is hard to put down.

Wild’s intimate knowledge and mastery of Rachmaninoff’s (left) piano music would explain his treatment of Floods of Spring, Op.14 No.11. Here the transcendental technique required for the tumultuous Prélude in B flat major (Op.23 No.2) and Second Sonata (Op.36) is summoned and delivered with great aplomb in this Étude-tableaux-like number. In the fluid, shimmering textures of The Little Island, Op.14 No.2, one finds a debt to Liszt (Les jeux d’eau à la Villa d’Este) and Rachmaninoff’s Prélude in G major, Op.32 No.5. While Rachmaninoff’s style is often simulated, there are no mistaking Wild’s own inimitable touches.

Wonders also abound in the other songs. Words need not express the pain of separation in Do Not Grieve, Op.14 No.8, and On the Death of a Linnet, Op.21 No.8, a beseeching plea of To the Children, Op.26 No.7, and the dreamy reverie of Where Beauty Dwells (How Fair this Spot), Op.21 No.7, all of which come through magically in Wild’s hands. For good measure, the words of each song are provided for in the booklet in their English translations.

Clearly, Earl Wild is a pianist and transcriber in the same league as Rachmaninoff, Horowitz and Cziffra, just to name three virtuosos who thrived on the art of transcription and thrilled audiences all at once. The latter three keyboard wizards have passed on, but Wild, who was born 6 years (!) before Cziffra, is still going strong. He’s not hailed a living legend for nothing. As for this disc, you won’t find anything that comes close to it – it’s a definite classic.

Living with... ALBERT LIN / Piano Recital / Review

Living with... ALBERT LIN Piano Recital
The Living Room, The Arts House
Monday (17 August 2009)

For decades, composers have been trying to unify the disparate genres and sounds of classical music and jazz in a coherent and intelligent manner. The results are variable, but one of the most convincing is the Ukrainian pianist and jazz bandleader Nikolai Kapustin (born 1937), whose treacherously tricky piano works are gradually being discovered by mainstream classical artists.

One half of pianist Albert Lin’s hour-long classical jazz recital was devoted to Kapustin (left), beginning with his “simple” Sonatina (Op.100), an ideal primer in this crossover idiom. The sonata form is replicated in miniature, complete with exposition repeat, development and recapitulation. Four Préludes (from Op.53) followed, each reliving different popular styles; stride, boogie woogie, the blues and an updated sarabande (a slow Baroque dance).

The major work was Variations (Op.41). Based on the opening bassoon solo from Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite Of Spring, the theme so cleverly disguised as to elude even the most acute of theme-spotters. These are full written-out scores, where nothing is improvised, but Lin’s easy, spontaneous and totally natural takes seemed to suggest otherwise.

The Catalan composer Federico Mompou’s Cancion y Danza No.7 (Song and Dance) was not at all jazzy, but its disarming harmonies piqued the ears. While American William Bolcom’s popular Graceful Ghost Rag represented a sophisticated advancement on Scott Joplin’s rag standards, Earl Wild’s paraphrasing of Gershwin brought the art of transcription to new highs.

His oh-so-naughty dissonances, trademark filigree and free-wheeling virtuosity in songs like Somebody Loves Me, Embraceable You and Fascinatin’ Rhythm were a complete joy, and equaled by Lin’s rapier reflexes and lightning touches.

The encores were pure tongue-in-cheek. Whoever thought that Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow could be cooked with slivers of Rachmaninov sonatas and concertos? Apparently Jonathan Mann’s uproarious conflation thought so, and Marc-André Hamelin’s (left) Ringtone Waltz – formerly known as Irritation Waltz after Nokia (yes, that ringtone) – brought out the giggles. Lin’s next recital will be keenly awaited.

Michael Sheppard Piano Recital / Review

MICHAEL SHEPPARD Piano Recital
Victoria Concert Hall
Saturday (18 July 2009)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 July 2009.

When one refers to American classical musicians these days, chances he or she has a Chinese, Korean, Japanese or Eastern European name. Thus it is refreshing to see an Anglo-Saxon American pianist in recital, and an unusual programme that steers away from the over-trodden Beethoven-Liszt-Rachmaninov axis.

Baltimore-based Michael Sheppard follows in the illustrious tradition of Earl Wild, Leon Fleisher and Van Cliburn, combining solid musical values with a hearty show of keyboard virtuosity. “Familiar” classics opened the recital, with Haydn’s Sonata No.32 in B minor, one where the modern concert grand is given full rein of its dynamics. Sheppard’s crystal clear and penetrating sound brought out its curious mix of disquiet and vertiginous display.

Gradually, Sheppard led his flock to places off the beaten path. The juxtaposition of Chopin’s lilting Barcarolle and South African Peter Klatzow’s Barcarole (note the subtle difference in spelling) was a brilliant one, astutely contrasting light and shadow. The latter took off from Liszt’s somber La Lugubre Gondola, and departed on a funereal journey through myriad harmonic landscapes. Sheppard’s own Invitation to Travel carried on the geography lesson, subjecting the simple opening phrases to a grand tour of variation and fantasy.

Transcription and improvisation plays a substantial part in the modern pianist’s arsenal. His transcriptions of three Samuel Barber songs – sensitively and sympathetically played – showed that Barber-Sheppard is worthy to be named alongside Schubert-Liszt, Rachmaninov-Wild and Rodgers-Hough.

Each half of the recital concluded with an operatic piano fantasy. Sigismond Thalberg (left) used to be a huge rival of Liszt, but his works are now largely forgotten. The championship of Thalberg’s Don Pasquale Fantasy, based on themes from Donizetti’s opera, is a worthy one, if only to highlight a favourite device of his – the simulation of three hands on the piano. This piece of pianistic hi-jinks was repeated in Summertime, with the melody flowing from both thumbs, in Earl Wild’s Grand Fantasy On Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

Sheppard’s stupendous reading comes closest to the composer’s own brand of dare-devilry, reveling in forearm clusters in I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin, for example, and finishing off with a punishing upward octave glissando. His encores were a pleasant surprise; a high-class cocktail improvisation of Over The Rainbow, and something totally different – Schubert’s Musical Moment No.3. As they say, variety is the spice of life.

This recital was presented by DynamicWorkz.