CD Review (The Straits Times, December 2017)

2017 NEW YEAR'S CONCERT

Vienna Philharmonic / Gustavo Dudamel

Sony Classical 88985376152 (2 CDs) 

****1/2

It is amazing to ponder the fact that the New Year's Day Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra continues to bring up new works never previously performed at this landmark institution. 

Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel's first appearance unfortunately did not present some Latino pops classics, but no less than eight “premieres” were heard, including favourites like Emile Waldteufel's Skaters Waltz (Les Patineurs) and Franz von Suppe's Pique Dame Overture. The concert opened with Franz Lehar's Nechledil March, ever bit as rousing and clappable as Johann Strauss the Elder's Radetzky March that closed the event.

In between, there were first performances of Johann Strauss the Younger's Rotunde-Quadrille, Die Extravaganten and fast polkas Auf Zum Tanze! (Let's Dance!) and Pepita Polka, all sparkling like bubbly champagne. The Wiener Singverein chorus also made its debut, singing in the Moon Chorus from The Merry Wives Of Windsor by the orchestra's founder Otto Nicolai. 

Not to be outdone, the orchestral players themselves have their voices heard in Strauss' Tik-Tak Polka (not to be confused with the better-known Tritsch-Tratsch Polka) besides their customary shouted new year's greeting. The Beautiful Blue Danube gets its due, as always, and what would the Vienna New Year's Concert be without it?  

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, September 2015)

MAHLER Symphony No.7

Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL

Deutsche Grammophon 479 1700 / *****

Slowly but surely, Venezuelan superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel is putting out his own cycle of Mahler symphonies on the German yellow label, shared by the orchestras he directs, the Simon Bolivar Symphony of Venezuela and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mahler's Seventh Symphony (1905) is his third Mahler recording and in certain ways the best so far. Unlike the Ninth Symphony where a Klemperer-like expansive view is taken, his vision of the Seventh is relatively short-winded, clocking in at just under 79 minutes.

Often considered the most problematic of Mahler's ten symphonies, Dudamel is not bogged down by its details, which include two long movements book-ending two movements titled Nachtmusik I and II and a mysterious scherzo in between. The opening movement is well-judged, and one feels the tension only after it has been released, the detumescence being as breathtaking as it is hypnotic. The moods in the three central movements are varied enough to sustain interest while the rumbling finale does not ramble but gets to the point soon enough. Think that Dudamel is nothing but all flash and machismo? This sumptuous live recording, which captures all the finer nuances, shows he is a thinking and feeling maestro as well.  

   

PROKOFIEV Works for Piano

ABDEL RAHMAN EL BACHA, Piano

Mirare 165 / *****

This is an excellent introduction to the early piano works of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953), composed between 1912 and 1917, before his self-imposed exile to the West during the Bolshevik Revolution. All the elements that defined his musical style are in evidence. These include the relentless motor-like, industrial juggernaut that is his fearsome Toccata Op.11, to be distinguished from the searing dissonances and grotesqueries that is the Sarcasms Op.17. The Ten Pieces Op.12 have titles which suggest a neo-baroque suite of dances, but each is coloured with Prokofiev's trademark wit as viewed through a kaleidoscope. The rippling Prelude (No.7), also written for harp, is easy enough for talented children, and the Scherzo (No.10) a perpetual motion of jinking humour.

The two greatest works here are his Second Sonata Op.14, which combines all these traits in four short movements, and the twenty gems that make up the Visions Fugitives Op.22. Like Chopin's preludes, these diminutive aphorisms are a microcosm of Prokofiev's drolleries, rarefied musical thoughts and unique sound world. Lebanese pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha is a consummate virtuoso who finely balances technical virtuosity with an innate sense of proportion and poetry. If you thought Prokofiev is not your cup of tea, think again.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, May 2014)

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No.3

PROKOFIEV Piano Concerto No.2

YUJA WANG, Piano

Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra

GUSTAVO DUDAMEL

Deutsche Grammophon 479 130 4 / *****

It’s official: Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and Prokofiev’s Second Piano Concerto have become the most performed 20^th century concertos by young pianists of today. Both accounted for two thirds of the six finalists’ choices at the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and now this latest disc by young Chinese keyboard superstar Yuja Wang. Conceived within three years of each other, both exude Russian pathos at its darkest and most brooding, but take divergent paths to stratospheric virtuoso heights. Rachmaninov’s is the last great Romantic concerto, while Prokofiev’s melding of steely dissonance and percussiveness heralded a new age.

These are terrific live recordings which made up one explosive concert programme in Caracas, Venezuela in February 2013. Wang’s approach is reminiscent of Vladimir Ashkenazy’s scintillating first recording of the Rachmaninov in 1963. Lithe and mercurial, both used the smaller and lighter of two 1^st movement cadenzas, and Wang shaves a full minute off Ashkenazy. The blistering pacing she and the young players of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra led by the charismatic Gustavo Dudamel adopt in the Prokofiev, especially in the tempestuous finale, leaves all rivals in their wake. This one does not disappoint.

BRITTEN Complete Orchestral

& Instrumental Music

Decca 478 545 1 (13 CDs) / *****

Although Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was best regarded for his operas and vocal music, his orchestral and instrumental music hold a special place because of their accessibility and and inventiveness. Young listeners will always be indebted to his Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and concert-goers to his concertos, Sinfonia da Requiem and Frank Bridge Variations which do get performed off and on. In this definitive Decca commemorative release, it is Britten himself who conducts the major works, supporting major artists like Sviatoslav Richter (in the Piano Concerto), Mstislav Rostropovich (Cello Symphony), Mark Lubotsky (Violin Concerto) and Julius Katchen (Diversions for piano & orchestra) in definitive readings.

Much of his earlier instrumental music and student works for almost every instrumental combination possible (from humble recorders to pipe organ and string quartet) are virtually unknown. Some were written with children in mind and every note has been brought together in this multi-label (13 at last count) enterprise. These reveal an eclectic and innovative voice, sometimes naïve, playful but always witty, which eventually coalesce into his highly individual, often dissonant yet distinctive style. Many of the performances here are first recordings. There are surprises aplenty and repeated listening will be rewarded manifold.

This set retails at $84 

(excluding postage and packaging) 

at www.prestoclassical.co.uk

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, October 2013)

ROAD MOVIES

KAM NING, Violin

ALBERT TIU, Piano

Meridien 84619 / *****

The music of America in the 20^th century was distinguished by a plethora of styles, including serialism, minimalism and a movement that advocated a return to tonality by assimilating and re-adapting popular idioms. It is the latter two that are explored in this highly accessible anthology of Americana. John Adams’s Road Movies is the highlight, the outer two movements – Relaxed Groove and 40% Swing - depart from the mind-numbing repetitiveness of pioneer minimalists, instead delighting in its expert dovetailing of rhythmic precision and melodic interest. The Violin Sonata of John Corigliano (who composed the score of The Red Violin) is more traditional; its four movements retracing the well-worn path treaded by American icons Copland and Barber.

On the subject of film music, Charlie Chaplin’s Smile from Modern Times gets a sensuous and slicked-up treatment. John Novacek’s Four Rags are highly enjoyable, an update on Scott Joplin’s ragtime fantasies and equal to William Bolcom’s sophisticated classics. Both violinist Kam Ning and pianist Albert Tiu, with studies in America well behind them, closely identify with these works, bringing a stunning panache, infectious elan and zeal. Kam Ning’s own country-inspired solo improvisation of the church hall favourite Amazing Grace, both soulful and exuberant, brings the disc to a brilliant close. A small point in nomenclature: reformed English slave-trader John Newton only wrote the words, the actual composer of the hymn remains unknown. Here is an hour more than well spent.

MAHLER Symphony No.9

Los Angeles Philharmonic / GUSTAVO DUDAMEL

Deutsche Grammophon 479 0924 (2 CDs) / ****1/2

Gustav Mahler’s last completed symphony, his Ninth, was composed in 1909, and is widely regarded as his swansong. Here it receives an expansive “live” performance by the Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, one of the longest in the recorded repertoire. At over 86 minutes, it is only exceeded by Otto Klemperer’s legendary 1967 recording with the New Philharmonia on EMI Classics. The two slow movements, the first and the fourth, contribute to its monumentality, a lingering contemplation about mortality.

From the slight erratic heartbeat (Mahler suffered a fatal complication of rheumatic heart disease) of its opening to the ebbing embers of the final Adagio, this is a performance that truly moves. If there is any quibble, that would be in the 3^rd movement’s Rondo Burleske which despite its frenetic pace sounds underpowered and insufficiently ironic. The playing is very fine and recorded sound splendid. There is minimal audience noise and no applause has been included. The double CD set has been priced as a single premium disc. For a modern account of this classic by one of classical music’s indefatigable “Young Turks”, look no further. 

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, August 2010)

NOW WOULD ALL FREUDIANS PLEASE STAND ASIDE?
JAMES RHODES, Piano
Signum Records SIGCD185 (2CDs)

*****

This is the sequel to Razor Blades, Little Pills & Big Pianos, by the conformity challenged British pianist James Rhodes. The arcane title comes from a quote by the late Canadian maverick Glenn Gould whose playing of Bach Rhodes worships. Thankfully he is no Gould clone and imbues Bach’s forward-looking Sixth Partita in E minor with much spirit and sensitivity, minus the eccentricity. The ear-piquing harmonies of the Sarabande come through most eloquently. Quite unlike Gould, he also has a thing for hyphenated Bach. The Bach-Busoni Toccata, Adagio & Fugue (BWV.564) receives a grandstanding performance which even tops the quirky Horowitz, with the Aria transformed into a grand procession. His view of Beethoven’s late Sonata No.30 in E major(Op.109), with its inventive and almost jazzy variations, is no less involving.

A bonus disc includes two short Chopin tracks (a Prélude and an Étude), excerpts from an interview, and a video of the sublime Marcello-Bach Adagio. Although Rhodes is fashioned to look like a cross between Jack Nicholson’s Joker and Phua Chu Kang with his yellow boots, here is an extremely serious artist with a lot to say.

STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring
REVUELTAS Night of the Maya
Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra
GUSTAVO DUDAMEL
Deutsche Grammophon 477 8775
****1/2

This is an unusual but totally logical coupling, one which revels in primal and intoxicating dance. Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940) was the most original Mexican composer of his time, whose all too short life of genius and alcoholism seemed to parallel that of the Russian nationalist Mussorgsky. His La Noche De Los Mayas (Night Of The Maya), in four movements, was initially conceived as film music, but first performed 20 years after Revueltas’ death. Pagan rites and sacrificial orgies are vividly imagined and captured in these tableaux, which range from folk music simplicity (Night of Revelry) to a battery of uninhibited improvisatory drumming (Night of Enchantment).

Stravinsky’s iconic ballet The Rite Of Spring needs little introduction, except that its shock value remains unabated almost a century since its 1913 premiere. The Venezuelan wunderkind of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra led by the equally youthful Gustavo Dudamel surpass themselves in this monster score, where complex rhythms and jangling dissonances continue to baffle. A totally enjoyable romp, but beware the speakers!