CD Review (The Straits Times, March 2018)

ROSTROPOVICH ENCORES

ALBAN GERHARDT, Cello

MARKUS BECKER, Piano

Hyperion 68136 / *****

Back in 1992, when the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007) last performed a recital in Singapore, he played Shostakovich's Scherzo (from the Cello Sonata) as an encore. 

In his review, The Straits Times critic at the time mistakenly attributed that as a work by the cellist himself. Shostakovich has not been included in this very enjoyable album of Rostropovich's favourite encores but there are two original pieces by the master.

Humoresque and Moderato (for solo cello) date from his student years in the 1940s and display the kind of wit he was renowned for. The virtuosic perpetual motion of the former is also found in David Popper's Elfentanz (Elfin's Dance) and Christian Sinding's Presto, which German cellist Alban Gerhardt whips off with consummate ease.

As expected, there is much Russian music in this 70-minute disc. Prokofiev accounts for three pieces, two dances from the ballet Cinderella and the famous March from the opera The Love For Three Oranges. Rachmaninov's lilting Oriental Dance makes for a delightful contrast with his melancholic Vocalise, while Stravinsky's Pas de deux (from Divertimento) and Russian Maiden's Song (Mavra) are coloured with a ballet-like grace. 

Ravel's Piece in the Form of a Habanera and Debussy's Clair de lune, Minstrels and the rarely heard Scherzo sound ravishing, but for pure indulgence, Glazunov's arrangement of Chopin's Étude Op.25 No.7 takes the cake. No surprises,  as this sonorous study of sheer languour has been nicknamed the “Cello”.        

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2013)

PIERS LANE GOES TO TOWN

PIERS LANE, Piano

Hyperion 67967 / *****

This album of delightful short pieces and encores by the London-based Australian pianist Piers Lane has a strong Anglo-Australian and English-speaking flavour about it. The transcriptions by Dohnanyi and Rachmaninov, a Poulenc Nocturne and Karg-Elert Arabesque are the only exceptions. Tasmanian Katharine Parker’s Down Longford Way and Melbournian Percy Grainger’s Irish Tune From County Derry (or Londonderry Air), both of folksong charm, are the bookends to this journey of discovery. Who but the always-inquisitive Lane would have unearthed gems like fellow Queenslander Regis Danillon’s glorious transcription of A Nightingale Sang At Berkeley Square, Robert Keane’s The Tiger Tango or American Mark Saya’s Barcarolles (quite artfully combining both Chopin and Offenbach)?

Closer to home are his father Alan Lane’s coruscating Toccata and Anthony Doheny’s Toccata For Piers Lane, the latter written when the composer was a Franciscan friar. Familiar to some are Billy Mayerl’s Marigold, Zez Confrey’s Dizzy Fingers and Alec Templeton’s Bach Goes To Town, jazz-inflected baubles all. YouTube addicts might also recognise Dudley Moore’s hilarious Beethoven Parody based on the Colonel Bogey March. The longest track is veteran broadcaster (not the Hannibal Lecter actor) Antony Hopkins’s Variations On A Well-Known Theme, which is Happy Birthday To You written in the styles of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt and Prokofiev. Lane’s delectable touch and keen sense of wit make this selection a totally winning one.

MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH

plays Russian Concertos

Brilliant Classics 9240 (3 CDs) / ****

Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007) was without doubt the greatest cellist of the 20^th century. Despite being cloistered as a subject in the repressive Soviet Union, he inspired and premiered many of the great cello works of the era, much of which is still performed today. His 1950s recordings of Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante (1954) and Nikolai Myaskovsky’s Cello Concerto (1944) on EMI Classics remain definitive, but here are 1972 live performances with the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by Kirill Kondrashin from the Gostelradio archives that capture a spontaneity and immediacy that is lacking in the studio.

The same applies to Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto (1959), with the USSR State Symphony led by Gennady Rozhdestvensky, recorded in 1961. Listen past the audience and extraneous noise, and one understands the fierce intensity and irony that colours this music. All three works eschew atonalism but blend dissonance with the bittersweet warmth of human tragedy, qualities which Rostropovich clearly identified with. Also in this box set are Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, Glazunov’s Minstrel’s Song, Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody and 20^th century concertos by Boris Tishchenko and Vladimir Vlasov. Do not expect good sound but performances that truly sizzle.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, June 2012)

MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH

Complete Decca Recordings

Decca 478 3577 (5 CDs) / *****

The 20^th century’s greatest cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007), recorded on many labels but the focus of this slim Decca box-set is on his friendship and partnership with Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). Britain’s greatest 20^th century composer wrote five major works for him, four of which are heard here in definitive performances. 

The Cello Symphony (1963) remains one of the great 20^th century cello concertos, its pungent blend of dissonance and long-breathed poetry find a most sympathetic response in Rostropovich’s expressiveness and virtuosic playing. Britten himself conducts the English Chamber Orchestra. More intimate are the first two unaccompanied Cello Suites, which are Bach-like in their play on polyphony and intensity.

Britten is also the pianist in the more accessible Cello & Piano Sonata, his prowess as interpretive co-collaborator is confirmed in further sonatas by Frank Bridge, Debussy and Schubert (the lyrical Arpeggione Sonata), and Schumann’s Five Pieces in Folk Style. Britten’s modern-sounding cadenzas for Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major complete this unusually fruitful relationship between two sides of the Iron Curtain. 

The legendary 1963 Philips recordings of the five Beethoven Cello Sonatas with Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter come as a very generous bonus. Brief but illuminating sleeve-notes come from Elizabeth Wilson, Rostropovich’s former student and biographer. This set retails at $36.90 in HMV.  

KARLOWICZ Serenade / Violin Concerto

ILYA KALER, Violin

Warsaw Philharmonic / Antoni Wit

Naxos 8.572274 / ****

The fame and renown of Miecyslaw Karlowicz (1876-1909), however obscure outside his native Poland, probably lies with the fact he is the only composer of note to have been killed by an avalanche while mountaineering. A real pity, since this contemporary of Ravel and Respighi wrote such unremittingly melodious music that almost seems too old-fashioned for his time. 

The Serenade for Strings (Op.2) in four movements, his earliest orchestral work, has its models in Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, and there are moments that remind one of Elgar or Grieg. The opening March even looks ahead to the slow movement of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony.   

The Violin Concerto in A major (1902) belongs to the old school of virtuoso violin concertos inspired by the virtuosity of violinists like Joachim, Sarasate and Wieniawski. Its 30 minutes pass by rather quickly, as its wellspring of flowing lyricism is immediately likeable. It also helps that the imposing opening theme returns at the end of the finale to round things up. 

Russian violinist Ilya Kaler, winner of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition, provides a high level of polish and slickness to the proceedings. There is an older recording of this concerto by Nigel Kennedy (on EMI Classics), possibly now deleted, but this new one at budget-price remains competitive.

Symphony Chat with Mischa Maisky

Post-concert Symphony Chat

with MISCHA MAISKY

Besides hearing Mischa Maisky perform, the Singapore audience also wanted to hear him speak. So a larger than usual-sized throng stayed back post-concert to attend the Symphony Chat with SSO Music Director Lan Shui, hosted by Anthony Brice. What did MM talk about?

Childhood
I was a really terrible child. I am sure that my older sister would have wanted to kill me sometime! At 8 years old, I did two important things. I quit smoking forever, and picked up the cello!

Mother Russia
I was born in Latvia, which happened at that time to be part of the Soviet Union. Although I love Russian music, literature and culture, I never felt at home in Russia. I never felt I belonged. Studying at the Moscow Conservatory was an important part, but I also spend time in prison, labour camp (shoveling cement and “building Communism”, obviously unsuccessfully!), mental hospital (in order to escape military service), before leaving for Israel. Thirty-eight years after leaving Russia, I have never felt homesick.

Concert apparel
I do not wear traditional “penguin” outfits while performing. This is not a fashion statement as concerts are not fashion shows. Maybe that’s my way of protesting against classical music being too conservative. Individuality and personality should come before uniforms and uniformity. What is important is the music, and I wear whatever makes me comfortable to make music. Ladies can wear whatever they want, so why not men?

Mstislav Rostropovich
My father died (he smoked too much) just before I became a student of Rostropovich, and so he became a second father to me. He was much more than just a teacher. As he and his wife had daughters but no son, I became like a son to him.

Martha Argerich
Argerich is like life itself -- not easy. She can be unpredictable, sometimes annoying, a pain in the back (and certain other places), but she is a most beautiful thing in music. It is a great privilege and joy to work with her.

A world citizen
You can say I am a citizen of the world. I play on an Italian cello, use French or German bows and wear Indian jewellery. My first wife is American (“Nobody’s perfect.”) and second wife is Italian (but has a Sri Lankan father), and my four children were born in four different countries. I performed tonight in Singapore, two nights ago in Taiwan and tomorrow in Hong Kong. I feel at home wherever there are people who love and appreciate music. So I feel at home in Singapore tonight!

WHAT DO THESE MUSICAL LEGENDS HAVE IN COMMON?

BENJAMIN BRITTEN, CLAUDIO ARRAU,

MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH, ITZHAK PERLMAN,

SERGIU CELIBIDACHE, SIR NEVILLE MARRINER,

GOH SOON TIOE, PAUL SELVARAJ ABISHEGANADEN

& CHOO HOEY.

Q: WHAT DO THESE MUSICAL LEGENDS HAVE IN COMMON?

A: THEY HAVE ALL PERFORMED AT

SINGAPORE'S VICTORIA CONCERT HALL.

Please see tomorrow's review of the

Victoria Concert Hall Gala Closing Concert.

THE ART OF AUTOGRAPHS (Part 2)

Mikhail Pletnev's near-illegible scrawl

Windows to the soul?

So what do artists’ autographs look like? They range from grandiloquent sweeps (Evelyn Glennie, Carlo Curley), beautiful cursives (Barry Tuckwell, Angela Hewitt, Anne Sophie Mutter), illegible claw-like scratches (Ivo Pogorelich, Mikhail Pletnev), to the very basic writing of one’s name (Seow Yit Kin, Marc-André Hamelin, Ronald Stevenson).

Krystian Zimerman (above) signs only with green ink, while Yo-Yo Ma uses two different styles, including one in Chinese characters. The French-American pianist Joel-François Thiollier always includes an aphorism or wisecrack, crafted on the spur of the moment.

A collage of autographs (from L):

Pinchas Zukerman, Marc Neikrug's 

hieroglyphics, David Finckel's reverse check 

and Oscar Shumsky's yin-yang

One of the most unusual specimens comes from the late American violinist Oscar Shumsky, which looks like the yin yang symbol – an S inscribed within the confines of an O (OS for his name, get it?). Other intriguing ones belong to pianist Marc Neikrug - which looks like some ancient script - and cellist David Finckel (of the Emerson Quartet), which comprises merely the Nike check and a dot. “Just done it!” it seems to proclaim.

Do these autographs reflect their owners’ personalities or characters? I am not a graphologist but I would like to think that something in an artist’s psyche comes through in their handwriting besides their music. SSO Music Director Lan Shui’s autograph is slick and stylised, just like his conducting. Russian maestros Mstislav Rostropovich (above), Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Vladimir Ashkenazy (below) all sign their multi-syllabic surnames in full – displaying a certain pride in their heritage.

Local composer Tan Chan Boon’s resembles an alpine peak, mirroring the loftiness of his Bruckner-like symphonies. Arch virtuosos like Arcadi Volodos and Peter Donohoe, who simply refuse to do autographs (a gesture of contempt for the very people who support their careers), probably suffer from some hidden inferiority complexes.