MOZART MINORE / SEE SIANG WONG, Piano on RCA / Review

MOZART MINORE

Piano Concertos Nos.20 & 24

SEE SIANG WONG, Piano

Southwest German Philharmonic

Philipp von Steinaecker

RCA Red Seal 19075917322 / TT: 75’51”

 

Works in the minor key were in the minority during the classical era. Consider the fact that only two of Mozart’s 41 symphonies, Nos.25 and 40, were in the minor key (G minor). The same applied to his 18 piano sonatas. Just two, K.310 and 457, were cast in A minor and C minor respectively. Thus it makes perfectly logical sense to couple the two Mozart piano concertos (out of 27) in the minor key within the same album, as the Netherlands-born Chinese pianist See Siang Wong has done.  

 

When one encounters the term Minore, sturm und drang (storm and stress) come to mind. Minor keys are associated with passion, tension, drama and tragedy as opposed to the majestic and regal, happier and light-hearted major keys. D minor was the key of Mozart’s opera seria Don Giovanni and the Requiem Mass, which places his Piano Concerto No.20 (K.466) in very good company. Considered to be his greatest piano concerto, its tutti opening bristles with dramatic tension, strife and tumult.

 

In a similar vein, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.24 (K.491) cast in C minor channels struggle, conflict and ultimately tragedy. One is reminded of Mozart’s morose Fantasie (K.475) and the Great Mass (K.427), both in C minor. And what about Mozart’s influence on Beethoven’s great C minor works, namely his Pathetique Sonata, Third Piano Concerto and Fifth Symphony?

 

Against the rigorous yet fine orchestral backing provided by the Southwest German Philharmonic (based in Konstanz, on Lake Constance), Wong applies the most felicitous of touches in music that is paradoxically both fiery and tender. Besides the totally idiomatic performances, the value of these recordings come in the cadenzas for the first movements. In Piano Concerto No.20, he performs the rarely-heard cadenza by Mozart’s pupil and boarder Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a refreshing change from the usual Beethoven. It is even more virtuosic than Beethoven’s bread and butter and yet has many sensitive moments.

 

In Piano Concerto No.24, he opts for the cadenza by Philipp Karl Hoffmann, a Mainz-born pianist who was a contemporary of Beethoven. This is much longer than expected and totally in keeping with the spirit of sturm und drang. Just as interesting are the ear-catching elaborations and ornamentations applied to the aria-like slow movements. Wong provides his own for K.466, while Hoffmann’s for K.491 all make for very interesting listening.

 

As an encore, Wong offers what is Mozart’s bleakest and most modern sounding solo work, his Adagio in B minor (K.540), in a most eloquent reading. He knows the true meaning of minore and is unafraid to wear this pathos heart on sleeve. 

To sample / download / purchase this recording:

Mozart: Minore - Piano Concertos No. 20 & 24, Adagio K. 540 - RCA: 19075917322 - CD or download | Presto Music

BEETHOVEN TRILOGY 2: CHILDHOOD / See Siang Wong, Piano / Review

BEETHOVEN TRILOGY 2: CHILDHOOD

See Siang Wong, Piano

London Philharmonic / Sir Roger Norrington

RCA Red Seal 19439883152 / TT: 79’11”

 

The second album of Swiss-Chinese pianist See Siang Wong’s Beethoven Trilogy, in celebration of the German composer’s 250^th year, focuses on his childhood and teenaged years. Almost all the music heard here was composed before 1790, when still a student in his hometown of Bonn. The keyboard smasher of Vienna had yet to arrive. The works also fall under the WoO (Werke ohne Opuszahl or Works without Opus number) catalogue and virtually nothing will be familiar to most concert-goers and record collectors. For completists, however, every note here by the proto-Beethoven is essential.  

 

For starters, the three Kurfürstensonaten (Prince Elector Sonatas) WoO.47 from 1782-83 give a good idea what was on the mind of the pre-teen Beethoven. These are short three-movement works, much in the spirit of Haydn and Mozart’s earlier sonatas, filled with fire in the belly but not lacking in lyrical charm especially in the slow movements. The second sonata in F minor, with a slow and serious introduction, provides a foretaste of his Pathetique Sonata of 1798. The two-movement Sonata in C major (WoO.51) from 1790 is even shorter, with a harp-like elegance unusual elegant for the brusque and brash young man.

 

The piece de resistance is the Piano Concerto in E flat major (WoO.4) from 1784, not the Emperor and sometimes designated No.0. Its three movements, playing for some 25 minutes, only existed as a piano solo with orchestral parts adapted from a second piano reduction. Wong performs the edition by Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam and adds his own highly idiomatic cadenzas. Although derivative in parts, this nonetheless shows immense promise and a flair for the flashy. His model were not Haydn or Mozart, but rather Johann Christian Bach, the keyboard virtuoso also known as the “London Bach”. The mercurial finale also has a minor key “Turkish episode” at its centre, then a rage in contemporary musical fashions.   

 

The Rondo in B flat major (WoO.6) was the discarded original finale for Beethoven’s next piano concerto, in B flat major (now beloved as his Piano Concerto No.2, Op.19). There is a famous 1963 recording on Deutsche Grammophon by Sviatoslav Richter with Viennese forces under Kurt Sanderling, but this modern one tops it all. The London Philharmonic is sympathetic throughout both concertante works, in what must be one of Sir Roger Norrington’s last recordings before his retirement.

 

There are two sets of variations as delightful extras. Dressler Variations in C minor (WoO.63, 1782-83) and Variations on a Swiss Song in F major (WoO.64, 1790) are ultimately inconsequential, but show more facets of young Beethoven’s oeuvre. Wong lavishes nothing less than love and care for all of Beethoven’s juvenilia, his innate musicianship shining beyond the routine. This album is self-recommending, and Volume 3 of Wong’s Beethoven Trilogy is keenly awaited.

BEETHOVEN TRILOGY 1: FANTASIA / See Siang Wong / Review

BEETHOVEN TRILOGY 1: FANTASIA

SEE SIANG WONG, Piano

with Wiener Singverein

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony / Leo Hussain

RCA Red Seal 19439800512 / TT: 61’02”

 

To commemorate the 250^th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Swiss-Chinese pianist See Siang Wong has released the first of three tributes focusing on the German composer’s lesser known piano music. Beethoven’s piano music can hardly be considered obscure these days, but Wong’s juxtaposition of the four works on this disc makes total sense. It is a celebration of the “fantasy form” or simply a free form unfettered by compositional constraints of the sonata form.  

 

This hour-long album opens ironically with the two Op.27 sonatas. Both carry the description Sonata quasi una fantasia, or “in the manner of a fantasy”. The better known is the so-called Moonlight Sonata (Op.27 No.2, in C sharp minor). Following the direction of senza sordino (without dampers), Wong steps on the sustaining pedal throughout the opening movement, creating the hazy, spectral and dream-like effect which publisher and poet Rellstab likened to “moonlight over Lake Lucerne”. The ferocity of its finale, performed with extreme vehemence by Wong, might have persuaded others to call it Sonata Romantique or Sonata Appassionata (thus predating Op.57).

 

The E flat major sonata (Op.27 No.1) has less fantastical elements but is unusual with its linked movements and marked mood transitions. A singular distinctive feature is the brief recollection of the slow movement’s theme near the end of the finale, a kind of reminiscence which Beethoven did not attempt in his earlier sonatas. He would do this again in the Op.110 sonata, and most famously included quotations of earlier movements in the Ode To Joy of the Ninth Symphony. Wong’s performance rightly brings out an aching sense of nostalgia.

 

Beethoven’s Fantasy Op.77 is without doubt his strangest piano piece, bringing the meaning of fantasy to nether reaches. Its apparent formlessness, elusive tonality and almost schizophrenic shifts (flights of fantasy being a most apt description) are never more apparent. The glissando-like descending scale at its outset, which punctuates the work, is unusual and unprecedented, later spoofed by Shostakovich in his First Piano Concerto. The banal melody which receives an equally banal short set of variations is also Rossinian in its sheer kookiness. Was this supposed to be a serious work or ein musikalische spass (a musical joke)? Wong milks it for what it is worth, with tongue lodged firmly in cheek.   

 

That ushers in the Choral Fantasy Op.80, another curious experiment but one that has become hugely popular. The piano plays unaccompanied for a long stretch, like an improvisation or a cadenza to some piano concerto, before orchestral strings surreptitiously joining in more than three minutes later. The chorus sings only in the work’s final four minutes. The main theme is a close first cousin to the Ode To Joy, often regarded as preparatory work for the Ninth Symphony’s finale. Now that would become Beethoven’s ultimate fantasy. Wong and the Austrian orchestral and choral forces give a masterly performance that lacks nothing in passion and fervour, comparable to some of the best on record (one thinks of Barenboim, Brendel, Kissin and Pollini).

 

Aided by an excellent interview article, Wong’s advocacy works wonders and this programme is a whole-heartedly recommended enterprise.

 

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2018)

PIANO CONCERTOS

ADDINSELL. ROTA. PIAZZOLLA

DONKA ANGATSCHEWA, Piano

Vogtland Philharmonie / Stefan Fraas

Ars Production 38 168 / ****1/2

CINEMA CLASSICS

THE PIANO AT THE MOVIES

SEE SIANG WONG, Piano

Sony Classical 88985353612 (2 Cds) / ****

The ability of the piano to bring out human emotions and feelings accounts for its ubiquitous use in movie music to augment real-time action on the silver screen. These two recordings mine a well-excavated vein that does not look like exhausting soon.

Not all the works in the album by Bulgaria-born pianist Donka Angatscheva was originally conceived for piano, but every bit sounds evocative. Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto (composed for war movie Dangerous Moonlight) is a classic in recycling Rachmaninov's lush Romantic renderings. 

Nino Rota's Concerto Soiree is a concert piece in four short movements, reliving the different styles of his movie music – the pathos-laden, dramatic and comedic. Astor Piazolla's Four Seasons Of Buenos Aires is a celebration of the sultry tango cast as a four-movement piano trio concerto, with hot-blooded passion overflowing.  

Dutch-Chinese pianist See Siang Wong's double-disc of piano solos from the movies leans heavily on the New Age and minimalist groove, which makes for enjoyable lounge music. 

There are tracks by Michael Nyman (The Piano), Dave Grusin (On Golden Pond), Ryuichi Sakamoto (Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence and The Last Emperor), Philip Glass (The Hours and The Truman Show), Joe Hisaishi (Spirited Away) and Yiruma (River Flows In You), but not everything such as Pachelbel's Canon or Mahler's Adagietto translates equally well for piano. This is nonetheless easy listening.

CD Review (The Straits Times, May 2017)

THE CHAMBER VERSIONS

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No.1        

BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No.4

SEE SIANG WONG, Piano

Gemeaux Quartet et al

RCA Red Seal 88875061442 / ****1/2

There are different ways of listening to piano concertos, either regarding them as orchestral works with virtuoso piano parts integrated within the formal architecture, or as chamber music with solo pianist in the driving seat. This interesting new recording by Dutch-Chinese pianist See Siang Wong seeks the latter viewpoint, with two popular piano concertos sounding like new works in the process.

Richard Hofmann's transcription of Chopin's First Piano Concerto does not significantly alter the solo piano part. However there are surprises when the piano is heard with the string quintet (two violins, viola, cello and double bass) in the tutti sections.

Wong and his chamber partners play a radically different version of Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto which combines Vinzenz Lachner's string reduction of the orchestra with a little-known piano score edited by violinist Franz Possinger, which was first performed at a private concert in 1807. The piano part sounds more improvisatory and virtuosic than the published version that listeners know today.     

The performances here are highly idiomatic and sympathetic, and even if they provide a mild shock to the senses, the departure to parts less trodden is well-worth the time.