HANS GRAF AND VADIM GLUZMAN: BEETHOVEN AND SHOSTAKOVICH / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

HANS GRAF AND VADIM GLUZMAN:

BEETHOVEN AND SHOSTAKOVICH

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Victoria Concert Hall

Friday (5 August 2022)

This review was first published in Bachtrack on 8 August 2022 with the title "Exciting Beethoven and two premieres from Hans Graf and the SSO".

It has often been lamented that Singaporean composers receive short shrift from the national orchestra but this Singapore Symphony season signalled that change is at hand. The evening opened with the world premiere of Zechariah Goh Toh Chai’s Flow, a work commissioned before the pandemic struck. Goh (born 1970) is one of the leading composers from Singapore’s Generation X. Although known for his eclecticism, his new work was founded on Chinese music.

Applause from composer Zechariah Goh
for the fine premiere of his new composition Flow.

 

Flow opened with bold pizzicatos from double basses, simulating strains of the ancient guqin (Chinese zither) as sonic shards coalesced to form something coherent. Like drops of water merging into rivulets and streams, the music gathered texture, volume and pace with further instruments – harp, celesta, strings, solo flute and later woodwinds and brass - joining the fray. The outcome was a surging river of sound, the gradual crescendo revealing a mastery of mystery and tension. Culminating with ostinatos on celesta, marimba and timpani, the climax now resonated with the vigour of Indian drumming. Its brief eight minutes, superbly marshalled by Music Director Hans Graf, was totally riveting.

 

Receiving its first long-awaited Singapore premiere was Shostakovich’s Second Violin Concerto, composed in 1967 as a 60^th birthday gift for David Oistrakh. Ukraine-born Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman wasted no time in flexing a brawny and dusky tone on his 1690 ex-Leopold Auer Stradivarius in a work painted in shades from dark grey to pitch black. Cutting large swathes of sonority through thickets of low strings was his prerogative as the music probed vistas of morbidity and mortality. The ailing Shostakovich, recovering from a heart attack, could still summon the spirit of the dance, which Gluzman duly obliged with a show of animation and nimbleness.

 

Quite unusually, all three movements of the concerto incorporated solo cadenzas, conceived like confessionals but each dispatched with utmost vehemence and grim authority. The passacaglia-like slow movement heaved with the lugubriousness of an elegy, before being swept aside by the madcap gallop-like machinations of the finale. Like in Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, where solo French horn jostled with the main soloist for attention, Marc-Antoine Robillard’s horn hi-jinks kept pace with Gluzman all through to the concerto’s outlandish conclusion. Reciprocating the tumultuous applause, Gluzman’s encore of Ukrainian master Valentin Silvestrov’s Serenade was no less heart-rending.        

 

Photo: Aloysius Lim

Coming after the freneticism of Shostakovich, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony seemed like an anti-climax but the ensemble under Hans Graf had other ideas. Making this hackneyed music sound fresh without resorting to exaggerated or cheap effects takes work too, and seldom did the opening drones sound more welcoming. Beethoven’s introduction into the countryside was one of freshness, characterised by plush strings and immaculate woodwinds. The Scene by the Brook flowed by in a leisurely pace without sounding sluggish, with the reverie awokened by mimickry of the nightingale (solo flute), quail (oboe) and cuckoo (clarinet).

Photo: Aloysius Lim

 

Hesitant applause from newcomers in the audience after the first two movements was graciously acknowledged by Graf, before the orchestra launched headlong into the jocular Merry Gathering of the Peasants. The Storm that interrupted the merrymaking was brief but evocative, the chill-factor enhanced by a hyper-alert piccolo. Has there been a more sincere portrayal of thanksgiving and the warm glow of sunshine than this finale? With this show of largesse, the concert drew to a satisfying conclusion.   

Star Rating: ****

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, February 2013)

SCHUMANN Piano Works

Fabula Classica 2221 / *****

It may be said that Robert Schumann (1810-1856) was the ultimate Romantic composer. A failed virtuoso pianist, he poured out his heart, inspired by the muse Clara whom he later married against all odds. After fathering 8 children and vainly fighting schizophrenia, he died painfully and alone in an insane asylum. His piano music encompasses all the passions, trials and tribulations, and ultimately undying loves. These historical recordings attest to his enduring spirit.

Despite numerous slips and inaccuracies, Alfred Cortot’s performance of the 22-movement Carnaval (1928) radiates an irrepressible warmth and unfettered ecstasy. Has there been a more plain-speaking Scenes From Childhood (1950) from that arch-virtuoso Vladimir Horowitz? His plaintive Träumerei (Dreaming) says it all. For scintillating dexterity, look no further than the ABEGG Variations from Clara Haskil (1953) or the Toccata in C major from Sviatoslav Richter (1959). There is not a note of machine-like playing here, instead undiminished poetry that distinguishes these pianists of yesteryear.

Wilhelm Backhaus contributes more lyricism in the underrated Forest Scenes (1955). The oldest recordings are also the shortest: Francis Planté in Romance in F sharp major (1928) and Liszt-student Carl Reinecke in Warum? from Fantasy Pieces Op.12 (1906). The playing and musicianship are transcendent enough to overlook the hiss, crackle and pop.  This is essential listening for serious students of musical history.

PAR.TI.TA

VADIM GLUZMAN, Violin

BIS SACD-1972 / ****1/2

Johann Sebastian Bach’s unaccompanied violin partitas are the inspiration for this recital, which develops upon the German master’s ever-creative play on counterpoint and the spirit of the dance. The start points are the multi-movement Second and Third Partitas, which Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman performs with utmost accuracy, perfect intonation and much verve. Immediately following the imposing Chaconne in D minor, Par.ti.ta (2007) by the Russian-American Lera Auerbach (born 1973) begins. It is an engaging 10-movement suite that relives the antique style and spirit of the Baroque, unremittingly tonal but spiced with occasional Schnittke-like dissonances. Its dedicatee Gluzman laps up its every nuance and phrase.

There is a thematic link between Bach’s Third Partita and Eugene Ysaye’s Second Sonata (Op.27 No.2). The latter, in four movements, opens with exactly the same bars as the Preludio of the former. A tribute to both Bach and its dedicatee Jacques Thibaud, the fearsomely virtuosic works then takes off on a tangent into the realms of the diabolical and dare-devilry. Cast in A minor, it unsurprisingly ruminates on the Dies Irae theme which reveals yet another inspiration – the seemingly impossible technical feats of Paganini. Gluzman is the modern-day Paganini and brings to these scores an unwavering sense of adventure, risk and ultimately reward.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, April 2012)

HOMAGE TO PADEREWSKI 

JONATHAN PLOWRIGHT, Piano 

Hyperion 67903 / ****1/2 

Homage To Paderewski was a 1942 album of piano music published by Boosey & Hawkes commemorating the 40th anniversary of virtuoso Ignacy Paderewski’s American debut concert tour. The one-time Polish president however died in 1941, and this anthology by 16 composers became his requiem. 

Bartok, Martinu and Milhaud are the only familiar faces here, but some of the most memorable pieces come from virtually forgotten names. Most capitalised on Polish dance rhythms or the funeral march in tribute, sometimes both. The Elegiac Mazurka by Arthur Benjamin (composer of Jamaican Rumba) sounds much like late Scriabin, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Hommage a Paderewski is a whimsical mazurka, while Richard Hammond’s Dance distils the more violent pages from Stravinsky and Prokofiev. Others played on Paderewski’s love of Chopin, such as Theodore Chanler’s minute-long nocturne-like Aftermath and Ernst Schelling’s tender Con Tenerezza. 

British pianist Jonathan Plowright, whose variegated touch makes each work sound like gems, also includes six other pieces dedicated to Paderewski. The most memorable among these is Benjamin Britten’s Mazurka Elegiaca, mistakenly written for two pianos instead of one, which is a haunting slow procession in three quarter time. Also notable are the Romantic anachronisms: fellow Pole Aleksandr Zarzycki’s Chant Du Printemps and the French queen of salon Cecile Chaminade’s Etude Symphonique come from a bygone age of Chopinisms. All in all, this is an excellently presented selection that will please the terminally inquisitive.

BRUCH Violin Concerto No.1 

String Quintet / Romance 

VADIM GLUZMAN, Violin 

Bergen Philharmonic / Andrew Litton 

BIS SACD-1852 / ****1/2 

The evergreen First Violin Concerto in G minor by Max Bruch (1838-1920) has been so over-exposed and over-recorded that each new recording needs to be special in order to stand out. The programme notes relate the German composer wishing the work to be proscribed completely, as its over-popularity had obscured his other music. Ukrainian-Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman and the Bergen Philharmonic give a solid account that lacks nothing in the departments of beautiful tone, heartrending dramatics and virtuoso fireworks. 

It is the couplings, however, that make this album special. Instead of the Mendelssohn or Brahms concertos, or Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy (his second most performed concertante work), the listener is offered genuine rarities. Bruch’s Romance in F major (originally written for viola) is mined from the same lyrical vein as the concertos, and is a totally delectable listen. 

His String Quintet in A minor from 1918 is an anachronism for its time. While Schoenberg, Bartok and Stravinsky were busily dismantling the foundations of tonal music, here was the 80-year-old Bruch still churning out lush Romantic melodies and gestures that were de rigeuer in the 1870s. In four movements and scored like Mozart’s quintets (with two violas), this is a pleasurable jaunt into nostalgia. Gluzman plays the soloistic first violin part (sounding like yet another violin concerto), ably supported by his string partners. The chemistry is palpable and the ensemble is beautifully recorded.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, January 2011)

KORNGOLD & 

DVARIONAS Violin Concertos 

VADIM GLUZMAN, Violin 

Residentia Orkest Den Haag / Neeme Järvi 

BIS 1822 / ****1/2 

This disc of 20th century violin concertos is ample proof that glorious tonality and Romanticism in composition was well and alive in the age of the avant-garde and experimentation. The Violin Concerto (1945) of Wolfgang Erich Korngold (1897-1957) is already an established classic, with its themes extracted from four 1930s Hollywood movie scores including Anthony Adverse and The Prince and The Pauper. This is silver screen music with tear-jerking tunes at its most opulent, no doubt aided by the championship of one Jascha Heifetz who recorded it on the RCA Red Seal label. 

The 1948 Violin Concerto of Balys Dvarionas (1904-72) is virtually unknown, totally eclipsed by the contemporaneous First Violin Concerto of Shostakovich. The first Lithuanian violin concerto to be composed, it shares with Glazunov and Miaskovsky an unusual gift of melody, besides being superbly crafted. The slow movement and rip-roaring finale also bring to mind the best of film music. Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman gives both scores their due, rich in vibrato and unapologetic virtuosity. Highly recommended. 

DON’T MISS: 

Korngold’s Violin Concerto 

performed by Edward Tan 

and the Orchestra of the Music Makers

conducted by Chan Tze Law 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

8 January 2010, 7.30pm 

Tickets available at SISTIC

TCHAIKOVSKY Manfred Symphony 

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic 

VASILY PETRENKO 

Naxos 8.57068 / ****1/2 

Manfred, inspired by the Romantic character of Lord Byron’s, was Tchaikovsky’s unofficial “seventh” symphony. Spanning almost an hour, this programme symphony – one that relates a story in music – surpasses all of his numbered symphonies in length. Composed in 1885 between the Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, it combines the tragic and lyrical elements of both, and is thought by some to be his finest symphonic work. 

The monumental 20-minute-long finale, which sees the guilt-ridden Manfred’s redemption through death, concludes with lush strains of a pipe organ, looking ahead to Mahler’s epic creations. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by its young and dynamic Russian Music Director Vasily Petrenko, delivers the poignant music searing intensity and genuine Slavic pathos. The inclusion of Tchaikovsky’s rarely heard symphonic ballad The Voyevoda, about infidelity and murder, is a generous added bonus. 

DON’T MISS: 

TCHAIKOVSKY’S 

Manfred Symphony 

Singapore Symphony Orchestra 

Conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky 

Esplanade Concert Hall 

Friday 7 January 2011, 7.30pm 

Tickets available at SISTIC

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, March 2010)

BRUCH Violin Concerto No.1 

BRAHMS Violin Concerto 

Sarah Chang, Violin 

Dresdner Philharmonic / Kurt Masur 

EMI Classics 9670042 / ***** 

The Korean-American Sarah Chang looks likely to be one of those violinists – like Heifetz, Oistrakh, Menuhin and Perlman before her – who is going to record every major concerto in the repertory. She is accomplishing this in a very steady manner, beginning with the Tchaikovsky concerto in 1993 (when she was just 12), and now scaling the lofty Teutonic masterpieces of Bruch and Brahms. 

This is a most logical coupling, given that both concertos were inspired by the Hungarian-born virtuoso Joseph Joachim. Both have meaty first movements, balanced by slow movements filled with tender yearnings, and closing with gypsy-like élan. It is almost a given that Chang’s versions are predictably good, a brilliant technique allied by perfect intonation and much expressiveness all round. Her German partners also provide first-rate support; this is after all their heritage. What next for young Sarah? The pinnacle of Beethoven now looks a very inviting prospect indeed.

BERNSTEIN Serenade 

BARBER Violin Concerto 

VADIM GLUZMAN, Violin 

Sao Paulo Symphony / John Neschling 

BIS SACD-1662 / ****1/2 

This sensible coupling presents two of the most popular and regularly programmed 20th century American violin concertos. Samuel Barber’s concerto (1939) is delightfully top-heavy, two lyrical slow movements followed by a brief but hellishly difficult finale. The latter was so demanding as to completely baffle its original dedicatee. 

Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade (1954), inspired by Plato’s Symposium and consisting of five conjoined movements, reveals an appealing blend of melody and rhythmic exuberance. West Side Story was to be his next work, but both share a distinct imprimatur of the same master. The Ukrainian-Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman has both the technique and tonal allure to pull it off. The Swiss-American composer Ernest Bloch’s soulful Baal Shem (Three Pictures of Chassidic Life) in its orchestral guise, makes for a generous bonus.

SCHUBERT Winterreise 

MARK PADMORE, Tenor 

PAUL LEWIS, Piano 

Harmonia Mundi 907484 / ***** 

Franz Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey), composed in 1827, just one year before his premature demise, is a bleak metaphorical journey into oblivion. Its 24 song settings of poems by Wilhelm Müller reflect Schubert’s own disappointments in life, being forever luckless in love and ravaged by syphilis. The words are chilling in any language, and the landscape described forbidding. 

To this, British tenor Mark Padmore adds a dimension of gravitas usually associated with baritones and basses. His dark gravel-like vocal textures are well suited in the portrayal of grizzled despondency. The first song Gute Nacht (Good Night) is a farewell to love, a walk into the darkness. While it retains slivers of hope, these are progressively dashed. In Die Post (The Post), the protagonist imagines a letter from his sweetheart arriving, but it is only his frenzied heart beating. 

Letzte Hoffnung (Last Hope) hangs like a withered leaf buffeted by the wind, and Im Dorfe (In The Village), growling dogs leave him sleepless with nothing to dream about. By the final song Der Leiermann (The Hurdy Gurdy Man), desolation is complete, its banal drones reduced to pitiful bleats. Has there been a more poignant representation of a slow death? Or a greater song cycle than this?