Sokolov plays late Schubert and late Beethoven

Grigory Sokolov: Schubert, Beethoven, Rameau, Brahms

Franz Schubert, Impromptus D899

Franz Schubert, Three Piano Pieces D946

Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata No. 29 in B flat major (Hammerklavier)

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Tendres Plaintes

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Tourbillons

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Cyclopes

Jean-Philippe Rameau, La Follette

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Tendres Plaintes

Jean-Philippe Rameau, Les Sauvages

Johannes Brahms, Intermezzo in B flat minor op. 117 no. 2

Deutsche Grammophon 479 5426 (2 CDs)

Grigory Sokolov, the legendarily under-recorded genius of the piano, is now slightly less under-recorded. At the time of writing this double CD release of concert recordings from Warsaw and Salzburg brings the recorded repertoire to a grand total of 14 CDs and one DVD – a remarkably small tally for a pianist widely held to be one of the greatest living exponents of the keyboard, who won the Tchaikovsky Competition fifty years ago in 1966 at the age of 16. This set is the second release to emerge from Sokolov’s exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. I think it’s safe to assume that the future holds a steady trickle of live performance releases. We should all be grateful to DG for bringing an end to the lean years.

The meat of these discs are classic Sokolov repertoire – late Beethoven and late Schubert. The Schubert pieces were recorded at Warsaw’s Philharmonia Naradowa on May 12, 2013 and the Beethoven at the Salzburg Festival on August 23 of the same year. The set is rounded by the six encores played at the Salzburg concert – five of Rameau’s Pièces de Clavecin, and then the second of Brahm’s Op. 117 Intermezzi.

The combination is surprisingly effective, and the encores are certainly not “lollipops”.  The nicely crafted five Rameau pieces provide a delightful counterpoint to the intense performances that precede them, and the beautifully played Brahms Intermezzo, a resigned and autumnal piece, is an excellent capstone to the set, as it must have been to the original concert at Salzburg.

Still, the recording will be justly celebrated for the Schubert and Beethoven performances. One of Sokolov’s most distinctive strengths at the piano (in addition, of course, to his technical mastery) is the depth and intensity that he brings to slow movements. So he is ideally suited to the melancholy lyricism of late Schubert. The D899 Impromptus are all very fine, with No. 1 particularly standing out – at Sokolov’s hands it stretches to over 10 minutes, without any moments of longeur or impressions of self-indulgence. For me, though, Sokolov is even more impressive in the Three Piano Pieces (D946), which he succeeds in making as deeply expressive as the famous last three piano sonatas.

The highlight of Melodiya’s 2014 release of Sokolov performing Beethoven, Scriabin, and Arapov (which I reviewed here) was a wonderful performance of Op. 111, Beethoven’s final piano sonata. That outstanding performance is matched by the Hammerklavier presented here. The slow movement in particular is spellbinding – better performances do not readily spring to mind. And while the Adagio Sostenuto is plainly the performance’s center of gravity, Sokolov maintains expressive balance across the other three movements.

The sound quality is as good as one would expect from Deutsche Grammophon (with a little audience noise for verisimilitude). My only reservation is that the liner notes are breathlessly sycophantic. Hopefully future releases from DG will have some analysis amid the hagiography. This is a relatively minor quibble and these two discs are highly recommended to all music-lovers.

A few days in Paris: Rattle’s Bruckner and a Mitsuko Uchida recital (April 2016)

Spending a few days in Paris in the second week of April allowed me to marvel at the wealth and accessibility of the city’s musical life. On Tuesday April 12 I was able to get a same-day ticket in the afternoon for Simon Rattle conducting Bruckner’s Eighth and Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité Celeste at the Philharmonie. On Wednesday I could have attended a piano recital by Yundi. Friday offered a recital by Stephen Kovacevich. Another possibility was an all-Rachmanimoff program with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the Philharmonia and Boris Berezovsky at the piano. Sadly I had to miss all of these, despite decent ticket availability (albeit in the higher price brackets) and was only able to rejoin the fray on Saturday night for Mitsuko Uchida’s recital at the Théatre des Champs Elyssées. What an extraordinary range of opportunities for a five-night window! And of course there was much, much else on offer.

Simon Rattle is already developing a strong rapport with the London Symphony Orchestra, although his contract with the Berlin Philharmonic does not expire until 2018. Both the Messiaen and the Bruckner were performed with assurance and precision. The juxtaposition is interesting. The most obvious resemblance between the two composers is, of course, their deep religious faith (much more intellectualized in Messiaen’s case than in Bruckner’s). But from a musical point of view there are more interesting structural parallels and differences. They both compose in blocks of sound. Messiaen’s blocks are static, however, whereas Bruckner’s are much more dynamic. I found that this element of contrast made the start of the Bruckner symphony particularly effective, as did the contrast between Bruckner’s prodigious string sections and Messiaen’s scoring exclusively for wind, piano, and the largest percussion section I’ve seen for a long time.

Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité Celeste requires very precise conducting, to allow the piece’s articulation and timbres to emerge against its complex rhythms. Rattle and the LSO were clearly very comfortable with the musical idiom, as of course was pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard (who won the Olivier Messiaen prize in 1973 and is a dedicated exponent of contemporary music). Orchestra and conductor then switched styles effortlessly (after a short interval) and delivered a very memorable performance of Bruckner’s Eighth. Bruckner is not the first composer that comes to mind where Rattle is concerned and I must admit to having been underwhelmed by his Ninth (not least because of his insistence on conducting the reconstructed finale). But here he and the LSO were terrific, combining chamber-like phrasing with full-on sturm und drang. The pacing was well-judged, consistent across the four movements and doing justice both to the depth of the slow movement and the powerful momentum of the outer movements. My only complaint was an occasional loss of articulation as elements of the musical fabric were drowned out in some of the climaxes (most noticeably the principal climax in the slow movement).

At the Théatre des Champs Elyssées a few days later Mitsuko Uchida offered a program that has seen many outings – the Berg piano sonata, Schubert’s D899 Impromptus, Mozart’s Rondo K.511, and Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 1. Each piece played to a different strength. Her fineness of phrasing and delicacy were on display in the Berg and the Mozart, particularly effectively in the Berg where she brought out the subtlety of the harmonies. Uchida is very closely identified with the Schubert Impromptus and the D899 set were well performed, albeit without the full expressive range on display in her recordings of the set. The lyricism of No. 3 emerged very clearly, but there was room for more drama in No. 1 (although I may be prejudiced from having recently reviewed Sokolov’s monumental live recording from Warsaw).

The Schumann, in contrast, was outstanding, with Uchida bringing out beautifully the piece’s many different aspects and personalities – from the storminess of the first movement through the short but super-lyrical Aria and jagged Scherzo/Intermezzo to the concluding Rondo where  Schumann’s two alter egos (the reflective Florestan and the ebullient Eusebius) chase and wrestle with each other.  A spell-binding performance.

Schubert Piano Trios

Franz Schubert:

Piano Trio No. 1 in B flat major, D898

Fantasie for Violin and Piano in C major, D934

Impromptu for Piano in A flat major, D935/2

Boris Kucharsky, violin

Peter Wöpke, cello

Elizabeth Hopkins, piano

(CD – Paladino Music PMR 0046)

Piano Trio No. 2 in E flat major, D929

Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor (viola version), D821 (*)

 

Boris Kucharsky, violin and viola (in (*))

Thomas Carroll, cello

Elizabeth Hopkins, piano

(CD – Paladino Music PMR 0047)

These two discs from Paladino Music offer a charming perspective on Schubert’s late chamber music, featuring both string trios and an interesting selection of complementary works clearly designed to play to the strengths of the individual musicians. With the second disc, violinist Boris Kucharsky, a former protégé of Yehudi Menuhin, and pianist Elizabeth Hopkins complete their cycle of Schubert’s music for piano and violin. For the first piano trio they are joined by Peter Wöpke, principal cellist with the Bavarian State Orchestra. The British cellist Thomas Carroll, who is also chief conductor for the Orpheus Sinfonia, does the honors for the second piano trio.

All of the music on these two discs is from the sunnier end of Schubert’s chamber repertoire, even though it overlaps with some of his darkest compositions – the lively Rondo in the first piano trio was written at the same time as Winterreise, for example. Discs of late Schubert chamber music can easily leave the listener rather drained. These two discs have the opposite effect. They remind us of Schubert’s extraordinary ability, even in the advanced stages of syphilis, of writing graceful and exuberant music. 

The second piano trio is a more substantial work than the first, with an intense slow movement and a lengthy and magisterial finale. It was the main item on the program in the only public concert of his music that Schubert attended in his lifetime. It was a great success, unlike the Fantasie in C major for violin and piano, which fell on stony ground when premiered in January 1828. The Arpeggione Sonata has been scored for many instruments, but is best known in versions for viola and piano and cello and piano. Here it is played by Boris Kucharksy on the viola. The rich timbre of the instrument does justice to the expressive andante. Elizabeth Hopkins gives a fine performance of the well-known Impromptu in A flat major.

The playing on these two discs is of high quality and the sound is first rate. But this is a case, I think, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The two discs are recommended for the light they shed on some of the lesser known corners of Schubert’s late chamber music.

Barenboim's Tannhauser from the Berlin Staatsoper

Richard Wagner, Tannhauser

Peter Seiffert (Tannhäuser)

Marina Prudenskaya (Venus)

Ann Petersen (Elisabeth),

Peter Mattei (Wolfram von Eschenbach)

René Pape (Hermann, Landgraf von Thüringen)

Peter Sonn (Walther von der Vogelweide)

Tobias Schabel (Biterolf)

Jürgen Sacher (Heinrich der Schreiber)

Jan Martiník (Reinmar von Zweter)

Sónia Grané (Ein Hirtenknabe)

Stage direction and choreography by Sasha Waltz

Staatskapelle Berlin & Staatsopenchor

Conducted by Daniel Barenboim

Belair Classics BAC422

Recorded live at the Staatsoper in Berlin in April 2014 this recording of Tannhauser has a lot going for it. Daniel Barenboim is probably the most authoritative living Wagner conductor and he is working with a fine orchestra and a cast with no obvious weak links. The staging is low-key, unobtrusive, and by and large effective. The enthusiastic applause at the end is well-deserved. This is certainly one of the best Tannhauser’s available on DVD/Blu-Ray – certainly significantly more satisfying than Alex Kober’s recording from the 2014 Bayreuth festival, which I reviewed here.

Barenboim basically offers us the Dresden version of 1845 with a ballet in Act 1, as per the 1861 Paris version (coyly described in the program notes as “reference to the Bachanals (Act 1 Scene 1) in the Paris version”). As is well-known, the ballet Wagner added fell somewhat short of the expectations of the Jockey Club, but any Jockey Club members who wandered into this Berlin performance would feel, I think, that they had got their money’s worth. The dancing is extensive with significant amounts of bared flesh on display in the first and third acts. If I have one reservation about the production it is that there are really too many visual distractions. Writhing semi-naked dancers are, I suppose, appropriate for the Venusberg scenes, but I found the dancing pilgrims returning from Rome rather jarring. This is a relatively minor quibble, however, since the choreography is well-judged and the enhanced by the visual impact of the understated designs which, apart from the giant bamboo curtain in the Minstrel’s Hall, primarily exploit shadows and suggestions of empty space.

The singing in this Tannhauser is uniformly strong. Peter Seiffert is a very convincing Tannhauser. He has the power and volume of a heldentenor but, unlike most of the other current heldentenors, he can act and sing with real expressiveness. He is also capable of sharing the stage, which is one reason why the principal duets and ensembles work as well as they do. The other reason is the quality of the other principals. Probably the most impressive is Peter Mattei’s Wolfram von Eschenbach. Mattei’s Wolfram is far from the pedantic and whiny troubadour that we often find. Despite his odd costume (he looks like Sherlock Holmes in cavalry boots) Wolfram comes across as a character with real depth, providing dramatic and musical continuity throughout Act III, in counterpoint first with Elisabeth and then with Tannhauser. Rene Pape (as Hermann, Landgraf von Thüringen) is probably the most celebrated member of the cast. His singing is immaculate, although the role is much less demanding than König Mark, which he has sung with great distinction.

I do think that Venus is more effective when sung (as it is here) by a mezzo soprano. Marina Prudenskaya sings with venom in Act I and she is convincing at both ends of the tessitura. Although a little more body would have been ideal, Prudenskaya is a compelling Venus. Ann Petersen’s Elisabeth is a worthy rival to Venus’s charms – and clearly not immune to the pleasures of the flesh. This role, like Wolfram’s, is often interpreted in an excessively prissy way. Not so here. Petersen borders on the heroic at various points in Act III.

The Staatskapelle and Staatsopenchor do fine work for Daniel Barenboim, who has a characteristically strong sense of drama and architecture. All in all this is a very fine recording. I only have two complaints. First, the liner notes  are extremely thin with no information on the singers or production. Second, and particularly galling, the credits are projected on the screen during the overture. Still, the audiovisual quality is excellent and this recording is highly recommended.

Mahler 1 from Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 1

Gustav Mahler, Blumine

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Hannu Lintu, conductor

Mahler’s First Symphony is often recorded and issued on its own. Generous record companies have occasionally partnered it with the Songs of a Wayfarer, which makes good musical sense given the role of the second song in the first movement. Another (less logical) option is the first movement of the Tenth. A quick survey of the 162 recordings available on Archiv Musik suggests that the Blumine movement, included as the second of five movements for the first four performances of the symphony, is not as widely adopted as one might imagine. But it is the chosen pairing on David Zinman’s 2007 recording and quite a few others, including this very good SACD recording from Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, issued by Ondine. Blumine makes an excellent filling, delightful in its own right and also giving us a much clearer sense of the symphony as Mahler originally conceived it.

Lintu opts, like Zinman, to add Blumine as an optional extra, rather than present the First in its original five movement form. This is the right call, I think. Mahler’s judgment seems to have been more secure than Bruckner’s in evaluating early versions. Blumine is a charming piece that deserves to be played, but including definitely breaks the continuity between the opening movement and the scherzo.

Michael Steinberg quotes from a letter Mahler wrote to the conductor Schalk in which he says: “In the first movement the greatest delicacy throughout”. Lintu’s approach is entirely in line with this. He sets the stage with very precise playing in the opening minutes before the transition to the Wayfarer theme. Favoring delicacy over boisterousness makes the climax at the end of the movement more telling. The same pattern reappears in the scherzo, where the end of the movement gains from the relatively understated playing that precedes it (as well as from the gentle lilt in the trio).

Unfortunately the element of parody, while not entirely absent from the third movement funeral march, is certainly not foregrounded. Lintu’s emphasis is on beauty of sound, and he certainly succeeds in this. In my opinion the symphony demands a rougher edge in this pivotal movement –in the opening bass solo, for example. One benefit of Lintu’s approach, though, is that it highlights the drama of the finale, where the tone is definitely set by the tempestuous opening. Very expressive playing in the lyrical sections builds into a rousing and affirmative final hymn with very sturdy playing from the Finnish Radio Symphony brass.

There is no shortage of recordings of Mahler’s First (in fact – no shortage of SACD recordings), but this is a very worthy addition to the field, more convincing to my ear than the recent DVD/Blu-Ray live performance from Paavo Järvi and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (see here for my review of Järvi’s cycle). Recommended. 

A tale of two Rheingolds - Rattle and van Zweden

Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold

Michael Volle, baritone (Wotan),

Christian van Horn, bass baritone (Donner)

Benjamin Bruns, tenor (Froh)

Burkhard Ulrich, tenor (Loge)

Elisabeth Kulman, mezzo soprano (Fricka)

Annette Dasch, soprano (Freia)

Janina Baechle, mezzo soprano (Erda)

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Conducted by Simon Rattle

BR Klassik 900133 (2 CDs)

Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold

Matthias Goerne, baritone (Wotan)

Oleksandr Pushniak, bass baritone (Donner)

Charles Reid, tenor (Froh)

Kim Begley, tenor (Loge)

Michelle DeYoung, mezzo soprano (Fricka)

Anna Samuil, soprano (Freia)

Deborah Humble, soprano (Erda)

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

Conducted by Jaap van Zweden

Naxos Blu-Ray Audio NBD 0049 (also available in CD)

These performances of the opening drama of Wagner’s Ring both originate in concert performances. The Rattle production was recorded over two days at the Hwerkulessaal in Munich (April 24-25, 2014), while van Zweden and the Hong Kong Philharmonic were recorded at the Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall (January 22 and 24, 2015). The van Zweden Rheingold is the beginning of a complete Ring for Naxos, but I am not aware of similar plans from BR Klassik for Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Concert performances have some, but by no means all, of the immediacy and power of a live recording. At the same time, though, they provide a more controlled environment for acoustic fine-tuning and post-production editing, particularly important for the Naxos issue, which is (to the best of my knowledge) the first Wagner music drama to be recorded in Blu-Ray audio. Both recordings have excellent sound quality – although the Blu-Ray disc version of van Zweden’s performance seems to have been recorded at rather a low volume.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic is not known as a Wagner orchestra, but it clearly has aspirations in that direction. The current Ring project is the first cycle undertaken by a Chinese orchestra. Jaap van Zweden, who is simultaneously music director at the Hong Kong Philharmonic and at the Dallas Symphony, is a good choice for the podium. He is an excellent Bruckner conductor and his concert performance of Parsifal with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (on Challenge Classics) was well received, and deservedly so. The Symphonieorchester des Baterischen Rundfunks operates of course at a different level of visibility, particularly  with Sir Simon Rattle at the helm. Wagner, however, is relatively under-represented in Rattle’s repertoire and discography, with his first Ring conducted at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence from 2007 – 2009 (and subsequently released on Blu-Ray).

Of the two conductors Rattle has much more fluidity, particularly with the strings. Van Zweden is flatter and communicates less energy and momentum. The contrast is particularly clear in the closing minutes of the Prelude, which Van Zweden conducts like the prelude to Das Rheingold, whereas Rattle shapes it as the prelude to the entire Ring cycle. Throughout the performance Rattle is more effective at foregrounding the forward-looking references in the score.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic is most effective in the more intimate, chamber-like sections, but falls somewhat short when drama is called for – such as, for example, the journeys to and from Nibelheim – not helped by occasional disjointedness in, e.g., the scene with the giants. Rattle, in contrast, is at the monumental end of the spectrum. I think that this works well for him in Das Rheingold, which is not easy to bring off (as a single uninterrupted block of music of well over two hours, without any of the cycle’s signature episodes). Interestingly, van Zweden is 10 minutes or so longer than Rattle.

Of the two casts the finest single vocal performance comes from Matthias Goerne as Wotan. As a highly experienced lieder singer his enunciation and articulation are of course excellent, and he has the vocal presence to sing Wotan successfully. We will have to wait until Die Walküre to see how Goerne copes with the real depths of the character, but all the indications are very promising. Michael Volle’s Wotan for Simon Rattle is definitely lighter and overall less impressive, but still dramatically satisfying.

In fact, there are no real weak links in the chain in either performance. Highlights from van Zweden’s cast include Kim Begley’s Loge and Michelle de Young’s Fricka. The first is sung without the tendency to caricature that some singers feel necessary in Loge, while Fricka is less petulant than she often appears. Burkhard Ulrich and Elisabeth Kulman sing the same roles well for Rattle. Peter Sidhom’s Alberich (in the Hong Kong cast) has fine moments, but the performance is marred by exaggeration at crucial moments (e.g. both of Alberich’s curses). I found Rattle’s Alberich (Tomasz Konieczny) more balanced. Rattle’s Erda (Janina Baechle) has a fine tone, but sounds a little too light for the weight of her message. The various giants and gods are all well sung, with Kwangchul Youn’s Fasolt (for van Zweden) particularly standing out.

Both of these sets have their merits. There is some very fine singing from van Zweden’s cast, particularly Matthias Goerne, while Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks take the orchestral honors. The Hong Kong performance has the advantage of being recorded on Blu-Ray audio and offers a surround sound option (DTS-HD 5.1). I don’t think that either will force its way to the front of a very large field, but each is certainly worth listening to, and I look forward to the next installments of van Zweden’s cycle with the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Kurtág, Kafka Fragments

György Kurtág, Kafka Fragments Op. 24

Caroline Melzer, soprano

Nurit Stark, violin

BIS Hybrid SACD 2175

The Hungarian composer György Kurtág was a fellow-student of György Ligeti at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest in the late 1940’s and studied with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud during the year he spent in Paris in 1957-8. The Kafka Fragments are one of his best-known and most frequently-recorded compositions. The origins of this unusual and complex song cycle for soprano and solo violin go back to his year of exile in Paris. It was during that year that Kurtág began collecting fragments from the works of Franz Kafka – not from his published works but from his notebooks, diaries, and letters. At the same time Kurtág was helped to recover from a major depression by the psychotherapist Mariann Stein, to whom he eventually dedicated the Kafka Fragments, which he began to compose in 1985 and completed in 1987.

The word ‘fragment’ in the title is to be taken quite literally. This piece contains 40 songs (for want of a better word), divided into four sections. Each song is drawn from an observation or aphorism. Unlike some more famous song cycles the texts are a wonderful read without musical accompaniment, and Kurtág shows great skill as a curator of Kafka’s marginalia. The flavor of the piece, and perhaps also its central theme, comes across very clearly in the longest song in the cycle – “The true path”, which is the only song in the second section. In Kafka’s words (translated by Julia and Peter Sherwood). “The true path goes by way of a rope that is suspended not high up, but rather just above the ground. Its purpose seems to be more to make one stumble than to walk on”. Kafka aficionados will recognize the sentiment.

The haunting and fragmentary words are set to music of great expressiveness, but it is an expressiveness that does its work through economy and suggestion. Many of the songs last less than a minute, with two coming in at 17 seconds. The combination of soprano and violin is very effective for the texts. In the final song (“The moonlit night dazzled us”) the soprano enters into a wordless song, but elsewhere the violin picks up on moods and nuances hinted at by the words, using the instrument’s full harmonic, rhythmic, and percussive ranges.

Caroline Melzer and Nurit Stark are very much attuned to each other and to the sound-world of the song cycle. The sound quality on this hybrid SACD is first rate (I listened in two-channel, but 5.0 surround sound is also available), and the program notes are well-written and informative. I highly recommend this disc.