Friday, 6.13.08, 6:00 am
New Releases: CDs
Bloch, Ernest
"New Releases" posts are regular columns that feature reviews of new CDs that are, for one reason or another, truly outstanding among the many I come across every month.
It is never too late to make good personal discoveries of great music. Indeed, there is something quite wonderful about finding these “new” gems and if there is anything regrettable to knowing more and more music it is the absence of these surprises. Just think of the envy you might feel of an interested music lover who gets to listen to Mozart’s c-minor Piano Concerto, or the Brahms Piano Quartet for the first time.
“Discoveries” that come late are no reason to be ashamed for alleged ‘previous ignorance’ (as if one could have known all the repertoire at the moment of one’s musical inception), but are to be embraced and cherished. The beauty of classical music – and in particular classical radio – is not the least due to its facilitating such discoveries.
Another way to happen upon new surprises was the act of aimless browsing in record stores, something that has become the privilege of those living in large, culture-focused cities. That’s how in 2004 I came upon what was a disc of such discovery for me: Bloch’s (four out of five) String Quartets in the superb recording of the Griller Quartet, then re-issued on Decca. (Which consequently made it onto my Best-of-2004 list.)
Ernest Bloch (1880–1959) was born in Geneva, educated in Belgium (where he was a student of Eugène Ysaÿe), and moved to the US during World War I, becoming a US citizen in 1924. He was the founding music director of the Cleveland Institute of Music. After a decade long sojourn to Switzerland he returned to the US where he spent his last 18 years in Oregon.
Now, knowing Bloch for more than just his exceptionally beautiful Schelomo concertino for cello and orchestra (or “Rhapsodie hébraïque pour violoncelle et grand orchestre”), I keep a keen eye out for any new Bloch CD to cross my desk. Hyperion’s recording of Bloch’s two Piano Quintets with the Golder String Quartet and Piers Lane is one such disc, as is Jenny Lin’s Hänssler Classic recording of Bloch’s quasi-Piano Concertos.
Jenny Lin plays these rarely heard works with the SWR Radio Orchestra Kaiserslautern (since merged with the RSO Saarbrücken and now operating as the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken Kaiserlautern) under Jiři Stárek (a student of Ančerl and Talich). What thankful material this is.
Much of Bloch is woefully underrated – perhaps because of his seemingly erratic – back and forth – changes in style. There is no “early” or “late” Bloch in any meaningful way; he’s always bound to be neo-classicist here (enough to offend the apostles of modernism) and harmonically bold there (enough to drive away the champions of post-romantic tonality). Bloch’s idiom covers anything from romantic lyricism (aforementioned Schelomo being the best example) to neo-classicism (which, for highest possible terminological confusion combines an essentially romantic sound with baroque structure) to an acerbic, Shostakovichean, bite.
At once reminiscent of Ravel’s piano concerto, Miklós Rózsa, and Prokofiev, the 1949 Concerto Symphonique for Piano & Orchestra is a substantial piano concerto exceeding 40 minutes and chock full of intriguing ideas and moods. A very lively Allegro vivace is surrounded by those domineering outer movements that exude rambunctious force, puffed cheeks and all.
From 1925 comes the Concerto Grosso No.1 – and it’s a more modest work, perhaps didactical in intent, though not sound. Prelude, Dirge, Pastorale and Rustic Dances, and Fugue follow another in highly accessible order and form. I am reminded – especially in the Dirge – of English pastoralism (Vaughan Williams, perhaps), but that’s not to say that the almost 25 minutes are not well worth listening to.
The Scherzo fantasque for Piano & Orchestra finally was written for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and premiered in 1950 – part of the 70th birthday celebrations of the composer. Ravel is near, again, as is Gershwin and an early touch of Mussorgsky (via Ravel).
It took quite a bit longer than expected (too high expectations?) to take to the Quintets where Piers Lane joines Dene Olding (first violin), Dimity Hall (second violin), Irina Morozova (viola), and Julian Smiles (cello) of the Goldner String Quartet.
Easily appreciable though, and perhaps the ‘secret’ highlights of the Hyperion release, are the small, mostly early pieces for string quartet that are programmed between the two substantial quintets.
The Impressionistic works “Night” (about three minutes) and, also from 1923, “Landscapes” (a miniature three movement string quartet) are in the lyrical camp. “Night” gently rocks back and forth; a lullaby fit for cradling figures sprung from Tim Burton’s mind.
Paysages – “Landscapes” starts with a similar, all-pianissimo movement depicting, in the phrase of Glenn Gould, ‘the idea of north’; it had been inspired by Robert Flaherty’s film “Nanook of the North” . The second movement is fare meatier: Alpestre is a homage to his Swiss homeland that gives the viola juicy material to work with. Tongataboo, with faux-naïve stomping and entrancing rhythmic repetitions, is to evoke that tribal dances of Tonga and in doing so comes the closest to evoking the driving energy of Bartók in his string quartets.
The “Two Pieces” – a two movement string ‘quartetlet’ dedicated to the Griller Quartet – really consists of two very different and separate movements, composed in 1938 and ’50, respectively. Zany lyricism turns into astringency in the Andante moderato, before running out of steam in contemplative C-major. The Allegro molto is a vibrantly vivacious piece, moving along busily except for a little lyrical lacunae at its center, as if a structural inversion of the Andante.
Bloch was 33 years old when he composed the Piano Quintet no.1 – begun just after he started his position in Cleveland. At well over thirty minutes, it towers over the little string quartetlets and is nearly twice the length of his 1957 Piano Quintet no.2. It’s dark, wildly chugging along in whirls, and employs quarter tones. The second movement (Andante mistico) is more romantically inclined than the first, and cut from longer swaths of music that lead right into the third movement. That Allegro energico calls to memory the beginning of the opening Agitato, the rippling current running through it at a fast clip, sweeping and powerful, with the piano working in atmospheric ways underneath the busy, thorny passages of the strings. It peters out gently, consolingly – like the first of the Two Pieces – on a very deliberate, reiterated C-major chord.
Bloch composed the second Quintet for the opening of the Alfred Hertz Memorial Concert Hall at Berkeley and only two years before he died of colon cancer. A calmly, perhaps aimlessly, ruminating Andante sits between agitated, aggressively pulsing Animato first and Allegro third movement. Twelvetone-rows work within a tonal/modal language that no one would ever think of calling “a-tonal” just from listening to it. Rising figures buzz along, accompanied by little shrieks in the violins, doing their part to give the slow movement its serene, mystical quality. It moves attacka into the finale, an assertive movement similar to the first – before its last two of almost eight minutes end the Quintet very softly, in contemplative pp.
Sunday, 6.8.08, 6:00 am
Why Haydn Should be Mandatory
Haydn must not be given up to period specialists. Symphony orchestras more and more tend toward a niche program of exclusively romantic and post-romantic repertoire: from Beethoven to Sibelius and everything in between, with extra stops at Mahler and Shostakovich and occasional excursions to Philip Glass or John Adams.
But baroque music and increasingly classical period music as well are left to the devices of specialized performance groups – usually those that offer some form of Historically Informed Performance Practice (HIP).
The proliferation of original instrument – and modern instrument HIP – groups is a boon to music, generally. Ever since their performance quality has improved from questionable to outstanding, they offer musical joys that delight over and over again, quite regardless of performance ideology.
But if their prominence in Monteverdi, Marais, and even Mozart comes at the expense of important composers and periods being part of the repertoire of ‘regular’ symphony orchestras, then alarm bells should ring for two reasons.
The first is that the audience would lose much fine music played by what remains the primary musical body of a city. Mozart and Haydn and Bach sound different when a large symphonic orchestra (even with reduced forces) is at work. But that isn’t bad at all, it’s desirable diversity. HIP is to add to our enjoyment by offering comparison and choice – not by replacing the way we’ve heard this music for so long. As much as can be learned from small groups led by gut-strung violins, be it the Freiburg Baroque Orchstra, Academy of Ancient Music Berlin, or the Musica Antiqua Cologne, we can also learn and take away something from an orchestra that plays Ein Heldenleben in one half of a concert and then Mozart’s Jeunehomme Concerto or a Bach Orchestral Suite or a Haydn Symphony in the other.
To illustrate the high quality of music-making that can result from this approach (one we might run the danger of losing), nothing serves better than Josef Krips’ recordings of the Mozart Symphonies with the Concertgebouw Orchestra from 1972 and 73. This is Classical Music at its very finest. You won’t find Mozart anywhere else that is played with such lightness, radiating joy, and so being the epitome of musical tip-toeing. Yes, it sounds very different – luxuriously so – than Mozart coming from smaller, HIP groups, but not heavier per se, nor swooningly romantic.
Krips covers symphonies 21 to 41 and they are finally available separately again after having long shared box-set space with the unnecessary Neville Marriner-conducted early symphonies. Even with the excellent, moderately HIP Charles Mackerras / Prague set (Teldec) available, Krips should still be the first choice of any collection’s allotment for Mozart symphonies.
So much for the first reason, the possibility of delight that we deny ourselves when classical period music is ceded largely to small and specialist groups. The second and more important reason – and it cannot be made often enough – is that if a large, ‘generalist’ orchestra doesn’t play enough classical music on a regular basis and play it well, eventually it won’t be able to play romantic (much less baroque) music well anymore, either. The orchestra’s sound coagulates. Thickness enters in place of luxurious sonority; agility gives way to rigidity. A conductor will still be able to make the orchestra sound passable, but the orchestra won’t likely be able to adapt to a conductor’s particular conception of a work.
The Munich Philharmonic, known for its romantic, “old-Europe” sound that makes it stand out even among European orchestras that are more often said to be in the orchestral elite, is a good example of an orchestra that is – rightly – aware of the danger but also willing to something about it. Most recently Haydn’s Symphony No.80, nickname-less yet no less lovely than its more famous brethren, showed up on the program when Hartmut Haenchen took on the orchestra. Generous and lively, with expressive silences and delicacy amid the inevitable heft, this was nicely done, even if the third movement was perhaps a little heavy footed. It may well have been the ‘warm-up’ for the orchestra, but at least it didn’t sound like one.
Elsewhere in their 2007/2008 Season there was some Haydn under Markus Stenz, a Mozart Symphony under Thomas Hengelbrock, and a planned Mozart Piano Concerto to end the season with. Even under Hengelbrock, where the results were very fine, it was audible that this simply isn’t the MPhil’s natural strength. But knowing that without it their Bruckner (recently a brilliant Fourth with Thielemann) wouldn’t be their strength for much longer, either, it’s very much music to my ears.
The second part of that Haenchen concert, by the way, was given to Bartók’s Bluebeard – more of which later some time, when I use it as an excuse to write about Marin Alsop’s recently issued recording of that opera.
Tuesday, 6.3.08, 6:00 am
What Not To Miss:
Washington’s Music Season 2008/09
(September – January)
Some time after the dearth and heat of Summer will have passed us, and life begins to blossom tenderly again in Washington, the 2008/2009 culture season begins – offering a tonic of delights and diversion. Here are then some of the most promising events of the first half of the season, between October and January. Since not everybody can or wants to go to a live performance every week, I have tried to be as selective as possible; concerts not mentioned here are not given short shrift, they will receive attention in monthly looks at WETA’s classical calendar.
Culturally things aren’t quite under way in September yet – except Marin Alsop conducting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s and Bernstein’s First Symphonies. Cross-connections abound: Bernstein and Mahler the conductor-composers, the latter one of the great interpreters of the former, now interpreted by one of Bernstein’s favorite students. Easily worth the trip to Strathmore on September 25th.
October is when things start moving in DC again, and the smart people return, having fled the unbearable climate. The NSO opens with a string of very promising concerts under then Principal Conductor (expanding from his position as Principal Guest Conductor until a successor to Leonard Slatkin is found) Iván Fischer. The most exciting of them is that of Mahler’s longest and most complex Symphony – the slightly strange yet awe-some Third. With his recordings and performances of Mahler having won great accolades so far, this series of concerts in the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall between the 16h and 19th should not only attract every last Mahler-head in the region but everyone who goes in for orchestral (and choral) grandeur and splendor.
Marin Alsop and Leonard Bernstein once more: On October 26th she will bring her BSO down to Washington to present Lenny’s Mass (“A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers”) at the Kennedy Center for the opening of which it was commissioned and where it was premiered in 1971. Great music? Maybe not – but certainly an enthralling amalgamate of styles and a musical event worth experiencing.
WPAS will already have presented András Schiff in Beethoven earlier in October, and while no piano-friend will miss that, it is Maurizio Pollini who should attract everyone’s attention. Even those who may not find all recordings equally great or think of him as an unemotional player really ought not to miss this. I’ve never heard Pollini live without it being a highlight of the season, and I have no reason to think it would be different now. The program hasn’t been announced yet – but who cares… it’s Pollini. He will play at the Strathmore Music Center on October 29th.
In November, one concert – a recital – looms above all others: Vadim Repin and Nikolai Lugansky will perform a program of Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Debussy at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall and if you go only to one more concert this year, you might as well make it that. Repin isn’t the most famous violinist because he isn’t the fanciest. He’s not a showman, nor into gimmicks or PR stunts. Worst of all, he’s fairly unassuming. And yet, if one had to give the hyperbolic title of “World’s Best Violinist” to any fiddler, he would be the least controversial choice. It is, I believe, the first time that he will play in Washington (he had played a concert and recital in Baltimore in 2005 and 2006), courtesy of WPAS. Tone, color, taste, and musical sensibility make hearing this violinist one of the most rewarding experiences Don’t miss him on November 15th.
Also not really to be missed is another WPAS concert, also at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, just three days later: Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Israel Philharmonic in Mendelssohn’s and Brahms’ Fourth Symphony. Perhaps this will be the opportunity for Brahms-doubters to be swept away – because that’s what Dudamel does best. Even with orchestras that are not necessarily the crème de la crème, he can conjure excitement, momentum, and white heat that makes his concerts so memorable. Since it’s difficult – maybe impossible – to catch that presence on record, the live experience would be just the thing to check out what the talk about the LA Philharmonic’s next music director is all about.
Chamber music couldn’t be in eight better hands than the Takács Quartet, and the Corcoran Gallery in any case the best place to hear them. You can do so on November 9th.
That the concerts at the National Gallery are free of charge doesn’t keep them from being among the most valuable musical events of the season. It’s one of the reasons why Washington, a modestly cultured city when it comes to music, is a Mecca of great chamber music. Consider at least Till Fellner’s appearance on Sunday December 7th where he will continue to work on a Beethoven Sonata cycle-in-progress. Fellner is considered among the very finest Austrian pianists of his generation – not the least since his Bach recording of the Well Tempered Klavier (Book 1) for ECM became a runaway success. His Beethoven Cello Sonatas with Heinrich Schiff (Philips 1998, now part of Brilliant’s Beethoven Box) went unnoticed then, but provides more than a glimpse of his Beethoven-excellence.
In an otherwise thin month (unless you count Messiah performances as musical must-goes), the WPAS recital of Daniel Müller-Schott and Angela Hewitt stands out. Their target are those just mentioned Beethoven Cello Sonatas (nos.4 & 5) interspersed with Gamba Sonatas of Bach (nos.2 & 3). The latter corresponds with an Orfeo recording of the two artists that came out a year ago. The recital takes place at Sidney Harman Hall on December 15th.
For lovers of the voice one of the most attractive concerts in the first half of the 08/09 Season might well be Alessandra Marc’s at the National Gallery on December 21st where she will undoubtedly attempt to bring down the West Garden Court again – possibly literally and hopefully metaphorically.
If we consider January also to be part of the first half of the season, the events not to be missed are probably Ilan Volkov’s three all-20th-century concerts with the NSO from the 15th to the 17th. Leiv-Ove Andsness will play Rachmaninov’s barn-storming Third Piano Concerto surrounded by Stravinksy’s Jeu de cartes and – most tantalizing – George Crumb’s 1984 A Haunted Landscape. One of the great living American composers, Crumb’s musical idiom cannot be considered easy listening, but neither is he an unapologetic apostle of noise. Just a little bit of active interest in contemporary music should make his music a welcome challenge to the ears. Highly recommended to all those with a curiosity about 20th century music beyond Rachmaninov.
Even with Schiff and Pollini offering their art, I am even more intrigued by the WPAS organized recital of Yevgeni Sudbin on the 24th. Not just because of a wonderfully diverse and interesting program of Scarlatti, Haydn, Medtner, Chopin, and Ravel – but also because the opportunity of hearing him at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. Catch him there while he still ‘fits’ into such relatively small and intimate (and acoustically fabulous) venues!