Volume 19 Issue 4 - December 2013

Two Russian violin concertoswritten within four yearsof each other by composerswho had both left theirnative country for politicalreasons are featured on the newCD Prokofiev and Stravinsky,with Patricia Kopatchinskajaand the London PhilharmonicOrchestra under Vladimir Jurowski(naïve V 5352).Stravinsky’s Concertoin D was written in 1931; ittakes more than just its individualmovement titles from theBaroque era, and is in the composer’sneoclassical style. It’s probablyheard less frequently than theProkofiev, and with its pricklynature seems to be slightly lessapproachable. Kopatchinskaja,though, is a wonderful interpreter,capturing the strident nature ofthe music while fully illustratingthat this is not a work lacking incolour and warmth.The concerto is followed on theCD by a short uncredited cadenza in whichKopatchinskaja is joined by the LPO’s leaderPieter Schoeman.Prokofiev’s Concerto No.2 in G minordates from 1935, when Prokofiev haddecided — unlike Stravinsky — to return tothe Soviet Union. It’s a beautifully lyricalwork, albeit with typical Prokofiev momentsof spiky percussiveness, and Kopatchinskajaalways finds the perfect balance. The openingof the slow middle movement is particularlystriking, with the solo line held back in aquite mysterious way, but with beautiful tonalcolour and shading. The orchestral support isexcellent on a truly outstanding disc.Another excellent concerto CD is DvořákCello Concertos, the latest issue from StevenIsserlis and the Mahler Chamber Orchestraunder Daniel Harding (Hyperion CDA67917).“Concertos,” you say? —“Surely there is onlyone?” Well, yes and no. Some 30 years beforehis celebrated B minor concerto, the youngDvořák had written an A major concertofor the cellist Ludevit Peer, an orchestralcolleague of the composer’s in Prague. Itwas never orchestrated, and the piano scoremanuscript stayed with Peer when he movedto Germany; Dvořák presumably considered itlost. It is now in the British Library.There have been two attempts at orchestratingit, the latest in 1975 closely followingthe manuscript; Isserlis, however, has chosena 1920s reworking of the concerto’s materialTERRY ROBBINSby the German composer GünterRaphael, who clearly envisionedthe mature Dvořák returning tothe work with a critical eye. It’sunderstandably not in the sameclass as the B minor concerto, butit does have some lovely momentsand a particularly beautiful slowmovement. However, given thatDvořák’s original work was virtuallyrewritten by Raphael, whoalso provided all of the orchestration,it’s a bit difficult to regard itas anything other than an interestinghybrid. Isserlis plays itbeautifully, though, as he doesthe real concerto on the disc.There are two interesting additions tothe CD. On learning of the deathof his sister-in-law and first love,Dvořák rewrote the ending ofthe concerto to incorporate herfavourite of his songs, “Lasst michallein”; an orchestral version of thesong is included here, along withthe original ending of the concerto.Midori performs Violin Sonatasby Bloch, Janáček and Shostakovich on herlatest CD, accompanied by Özgür Aydin(Onyx 4084). During the early years of the20th century — and especially after the GreatWar — many composers strove to find a newexpressive language, and each of the threerepresented here developed a highly individualvoice. Midori says that the sonatasdrew her in, “as they represent a new era intheir genre.”Ernest Bloch’s Sonata No.2 “Poèmemystique” is a lovely, rhapsodic single-movementwork from 1924, written as a counterpartto his war-influenced first sonatafrom 1920. Leoš Janáček’s lone violin sonataspanned the years of the Great War and thecomposer’s sixth decade, the period in whichhis unrequited love for a young woman ledto an outburst of highly personal and idiomaticcompositions; started in 1914, it wascompleted in 1922.The Shostakovich sonata, written in 1968,is everything you would expect from thismost tortured of composers: an ominousslow first movement; an explosively percussive“Allegretto”; and a devastatingly personalclosing movement which seems to endin bitterness and resignation, and devoidof any hope.Midori and Aydin are superb throughout arecital recorded by the German radio stationWDR in Cologne, and first broadcast therein 2012.Strings Attached continues at thewholenote.com with anotherinstallment of Sarasate’s music for violin with Tianwa Yang, chamberworks for strings by Kaija Saariaho, a new Haydn release by the LondonHaydn Quartet, Dreamtime with violistDavid Aaron Carpenter, a portrait ofbaroque violinist Amandine Beyer andthe latest Naxos release of music byKenneth Fuchs.MODERN & CONTEMPORARYAmerican Piano ConcertosXiayin Wang; Royal Scottish NationalOrchestra; Peter OundjianChandos CHAN 5128!!Over the years,American composershave contributed tothe piano concertogenre as significantlyas theirEuropean counterparts;this Chandosrecording withconcertos by Barber, Copland and Gershwinfeaturing pianist Xiayin Wang with the RoyalScottish National Orchestra conducted byPeter Oundjian is a fine cross-section ofAmerican music spanning a 35-year period.Wang studied at the Shanghai Conservatoryand later at the Manhattan School of Music,where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s,and professional studies degrees. A winner ofnumerous prizes, she’s since earned an internationalreputation as a recitalist, chambermusician and orchestral soloist.Samuel Barber has long been regardedas one of the most romantic of Americancomposers. His Pulitzer Prize-winningconcerto from 1962 is a true study incontrasts, with more than a stylistic nodto Bartók and Prokofiev. Wang’s formidabletechnique is clearly evident in thefrenetic first and third movements, but thelyrical “Canzone” demonstrates a particularsensitivity with just the right degree oftempo rubato.While Barber’s work is music by a veterancomposer, the piano concerto by AaronCopland was the creation of a youthful26-year-old, and is very much a product ofthe jazz age with its bluesy themes and jazzyrhythms. As in the other two works, Oundjianand the RSNO produce a lush and confidentsound, very much at home with this 20thcentury repertoire.If Copland’s concerto was somewhatinfluenced by the music of the 1920s,Gershwin’s was even more so. This concertois clearly stamped “Broadway, 1925.” Wanghas a particular affinity for this music,already having recorded Earl Wild’s Gershwintranscriptions, and here she embraces thesyncopated rhythms and lyrical melodies74 | December 1, 2013 – February 7, 2014 thewholenote.com