Volume 21 Issue 1 - September 2015

the same age as Grieg when he wrote the
concerto) takes a very slightly slower tempo
with the piece than we normally hear. His
collaboration with Finnish conductor Sakari
Oramo produces a very balanced performance
that never feels rushed despite the many
passages of mounting energy.
After the powerful finish to the first movement,
Perianes performs the following Adagio
with a remarkable tenderness and tentative voice. The overall effect is
one of fragility that leaves the beauty of the main theme lingering in
the memory. In the final movement he recalls the thematic material
with familiar phrasing and marches confidently toward the frenetic
build-up that closes the concerto with its thunderous chords.
The disc then moves into a selection of just 12 of Grieg’s 66 Lyric
Pieces. Written throughout his composing career, these span nearly
four decades of his life. Perianes makes careful choices insofar as he
wants to demonstrate the wide variations of character and mood these
little pieces represent. And in contrast to the concerto, Perianes now
plays from an entirely different place, one of intimacy, introspection
and fantasy. His approach to the Lyric Pieces is steady and mature. He
avoids overindulgence in any expressive technique. Still there is plenty
of tastefully applied rubato and dynamic freedom to support the
emotional program that Grieg indicates in his titles.
March of the Trolls is played at a noticeably faster speed than most
often heard but this seems to emphasize the sinister nature of the
imagery. The mid-section, by contrast, is played with exquisite touch
and Perianes manages to somehow leave it suspended in the air. His
performance of Nocturne is wonderfully Debussy-like, but his finest
two pieces are Homesickness and At Your Feet. With careful dynamics
and beautifully placed hesitations he conveys a palpable sense of
longing to the listener. Perianes is a sensible young artist who avoids
the temptingly flashy in favour of fidelity to a composer’s intent.
British pianist Stephen Hough has also
released a selection of Grieg – Lyric Pieces
(Hyperion CDA68070), though considerably
larger, numbering 27. Hough is twice the age
of Perianes and so one immediately expects an
interpretive approach that reflects both that
experience and maturity. While these traits are
certainly evident, what really emerges is the
fact that Hough lives in a world of much wider
dynamic energy where rubato and phrase end pull-backs are powerful
devices that he uses most effectively. Erotikon demonstrates this
best and shows that Hough’s boundaries for expressive devices are
set at very generous distances. To Spring seems to disappear into an
emotional void as he finishes the piece. Butterfly shows his remarkable
and articulate dexterity. He plays Bell Ringing with a touch that
never fully engages the percussive nature of the piano hammer, and
thereby makes the strings speak with no audible beginning. His Little
Bird characterization is brilliant for all its nervous energy. And his
March of the Trolls is wild and threatening before it melts into the
beauty of the mid-section theme. Here, as in many other instances,
Hough is able to pull the main musical idea further forward, out of the
surrounding harmonies, than most pianists care to do. It’s consistent
with his assertive interpretive style and works very well.
Janina Fialkowska takes a very different
approach in Grieg – Lyric Pieces (ATMA
Classique ACD2 2696). One searches in
vain for some Eastern philosophical term to
describe her artistic posture. The effect is,
however, one of perfect calm, where no statement
is rushed and there is no need to say
anything until the music is ready. Her expression
at the keyboard hints at understatement
and reservation yet never lacks in rubato or dynamic expression. She
plays with a subtle containment that is entirely satisfying even if we
never hear the piano rattle mechanically under a maniacal fortissimo.
Her opening track Arietta reflects this standard as does Sylph, and she
never wavers from it.
Norwegian Dance sustains an entrancing left-hand drone while
her right hand, with complete independence, plays out the folk tune.
Brooklet is an example of brilliant, articulate playing which she
carries even further in Puck for a memorable impish, elfish effect.
She underscores Grieg’s German musical education in At Your Feet,
reminding us of how Brahmsian this piece can sound. Finally, her
March of the Trolls is completely unlike either the Hough or Perianes
performance. Fialkowska takes the piece at a slower, more march-like
pace. She also leaves plenty of breathing space around the beautiful
central theme of the slow section. Fialkowska’s Lyric Pieces are very
different and uniquely hers.
Karim Said – Echoes From An Empire
(Opus Arte OA CD9029D) has programmed
his first recording with a remarkable purpose
in mind: to survey the music that was written
during the protracted demise of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire and explore its message
about the passage of the old and the advent of
the new. To that end he performs works spanning
the years 1903 to 1927 from Berg, Webern,
Janáček, Enescu, Bartók and Schoenberg. Now 27, he shows a remarkable
understanding of the music of this period and what its composers
were doing in this era of profound transition.
He plays as if he were a seer of some kind. The sonatas by Berg and
Janáček are fine examples of this, especially the second movement of
the Janáček, titled Death. The transcendence of this is powerful and
reaches far beyond the mere notes and the composer’s other markings.
Similarly, his performance of Bartók’s Three Rondos on Slovak
Folk Tunes seems so perfect a cultural iteration that Said’s birthplace,
Amman, Jordan, seems a universe distant.
Enescu’s Suite No.2 in D Op.10 is a remarkably beautiful composition
in its richness of form and melody. Said plays the opening
Toccata with all the majesty its tempo marking designates. The
following Sarabande is performed with such a delicate touch that the
sounds of the instrument seem pure velvet. The closing Boureé is an
energized finale that sparkles with virtuosity. We need to hear more
from this young pianist. His touring schedule leaves him little time for
recording. But record more he certainly must.
The decision to record the Liszt B Minor
Sonata may say more about a performer than
the actual performance. Hearing the final
product, however, seals the judgment. On Liszt
piano music (Orpheus OR 3906-1828) young
(mid-20s) Spanish superstar Félix Ardanaz
presents this Everest of the piano repertoire in
a way that allows one to forget about its technical
demands and focus instead on both the
emotional and intellectual brilliance Liszt wrote into it. With three
of its six themes presented in the first 18 measures alone, Ardanaz
identifies and presents the ideas with the clarity needed to help the
listener follow Liszt’s plan through the ensuing half hour of playing.
So much of this performance is astonishing, but little more so than
Liszt’s treatment of one of his opening ideas as a fugal subject midway
through the work, followed by a seemingly impossible piu mosso
direction. Ardanaz delivers this effortlessly. No subtlety escapes him,
whether a brief tender Adagio or an explosive passage whose power
falls under his complete control.
Ardanaz also includes both Mazeppa and Mephisto Waltz in
his program. Astonishing throughout, this is definitely a “musthave”
disc.
Before the awe over Félix Aradanaz begins
to settle, it’s worth briefly mentioning his
recording of French harpsichord repertoire
on The French Harpsichord (Orpheus
OR3906-1811). The transition between instruments
is clearly the issue here and not much
rationale is offered either in print or online
as to why he does this. Very few pianists
undertake such a bold recording choice but
nothing seems beyond his reach. Ardanaz clearly understands the
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