Volume 21 Issue 9 - Summer 2016

and composer Matt Sellick (matt.sellick@
gmail.com), whose first album After Rain was
very favourably reviewed in the February 2015
edition of The WholeNote.
Sellick has spent four summers studying
in Spain with some of the leading flamenco
guitarists, and it show. He admits that this new
CD is “more clearly flamenco” than his first,
but also acknowledges that there are other influences at work here
Keyed In
ALEX BARAN
Xiayin Wang has recorded nearly a dozen
CDs. Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No.2;
Khachaturian – Piano Concerto; Royal
Scottish National Orchestra; Peter Oundjian
(Chandos CHSA 5167) is her fifth for this label.
The Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2 is a
big play at almost 45 minutes. This recording
is of the original version, not the shorter one
with significant cuts by Taneyev to the second
movement. Wang proves to be a very precise player with a lot of
stamina for whom Tchaikovsky’s wilder passages pose no difficulty.
She is also comfortable with long interpretive pauses that give better
definition to the deluge of musical ideas the composer releases in the
opening movement.
Very much in command of her music when pitted against the
orchestra, she also plays beautifully when more exposed with only
solo violin and cello, as she is in the second movement. Similarly, in
the Khachaturian Piano Concerto, Wang sustains long passages of
simple octaves with great discipline, always sensitive to the mystery of
the work’s Asiatic atmosphere.
Toronto-born conductor Peter Oundjian leads the Royal Scottish
National Orchestra of which he has been music director since 2012.
The RSNO is superb and deservedly claims its reputation as one of
Europe’s leading orchestras. Both concertos require a broad range of
stylistic and dynamic expression which the orchestra handles beautifully.
They do especially well with the often angular nature of the
Khachaturian. This recording brings together a wonderful team of
musicians in a pair of truly demanding works. The result is a highly
energized and superb performance.
With all 32 Beethoven sonatas in his discography,
Christian Leotta has now added
Beethoven – Diabelli Variations (ATMA ACD2
2485) to his growing list of recordings.
The Diabelli Variations have a history of
divided critical opinion. At worst, Anton
Diabelli’s original theme is considered a
trite offering containing very little that any
composer can use for a credible variation. That
Beethoven used the material to write an entire set of 33 variations, is
then something of a miracle that speaks directly to the composer’s
inventive gift. Regardless of the theme’s actual merits, or lack of them,
a performer needs to understand what Beethoven is actually doing in
each variation in order to perform them intelligently.
This is where Leotta proves his standing as a highly respected
Beethoven interpreter. He understands that Beethoven uses as little
as a single interval and often barely more than that, a pick-up note,
an ornament or a rhythmic pattern, to construct his variations. He
remains highly focused on this, and in doing so holds the set of variations
together despite its diverse moments of comedy, tumult, melancholy
and contemplation.
Leotta has discerned Beethoven’s deepest imprint and conveys it in
each of these utterances. What he makes clear by the end of it all is
as well. All 11 pieces – some solo and some accompanied by bass and
percussion – are original compositions, and there is a lovely mix of
different moods and tempos.
He obviously has a great feel for flamenco, an outstanding technique
– clean, accurate and clearly defined – and plays with a warm rich
sound and a lovely range of tone colour and shading. The recording
quality and ambience are perfect.
Sellick is clearly a huge talent; this is a terrific CD, and it will be
very interesting to see what he does next.
that Beethoven’s creative genius is for him, supreme.
Timothy Steeves, known for his six recordings
with violinist Nancy Dahl as Duo
Concertante, has now released his first solo
disc, Haydn Sonatas (Marquis MAR 469).
Steeves admits to having a lifelong admiration
for Haydn’s music and his choice of the three
sonatas on this disc is meant to show Haydn’s
creativity and originality. While the modern
ear may have difficulty in hearing this music as original, because of
its similarities to baroque and Mozartian works, a quick self-reminder
as to where Haydn sits historically helps place him as the significant
bridge from the baroque to the classical period.
Steeves plays with great clarity, required especially in the upper
voices where Haydn tends to nest his melodies. He has a touch that
demonstrates impressive control of tonal colouring, so important
in the slow movements of the sonatas. The Adagio of the Sonata in
A-Flat Major Hob.XVI:46 is an example of how Steeves gives the
middle register a lovely dark sound while it supports a brighter upper
voice. And while Haydn rarely creates the complex counterpoint we
associate with Bach, Steeves pulls out inner voices whenever Haydn
sends them lower down the keyboard.
The Sonata in C Minor Hob.XVI:20 opening movement is a telling
example of how ornamentation remained a staple of keyboard writing
style from the Renaissance, through the baroque and into the classical
period. Steeves is meticulous throughout the first movement where
Haydn has inserted trills and grace notes liberally. The Andante is
noteworthy for the freedom Steeves takes with its phrasings, slowing a
select few to a near stop to heighten the impact of their final cadence.
Steeves’ affection for Haydn is obvious and makes this a recording
worth having.
In Baroque Session on Piano (Analekta AN
2 9128) harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour takes
to the piano with pieces that he argues work
well on that instrument for specific reasons.
Beauséjour points out that much of the harpsichord
repertoire does not play well on our
modern keyboard because of the piano’s
inability to deliver the clarity of complex ornamentation
so often required by 15th- and
16th-century repertoire. He also points out that the darker colours
of the piano’s middle registers can often obscure inner contrapuntal
voices. Greater resonance is yet another factor that requires pianists to
change phrasing techniques when playing harpsichord repertoire.
Selecting a program that avoids the worst of these problems,
Beauséjour presents an attractive mix of frequently recorded works
and others less well known. A couple of familiar Scarlatti sonatas and
Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes deliver wonderfully clear and fluid runs.
Bach’s Concerto in D Minor BWV974 after Marcello is an example of
how the piano’s touch-based colours can make the second movement
even more intensely expressive.
Other works by Louis Couperin and Georg Böhm, keep much of
their harpsichord character with graceful arpeggios that Beauséjour
retains more for a sense of period style than necessary technique. He
includes a set of four Correnti by Frescobaldi and imbues them with a
strongly rhythmic bounce and keyboard touch that suggests the crisp
attack of the harpsichord’s plectra.
Baroque Session on Piano is a very fine recording commendable for
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