Volume 21 Issue 9 - Summer 2016

Plenty of piano students have played the four-hands Dolly Suite
Op.56 by Gabriel Fauré. This performance is well-paced. Messieu Aoul
and Le pas espagnol are especially admirable for the coordinated
energy and execution they require.
The highlight of the CD is a four-hands arrangement of George
Gershwin’s An American in Paris. It’s an autobiographical work
recounting Gershwin’s own time there in the mid-1920s. It features
some obvious references early in the work to the set of authentic
Parisian taxi horns Gershwin had purchased during his trip.
Lowenthal and Brown seem most at home in this piece, really feeling
the deep melancholy of the blues section, as well as the jazzy syncopations
that drive so much of the music.
Ernst Krenek was one of the 20th century’s
most stylistically complete composers whose
vocabulary gave him creative access to both
historical and contemporary expression. On
Ernst Krenek – Piano Music, Volume One
(Toccata Classics TOCC 0298), Ukrainian-born
Stanislav Khristenko performs a well-balanced
program of Krenek’s compositions.
The Piano Sonata No.4 Op.114 (1948) is a
work in which Khristenko demonstrates Krenek’s ability to move
seamlessly between ideas that are tonally centred and others that
aren’t. Khristenko not only captures the neo-romantic essence of
Krenek’s language, but also the unsettling elements of the composer’s
early life that express themselves in the edgy phrasing he uses to
evoke the changed world emerging from the two world wars.
Khristenko’s choice of the George Washington Variations, Op.120
(1950) is especially entertaining for its use of all of Krenek’s favourite
devices. Deployed as they are, they move an opening 19th-century
military march through a metamorphosis of clever changes in which
Khristenko never lets go of the initial musical idea.
Krenek held a lifelong devotion to the music of Franz Schubert. He
spent years coming to understand the genius of Schubert’s music, its
design and balance, especially as present in his lieder. Krenek’s decision
to complete Schubert’s Piano Sonata in C Major D840 is based
solely on the existence of sufficient thematic material in the final
two movements to make credible development possible. Naturally,
it’s difficult to listen to this Schubert without also listening for
some Krenek.
Khristenko is also currently working on recording the complete
works of Krenek as well as a recording of Soler sonatas.
It can be understandably difficult to get
terribly excited about a recording of an
upright piano, especially if it’s old, really old,
say 1834. So why would Alex Szilasi record
Chopin Berceuse, Barcarolle & Impromptus
(Hungaroton HCD32473) on an old Pleyel
upright? Evidently this one is special – Chopin
played it. Pleyel Company archives show that
Chopin played it at the factory in Paris and selected it for the Russian
ambassador. He liked this particular model so much that he ordered
one for himself. Both instruments were delivered to adjacent apartments
at the ambassador’s residence where Chopin was a frequent
guest. While Chopin’s piano was eventually lost, the other instrument
has survived fully authenticated. This is its recording debut.
Chopin favoured the Pleyel piano for its soft tone. It was doublestrung
in its middle and upper registers and therefore softer than later
triple-strung instruments. It responds to the gentlest touch to produce
nearly inaudible pianissimos. Aggressive or heavy touch tends to cause
distortion on these instruments, so Chopin would have favoured them
for very specific repertoire, and certainly nothing terribly bombastic,
hence this CD’s program of more tender compositions.
Szilasi creates some amazing effects with the instrument. The rapid
chromatic runs in the right hand through the upper octaves of the
keyboard sound extremely fragile like a web of silk threads, yet they
remain clear although very soft. This is best heard in the Impromptu
in F-Sharp Major Op.36. The familiar Fantasie-Impromptu in
C-Sharp Minor Op.72 is also a dramatic contrast to the more muscular
performances commonly heard on modern pianos.
Alex Szilasi has created a thought-provoking recording that gives us
a glimpse of how Chopin would have heard and played his own music
180 years ago.
VOCAL
Alessandro Scarlatti – La Gloria di
Primavera
Moore; Ograjenšek; van der Linde; Phan;
Williams; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra
& Chorale; Nicholas McGegan
Philharmonia PDP-09
!!
Alessandro Scarlatti
was a major composer
of the early 18th
century, particularly
known as a composer
of opera. Since then
his work has virtually
disappeared. La gloria
di primavera is not an opera but a serenata
composed to mark the birth of the Archduke
Leonard, the son of the emperor Charles VI,
in 1716. Structurally the work is like an opera
seria, with its alternation of recitatives and
arias (mostly da capo), only one duet and
few ensembles. The characters are allegories
of the four seasons: Spring (the mezzo
Diana Moore), Summer (the soprano Suzana
Ograjenšek), Autumn (the countertenor Clint
van der Linde) and Winter (the tenor Nicholas
Phan). The four cannot agree on who can take
the credit for the birth of the baby and they
agree to ask Jove (the bass-baritone Douglas
Williams) to adjudicate.
The singing and the orchestral playing on
this CD are splendid but overall my sense is
that the work does not represent Scarlatti at
his best. The section near the end contrasting
the devastation caused by the War of the
Spanish Succession with the peace established
in 1713 (the Peace of Utrecht) is
splendid, but the basic plot strikes me as
pretty flimsy.
Hans de Groot
La Pentecôte: Bach –
Cantates 68, 173, 174, 184
Mauch; Bertin; Daniels; Sarragosse;
Montréal Baroque; Eric Milnes
ATMA ACD2 2405
!!
The Montreal
Baroque Festival is
held every summer
in the historic
churches, factories
and warehouses
of Old Montreal,
and for the past six
summers recording label ATMA has partnered
with them to produce a recording
of Bach’s cantatas, with discerningly spare
vocal forces (one voice to each part) accompanied
by period ensemble. This latest in
the series features cantatas Bach composed
between 1724 and 1729 for Pentecost, celebrated
in the liturgical calendar 50 days
after Easter Sunday. Bach’s realization of the
themes of the Pentecost, the tongues of flame,
the rushing wind, the spreading of the word
as well as Christ’s revelation of God’s love for
the world in BWV68, Also hat Gott die Welt
geliebt (God so loved the world) which begins
with chorale and ends with a quite busy
and complex choral movement on a quotation
from the Gospel of John, in which the
four soloists race along beautifully together.
In this and many of the others featured on
the disc, Bach borrows from previous works,
in this case two arias from his Hunting
Cantata. Soprano Monika Mauch, countertenor
Pascal Bertin, tenor Charles Daniels and
bass Jean-Claude Sarragosse have lovely arias
throughout the cantatas and the orchestra
some lovely mirroring of parts throughout.
Such a gem; we hope for many more annual
releases from the festival.
Dianne Wells