Volume 24 Issue 5 - February 2019

is powerful, spellbinding and reflects a mature understanding of the
composer’s intentions. Ballade No.2 in B Minor is a fine example of
this device but the bonus track, Sonetto del Petrarca 123 is the most
memorable, because of its artful application.
Lisztomania is less manic than its title might suggest, and it offers
far more than a recital of “favourites” can usually manage. There’s
some arrestingly beautiful playing on this disc.
Peter Schaaf has released a third recording
following his return to the keyboard after
a lengthy hiatus pursuing other creative
ventures. Chopin: 17 Waltzes (Schaaf
Records SR 103; schaafrecords.com) is a
collection of waltzes divided between those
published during Chopin’s lifetime and
those published posthumously.
Schaaf’s approach is relaxed and the
tempos reflect this, often being a touch slower than is commonly
heard. His playing is wonderfully clear and articulate. The allimportant
ornaments that give Chopin’s writing its identifying signature
are unerringly executed with impressive consistency. Waltzes
Op.34, No.3 and Op.69, No.2 are terrific examples of this splendid
technique. Schaaf also brings a welcome degree of introspection to
this music that is especially poignant in the minor keys. He creates a
feeling of heightened mystery that, combined with a slower tempo,
make pieces like the Waltz in C Sharp Minor Op.64 No.2 an entirely
new experience.
Shoshana Telner’s latest release is a 2CD set
titled Johann Sebastian Bach – The Six
Partitas BWV825-830 (Centaur CRC
3642/3643; centaurrecords.com). The joy of
playing or hearing Bach lies in the search for
melody. Regardless of how familiar a work
may be, chances are that a hidden fragment
of melody will reveal itself, making the
already beautiful impossibly better. This is
how Telner plays. From her first phrase she declares her intention to
mine every treasured nugget in Bach’s motherlode of counterpoint.
These French dance suites are replete with ideas great and small lying
in every range of the keyboard voice. Telner’s technique unfolds each
one carefully. The versatility of the nine-foot Fazioli she plays allows
for rich dynamic contrasts and subtle touch variations to highlight
each new idea she encounters, as if to coax them out of hiding. It’s a
mindful, disciplined and loving way to handle this music and the
result is a breadth of beauty difficult to describe.
Steven Beck and Susan Grace are the second
incarnation of the piano duo Quattro
Mani. Their new recording Re-Structures
(Bridge 9496; bridgerecords.com/
products/9496) is a wonderfully
programmed disc of contemporary works
for two pianos plus a variety of other
instruments.
Poul Ruders’ Cembal D’Amore for piano
and harpsichord places the piano mostly
on the left audio channel while the harpsichord occupies the centre
and right of the audio spectrum. Not only is the stereo effect immediately
engaging but the writing too grabs the attention with very clever
keyboard combinations and colouristic effects.
György Kurtág’s Életút Lebenslauf Op.32 uses a normally tuned
piano in combination with another tuned a quarter tone lower and
also calls for a pair of basset horns.
The title track Re-Structures by Tod Machover is written for two
pianos and live electronics. It’s dedicated to Pierre Boulez for his
90th birthday and is inspired by Boulez’s own works for two pianos
Structures.
The opening and closing tracks are for the duo alone. The final one
is particularly intriguing for its relentless adherence to a Latin beat.
Ofer Ben-Amots’ Tango for the Road provides a memorable finish to
this excellent production.
David McGrory’s new release Remember
the Fallen (store.cdbaby.com) marked the
100th anniversary of the end of the Great
War, 1914-1918. He’s chosen three works
to represent the responses of composers
affected by the conflict.
Le Tombeau de Couperin is Maurice
Ravel’s memorial to people he knew who
had lost their lives in military service. Each
of the work’s movements is dedicated to
them. It’s not a directly programmatic piece and doesn’t set out to
capture the mood of the period. It’s simply a contemporary expression
inspired by Couperin’s 17th-century keyboard suites. McGrory
has an impressive facility with the speed Ravel requires to execute
the Prelude, Rigaudon and Toccata but he makes his greatest impact
with the very tender and heartfelt Minuet. There’s a tremendous
feeling of suspended melancholy that hangs over the entire movement.
Gorgeous.
Frank Bridge’s Piano Sonata gives McGrory a similar opportunity.
Its second movement is an extended calm between the work’s violent
outer movements and his performance of it is profoundly moving.
Concert note: David McGrory performs at the Newton Free Library in
Massachusetts on March 3.
Duncan Honeybourne performs an entire
disc full of world premieres in his recent
recording A Hundred Years of British Piano
Miniatures (Grand Piano GP 789;
grandpianorecords.com). Eleven composers’
works arranged chronologically give an
illuminating view of the piano miniature’s
evolution. English composers seem to have
a deep and abiding affection for a sense of
place, and they allow this to spark their creativity. Whether city streets
or countryside, experiences had there are the prime resource for these
miniatures.
The disc is full of these very short tracks, beautifully selected for
their contribution to the program and historical relevance. Those from
the first half of the last century seem to share a common language
despite the great upheavals that changed the world in which they were
conceived. The more contemporary ones are somewhat less tied to the
charm of a place and are more outward-looking in concept. There is a
remarkable degree of originality throughout all these works that
makes this disc an engaging listen from start to finish.
Lorenzo Materazzo takes a freely modern
approach in his newest recording of Baroque
repertoire Lorenzo Materazzo Plays Scarlatti
& Bach (Austrian Gramophone AG 0010;
naxosdirect.com). He’s an active performer,
composer and musicologist bringing a thorough
rationale to his performance decisions.
Materazzo extracts the greatest amount
of emotional content possible from every
phrase and thematic idea. His tempos are unconstrained by conventional
practice and his dynamics are unashamedly romantic. He
argues that both composers would have spoken this musical language
had they lived today and points to the way his interpretation realizes
more fully the potential of each work.
Scarlatti’s familiar Sonata in E Major K.380 proves an instructive
comparison with almost any other version. Like all the other
tracks, it’s an intimate recording with the mics very near the
strings. Materazzo’s effort is persuasive, credible and very much
worth hearing.
Zuzana Šimurdová introduces the music of a hitherto unrecorded
composer in her new world premiere recording release Fišer
70 | February 2019 thewholenote.com