Volume 25 Issue 4 - December 2019 / January 2020

useful treatise on the forms and style of
Baroque times.
The Well-Tempered Clavier is structurally
complex and creatively abundant, yet orderly
and conceived with a teaching purpose in
mind. And that is precisely what Heidrun
Holtmann connects to in her interpretation –
the magnificent architecture that varies from
one key to another comes alive vibrantly on
this album. She clearly outlines the relationships
between preludes and fugues and subtly indicates the different
characters of each key (not an easy task in a well-tempered tuning).
Although the term clavier applied to a number of keyboard instruments
in Bach’s time (hammerklavier, clavichord, spinet, harpsichord
and organ) and it is clear that some of the pieces are better suited to
a specific kind of keyboard, Holtmann succeeds easily in displaying
how the richness and diversity of the piano supports and enriches the
colours in the preludes and the virtuosity in the fugues.
Compositional masterpiece, insightful performance – perfect for
solitary late autumn musings.
Ivana Popovich
Haydn – Early and Late Sonatas
Denis Levaillant
DLM Editions DLM 3018 (denislevaillant.net)
!!
The keyboard sonatas of Franz Joseph
Haydn represent a great feat of an opus, broad
in range, dating from the composer’s youthful
period to his final decades. The early 1790s –
about 15 years before his death – saw Haydn in
London, where he encountered new-fangled
Broadwood pianos, outfitted with damper
pedal and an extended range. Three irresistibly
inventive London Sonatas were spawned.
Today, so often are these late Beethovenian sonatas performed and celebrated
that a listener rarely hears Haydn’s early essays for the keyboard,
even in our contemporary age of rediscovery, mining the catalogues of
infamous composers for their un-famous works.
French composer, writer and pianist, Denis Levaillant, celebrates
Haydn’s early works – as foil to later ones – in his new disc featuring
Sonatas No.13 in E, No.14 in D, No.41 in B-flat, No.48 in C, No.49 in
E-flat and No.51 in D, all recorded on a modern (Yamaha) grand.
As is stipulated in the artist’s eloquent afterword to the liner notes,
Levaillant has chosen to access the interpretive world of Haydn’s early
sonatas through the stylistic lens of the later ones. He imagines (and
supplements) “missing” indications from the composer and offers
touches of pedal, pauses and anachronistic colours.
The results are satisfying, for the most part. A correlative access point for
Levaillant’s readings is the functionality of early keyboard instruments: the
harpsichord and clavichord. Sonatas Nos.13 and 14 most surely would have
been realized on such instruments and Levaillant approaches the music
with a certitude of form and fortitude of style that permeate the disc’s 15
tracks. The slightly rough and tumble edges – the rustic origins – of Franz
Joseph Haydn’s art are brought into relief through Levaillant’s rendering.
Adam Sherkin
Mozart Piano Sonatas
David Fung
Steinway & Sons 30107 (steinway.com/music-and-artists/label)
!!
Steinway artist David Fung offers four
lesser-known piano sonatas on his new
album: the Piano Sonatas No.2 in F Major,
K280, No.4 in E-flat, K282, No.5 in G Major,
K283 and No.17 in B-flat, K570. Upon first
hearing, Fung’s vision of Mozart’s keyboard
music is immediately apparent. The (scant)
liner notes make much of Fung’s musical
upbringing and exposure to the opera – the Mozartian operatic
stage in particular – but these references seem status quo and rather
obvious in analogy; the comparisons do not quite do justice to Fung’s
interpretive approach.
His is a unique and bold reading. Often, contemporaneous interpreters
attempt to subdue their own (romantic) leanings, fearing
to obscure the ideals of neoclassicalism as manifested in the music
of W.A. Mozart. Fung, however, has no such qualms. He portrays a
pianistic tableau of striking contrasts, unusual voicings and wanton
manipulation of the dimension of time.
Employing a declamatory style, Fung directs the musical action
from his keyboard with a strong command of phrasing and rhythmic
impetus. He goes far beyond the customary approach to pulsation and
accompaniment figures, in search of an inner energy of syncopated
beats and subtle ostinati.
Upon repetition of A and B sections, Fung offers fresh takes on
voicings that surprise the listener, challenging established conceptions
of such material. By far his boldest strokes come in the form of timescale
bending: the stretching out of rests, fermati and cadences, as
he pushes values to the limit of neoclassical good taste. The resultant
effect is generally pleasurable but does, on occasion, turn to parody.
Notwithstanding, variety is the spice of life and let’s applaud Fung’s
triumph in delivering his singular vision.
Adam Sherkin
Mozart Piano Concertos Vol.1
Anne-Marie McDermott; Odense Symfoniorkester; Scott Yoo
Bridge Records 9518 (bridgerecords.com)
Mozart – Piano Concertos Nos.17 & 24
Orli Shaham; St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; David Robertson
Canary Classics CC18 (canaryclassics.com)
!!
Charm, grace and cordiality are fading
qualities in today’s hard-hitting, egodriven
age. Attributes from an older world
and its refined modes of human interaction
continue to recede from us, seemingly
destined for near extinction. Every
now and then, however, a specialized, sensitive
artist will draw us back, time-capsulelike,
to a continental European past where
art and music existed to elevate, illuminate
and beguile.
Ushering the listener toward this very world of period sensibility,
Anne-Marie McDermott’s most recent Mozart disc features two lesserknown
piano concerti, the Concerto in C, K415/387a and an earlier
work of the same genre, in B-flat, K238. McDermott’s exceedingly
good taste and technical prowess make for an ideal blend of musical
pleasantries, delighting the listener with her innate ability to shape
Mozartian lines, equal in parts lyrical, harmonic and rhythmic. This is
an 18th-century pianism of poise and courtliness, neoclassical
elegance and Viennese affability.
Another such record of Mozart keyboard
concerti hails from a collaboration between
pianist Orli Shaham and the St. Louis
Symphony, under the direction of David
Robertson. Here, two later concertos are
presented: the airy No.17 in G Major, K453
and the brooding No.24 in C Minor, K491.
Soundworlds apart, these pieces juxtapose
handsomely on disc, showcasing the
dazzling musicianship of pianist, conductor and orchestra with the
personal relationship between Shaham and Robertson clearly audible.
This fruitful partnership gleans splendour and lucidity from every
note; the conversational exchange between soloist and orchestra is
delectable – hefty at times – but largely cajoling in nature. Robertson
encourages his players to take their rightful place in crafting the
beauty of line and sculpting of colour that behooves the performance
84 | December 2019 – January 2020 thewholenote.com