Volume 25 Issue 6 - March 2020

Kreisleriana is perhaps emotionally a
kindred spirit – both with a lot of lyricism,
but with unpredictably tempestuous
outbursts. The Rameau makes for a good
way to open a recital, and the Liszt Faust
transcription is a good way to end.
Rameau’s Gavotte and Variations in A
Minor would have fit nicely into your
Dances recording from 2014. What
drew you to it? Can we look forward to a
Dances 2 CD?
I came to this work initially through the
recording by Benno Moiseiwitsch, which
has some adaptations by Leschetizky. It
was quite a popular work by artists of
that generation, with recordings also by
Cherkassky, Marcelle Meyer and others. It is
a very effective set of variations, virtuosically
inclined. As with most Baroque music
on the piano, there is a range of possibilities
in terms of conceptual and stylistic
approach that are interesting to explore.
There are no plans for Dances 2 at the
moment, but it is a nice idea!
Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.4, Op.7 has
been in your repertoire for many years.
When did you first begin playing it? How has your approach to
it evolved?
I played this one for a season in around 2013 or so. It’s hard to say
how my approach has evolved. With any piece one’s views naturally
change over time, but I also don’t necessarily remember everything
that I did last time I played the work. I’d probably say that on a large
scale in this work not much has changed, but there are many small
details that I may have approached differently this time.
Do you have any further plans for performing Beethoven in this
250th anniversary year of his birth?
I am playing some of the concerti in the latter half of the year, and
also at that point I will be introducing Op.101 into my repertoire. I will
have some all-Beethoven recitals with Op.7, Op.101 and Op.27 No.2,
and then Op.101 continues into 2021.
The second half of your Toronto recital begins with Kreisleriana,
Schumann’s passionate, novelistic love letter to his future wife, Clara
Wieck. How does it speak to you?
It is a rich and enigmatic work, that is a thrilling piece to study
and perform, filled with so many different emotions. At this time,
his romance with Clara was forbidden by her father, and it seems to
me an embodiment of all he was feeling in the moment, penned as it
was over four days in a fit of inspiration. Full of moments of tenderness,
intimacy, humour, there are also outbursts of frustration and
anger. The novelistic influence is of course also interesting, and I think
Schumann saw something of himself in the bipolar personality of
Johannes Kreisler.
Leslie Howard wrote of Liszt’s “ingenious elaboration” of Gounod’s
Valse de l’Opéra Faust that “Musically, Gounod is transformed and
transcended at a stroke!” What attracted you to it? How would you
characterize it?
I think there is genius in all of Liszt’s opera transcriptions. He takes
the material and the essence of the opera and weaves with it his own
rich musical tapestry. There is certainly something transcendent
to this one – the bombast of the opening section waltz is balanced
perfectly by his illuminating figuration in the central lyrical section,
and emerges as a work with more deliciousness, humour and personality
than the original.
Music Toronto presents Benjamin Grosvenor on March 31 at 8pm in
the Jane Mallett Theatre of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts.
Castalian String Quartet
CLASSICAL & BEYOND QUICK PICKS
!!
MAR 10, 12PM: The youthful, London-based Castalian String Quartet stops by the
Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre on their way to Carnegie Hall for this COC free noonhour
concert featuring Dutilleux’s Ainsi la nuit and Schumann’s String Quartet No.1,
Op.41 No.1.
!!
MAR 12, 12:10PM: U of T Faculty of Music presents the Calidore String Quartet (the
26 | March 2020 thewholenote.com