Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Manfred Honeck, conductor Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Women of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh Daniel Singer, director
Heinz Hall Pittsburgh, PA April 21, 2024
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 Encore: Chopin: Mazurka in D major, Op. 33 No. 2 Liszt: Dante Symphony, S109
Sunday afternoon’s Pittsburgh Symphony performance began on a somber note, with a moment of silence in memoriam of Sir Andrew Davis, who served as the PSO’s artistic advisor from 2005-07. Music director Manfred Honeck offered a few words and dedicated the performance to Davis’ memory. On a personal note, I have fond memories of seeing Davis often during his two decade stint at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and caught him in robust form as recently as last June with the Minnesota Orchestra.
Leif Ove Andsnes with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony, photos credit George Lange
The first half of the program was devoted to Rachmaninoff’s fiendishly difficult Third Piano Concerto, calling upon Leif Ove Andsnes as soloist. A barren, monastic melody opened, direct and undiluted in its expression before complexities multiplied. Andsnes drew a bold and robust tone, amply projecting through the hall and over the large orchestra. The PSO was a fine partner to the pianist, with some particularly sturdy playing from the brass. Andsnes opted for the larger of the two cadenzas the composer supplied, cresting to a thunderous climax.
The opening of the central intermezzo offered a rare respite for the piano, a strained paragraph for strings and winds to introduce a ravishing melody in the piano, increasingly impassioned. The finale proceeded as an electric march, with a grand, sweeping melody at the heart. One was kept at the edge of their seat through the sparkling coda in this bombshell of a performance. Andsnes returned for an encore in Chopin’s D major mazurka (op. 33 no. 2), bringing out the dance’s stylish rhythms and ineffable charm.
Matters went from warhorse to rarity with the latter half seeing a rare outing of Liszt’s Dante Symphony, an extensive work the composer wrote moved by his reading of the Divine Comedy (and a companion of sorts to the better-known Dante Sonata). This weekend marked the belated Pittsburgh premiere of the work, though I’ve had the unexpected fortune of seeing it elsewhere over the last few years – Chicago (2017) and Columbus (2022). Two large movements represent the Inferno and Purgatorio respectively; not feeling music could adequately represent Paradisio, Liszt instead opted to close with a brief Magnificat that employs a female choir.
Low brass opened in an uncompromising descent to hell, with thundering timpani further conjuring the inferno in no uncertain terms. A bit overblown, perhaps, but Honeck and the PSO were strong advocates of the work and offered a compelling interpretation. A lyrical contrast was provided in material that represented Francesca da Rimini, conveyed by the bass clarinet and harp. With a certain inevitability, the movement was brought to a bleak, crashing close – with all hope duly abandoned.
Purgatorio was far more at peace in music that appropriately suggested a sense of stasis. A fine passage for oboe was a highlight, as well as a moving chorale for low brass – here, no longer a menacing force. The closing Magnificat offered a spiritual glimpse of the divine, with the angelic voices of the women of the Mendelssohn Choir coming from backstage. High strings and harp further conveyed the celestial in this closing hymn, a touchingly beautiful statement that Wagner no doubt looked towards when writing the final moments of Parsifal.
Daniel Singer leads the Women of the Mendelssohn Choir from backstage
Columbus Symphony Orchestra Carolyn Kuan, conductor Vijay Venkatesh, piano Ohio Theatre Columbus, OH March 26, 2022
James Lee III: Towards a Greater Light Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 Encore: Schubert-Liszt: Ständchen, S560/7 Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major, D944
Currently music director of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, conductor Carolyn Kuan made a welcome debut with the Columbus Symphony in the final performance for March. The program opened with the brief 2017 work Towards a Greater Light by American composer James Lee III, meant to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Scored for strings alone, matters were often in a meditative stasis, saying much in its five-minute duration.
Carolyn Kuan, Vinjay Venkatesh, and the Columbus Symphony, photo credit Columbus Symphony
The young soloist Vijay Venkatesh was brought forth for Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2. The commanding, improvisatory-like opening for the soloist alone pointed towards the passionate primary theme. Venkatesh displayed a formidable technique, from delicate filigree to fiery double octaves. The central Allegro scherzando was gossamer – and rather Mendelssohnian – in texture. Though an impressive finish, it felt clarity was sacrificed for speed in the breakneck finale. Venkatesh returned for an encore in the Schubert-Liszt Ständchen transcription, showing a haunting, lyrical side of the pianist not revealed in the ebullient concerto.
An apt choice of encore given that the rest of the evening was devoted to Schubert in the towering Ninth Symphony. Kuan allowed for the solo horn call which opened to be played freely, though it perhaps could have benefitted from her conducting to initiate things with more focused direction. Matters gradually amassed, leading the grandiose movement proper. The trombones were especially striking, forming the spine of the work, and the busy orchestra harmoniously blended together. A limber oboe passage in the Andante con moto was a quintessentially Schubertian melody, and gorgeous strings were a turn inwards in a work that otherwise shows the composer at his most exuberant. The third movement’s vigor spoke to an affinity with dance, though never without a certain Viennese charm and grace, and the high-spirited energy was sustained through the vivacious finale. A strong showing from Kuan – let’s hope she’s invited back to the CSO podium soon.
Columbus Symphony Orchestra Rossen Milanov, conductor Brian Mangrum, horn
Women of the Columbus Symphony Chorus Ronald J. Jenkins, chorus director
Ohio Theatre Columbus, OH March 18, 2022
Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 11 Liszt: Dante Symphony, S109
Though Franz Liszt is rightly remembered as chiefly a composer for the piano, he produced a vast body of orchestral works – including virtually inventing the tone poem – that should not be overlooked. In some particularly ambitious programming, the Columbus Symphony offered the first local performances of the Dante Symphony, an orchestral portrait of The Divine Comedy. An informative pre-concert conversation between music director Rossen Milanov and Jonathan Combs-Schilling from Ohio State’s Italian department gave thoughtful insight into both the music and its literary inspiration. A visual element was added with Gustave Doré‘s iconic illustrations to accompany the text – produced in 1857, the same year as the symphony – projected along with the music. Though an intriguing idea, the stage lights largely diluted the projections, rendering them more a distraction than an enhancement.
Gustave Doré’s illustration to Dante’s Inferno. Plate VIII: Canto III: The gate of Hell. “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”, photo credit Wikimedia Commons
The first movement Inferno began with an imposing descent to the hell in the low brass – trombones in particular have long been associated with depictions of the underworld, dating back to Monteverdi’s Orfeo. A wound-up tension was purveyed in music that was unrelenting, often overwhelming in ferocity, but Milanov had a thorough grasp of the large-scale form, serving as an incisive guide. Secondary material depicted the doomed love affair of Francesca and Paolo, a languid contrast. A skeletal recitative-like passage in the bass clarinet was quite striking, and Liszt made use of richly chromatic, Wagernian harmonies, sounding at times like a page out of Tristan. Milanov rightly reined in the bombast during the coda, but still yielded a close that was powerfully unforgiving.
The second movement Purgatorio provided some much needed peace after the preceding, with some especially touching scoring for the harp and oboe. This was fittingly music of stasis, held in contemplative limbo, although a triumphant passage and a thorny fugue gave matters both variety and perhaps a glimmer of hope. Liszt had originally envisioned concluding the work with a Paradiso movement, mirroring the source material, but conceded that depicting heaven would be all but impossible. Instead, he provided a lovely Magnificat as something of a pendant to previous movement. It’s a hymn of sorts wherein we manage just a glimpse of the entrance to paradise. It was a magical moment when the women of the Columbus Symphony Chorus appeared practically out of the ether, offering an angelic vision of what lies beyond in the most deeply moving music of the work. The performance was a laudable achievement, and I hope Milanov and the CSO will continue to explore Liszt’s lesser-known orchestral pieces.
The program began with Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, a quantity which amazingly hasn’t appeared on a CSO program since 1979. High strings opened with an almost mystical evocation of dawn, though the intonation left something to be desired. “Sunday Morning” saw a brassy awakening, replete with tolling church bells. “Moonlight” was tranquil though not without foreboding as matters took a darker turn in the closing “Storm.”
The ensemble afforded the spotlight to one of its own in Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 in bringing Brian Mangrum front and center, the CSO’s principal horn since 2018. Written when the composer was a precocious 18 year old, the regal E flat major tonality set the stage for a decisive solo entrance, and Mangrum offered a warm, rich tone. A lyrical slow movement saw the horn in dialogue with a rising gesture in the strings, a moment of repose before the jaunty and limber finale.
Rossen Milanov, Brian Mangrum, and the Columbus Symphony. Photo credit Columbus Symphony
Columbus Symphony Orchestra Rossen Milanov, conductor Claire Huangci, piano Ohio Theatre Columbus, OH November 12, 2021
Williams: The Dream Deferred Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S125 Encore: Gulda: Piano Play No. 6 Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
As with the previous entry in the Masterworks series, the Columbus Symphony’s program on Friday night thoughtfully opened with a socially-relevant work by a contemporary African-American composer. Here, the work in question was the 2017 composition The Dream Deferred by Chicago native Evan Williams. Alluding to the Langston Hughes poem, the present work contends with how the American dream is all too often deferred for the Black and Latino communities, particularly amongst young males in what is chillingly referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline. Scored for string orchestra and harp, the piece is bifurcated into two brief movements, “it explodes” and “it dries up” respectively. The harp textures in particular showed the composer’s skill as the unsettled, ominous music proceeded until the titular dream eventually faded away into darkness.
A preconcert conversation between Claire Huangci and Rossen Milanov
The preconcert talk featured an informative conversation between music director Rossen Milanov and guest pianist Claire Huangci. The two first collaborated in Philadelphia when Huangci was just 12 years old. She was featured this weekend in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2, a rather more lyrical foil to its more frequently heard predecessor. Plaintive winds were answered by gentle cascades in the piano, and the pianist’s elegant, sensitive playing captured one’s attention. Though certainly more subdued than the First Concerto, there were nonetheless ample opportunities for flair and virtuosity which Huangci delivered with aplomb, particularly in the riveting march. A ravishingly beautiful duet between the pianist and principal cellist Luis Biava offered a moment of calm before the big-boned finish. Huangci indulged the appreciative audience with an encore in Friedrich Gulda’s Piano Play No. 6, thoroughly entertaining in its jazz inflections and rapid-fire repeated notes.
The so-called “War of the Romantics” was a defining feature of nineteenth-century music, pitting against each other two vastly different approaches to composition. The present program intriguingly explored that by contrasting the Liszt with the latter half devoted to Brahms’ Second Symphony. The first movement opened gentle and genial, though it sounded as if it could have benefitted from additional rehearsal time. The trajectory of this expansive movement was not always clear as matters plodded along, with interjections from the brass fitfully uncoordinated and out of tune. Nonetheless, I found the slow movement more convincing with a serenity encouraged by the resonant cellos, and Milanov led the orchestra to a fiery passion before peacefully subsiding. Milanov aptly referred to the Allegretto grazioso as a “stylized minuet”, and it provided much charm ahead of the finale, certainly one of the most jubilant in the repertoire – just what was needed on a cold November night.
Gartner Auditorium Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland, OH July 29 – August 1, 2021
Inevitably postponed last summer due to the pandemic, the Cleveland International Piano Competition has made a remarkable comeback here in 2021, a wonderfully exciting return to in-person performances. An initial pool of over 250 applicants from more than 40 countries was pared down to 26 contestants, all of whom performed in the Competition’s first two rounds. Owing to the travel and health restrictions that still persist, these rounds were conducted virtually, filmed at venues across the world – and available for free viewing on YouTube. Eight outstanding semi-finalists were selected to proceed onsite in Cleveland, a cohort to be further narrowed down to four finalists who will perform a chamber music round with the Escher Quartet and a concerto round with The Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Jahja Ling.
Gartner Auditorium before Session 1 of the Semi-Final Round
Compared to the relative brevity of the first two rounds, the semi-finals offer an even more in-depth portrait of each artist, performing a recital of approximately 40 minutes. A few new and welcome additions for this year’s edition: each semi-finalist included in their program a popular song transcription commissioned from composer Alexey Kurbatov. Four selections were available, namely “America” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, themes from Mission Impossible, and John Williams’ Olympic Fanfare. Regrettably, none of the eight selected the Williams piece, but perhaps a recording can be posted in due course. I also hope publication of these scores is imminent as they undoubtedly can serve as particularly enjoyable encore pieces.
Also for the first time was the inclusion of piano duets – the two performers from each session teamed up following their solo material for either the Fantasie in F minor by Schubert or Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major. A lovely addendum that not only tested the contestants’ ability to collaborate with another pianist, but encouraged a spirit of camaraderie. Finally, excellent program notes for every piece performed – from the first round to the finals – were provided by Marissa Glynias Moore, Anna M. O’Connell, and Marco Ladd. Indispensable reading for attendees and a veritable crash course in piano literature. Below are some brief impressions I had of each semi-finalist.
Session 1 July 29, 2021
Ying Li Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat Major, K. 333 Grainger: “Ramble on Love” from Der Rosenkavalier Bartók: Piano Sonata, Sz. 80 Schifrin: Themes from Mission Impossible (arr. Kurbatov)
Honggi Kim Schifrin: Themes from Mission Impossible (arr. Kurbatov) Chopin: Twelve Etudes, Op. 25
Schubert: Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940
Ying Li (China) opened the semi-final round with a Mozart sonata, delicate and balanced, exuding the pearly classical style. I found her pacing of the slow movement a bit hard to follow but was quite taken by the sprightly finale. Grainger’s so-called Ramble on Love, paraphrasing themes from Strauss’ Rosenkavalier, gave sumptuous treatment to the source material’s lush and languid melody. Bartók’s Piano Sonata was for me the highlight of her performance, opening with a manic energy – and the live video screens did much to enhance the audience experience, offering close-ups of the intricate hand-crossings.
Honggi Kim (South Korea) opened with the same piece with which Li closed, namely the Kurbatov Mission Impossible transcription. Kim was perhaps a bit more percussive than Li; both displayed how the composer brilliantly interpolated the familiar themes. All contestants are required to present a Chopin etude in the first two rounds – here in the semi-finals, Kim offered all twelve etudes from Op. 25. An ambitious undertaking to be sure, though I found his playing fitfully uneven. No. 2, for instance, would have benefitted from greater clarity, although I did like the way he brought out melodic material in the left hand. In No. 5, one wanted more accentuated contrast between the dissonant sections and the lyrical. The rapid double thirds of No. 6 were quite impressive, however. Op. 25 is certainly an end-weighted set, and perhaps one’s performance should be judged primarily on the final three which concluded on a high note: the rapid octaves of No. 10, a chillingly dramatic “Winter Wind”, and a rather marvelous finish in the intense depths of the “Ocean” etude.
Li and Kim were impressive four-hands partners in the Schubert Fantasie, bringing out contrasts from the brooding to the dancing.
Session 2 July 30, 2021
Jiarui Cheng Scarlatti: Sonata in B Minor, K. 87 Chopin: Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60 Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 Bernstein: “America” from West Side Story (arr. Kurbatov)
Yedam Kim Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61 Prokofiev: Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 29 Mercury: Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov)
Mozart: Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448
Jiarui Cheng (China) selected one of the more introspective of the Scarlatti sonatas, emphasizing its lyrical quality. Continuing the thread, he did much to bring out the wistful melancholy in Chopin’s late gem, the Barcarolle. In Rachmaninov’s Corelli Variations, Cheng sculpted an individual character in each variation – an excellent performance. Kurbatov’s transcription of Bernstein’s “America” ended matters on a jovial note.
Yedam Kim (South Korea) opened with a mesmerizing account of Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantaisie – contemporaneous with the previously-heard Barcarolle – the composer’s crowning achievement in the polonaise form. A commanding performance of Prokofiev’s Fourth Sonata followed, with searching, unsettling material leading to a bright and brilliant finale. In the Queen original, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is something of a mini tone poem with its wealth of thematic material and operatic narrative and dramatic flow – qualities very much brought out in Kim’s performance, perhaps the most impressive of the Kurbatov transcriptions.
Session 3 July 31, 2021
Rafael Skorka Bernstein: “America” from West Side Story (arr. Kurbatov) Leighton: Fantasia Contrappuntistica, Op. 24 (“Homage to Bach”) (1956) Brahms: Sieben Fantasien, Op. 116
Martín García García Schubert: Wanderer-Fantasie in C Major, D. 760 Liszt: “Les cloches de Genève (Nocturne)” from Années de Pèlerinage I, S. 160 Liszt: Étude de Concert, S. 145, No. 2 (“Gnomenreigen”) Liszt: Transcendental Etude, S. 139, No. 10 Mercury: Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov)
Schubert: Fantasie in F Minor, D. 940
Rafael Skorka (Israel) had confident beginnings with a memorable account of Bernstein’s “America”. The most intriguing discovery during the semi-final round came in the shape of Kenneth Leighton’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica, a 1956 homage to Bach (and to Busoni, given the elder composer’s monumental work of the same title). A virtuosic opening gave way to a pensive chorale and a pair of fugues rounded off the work. Skorka deftly negotiated the contrapuntal intricacies to bring matters to a vigorous close. The pianist continued to make a strong showing in Brahms’ Fantasies, Op. 116, just as convincing in the lyrical selections (nos. 2, 4, and the touching chorale of no. 6) as the more extrovert ones, giving the first piece an energetic workout and reserving the most overt virtuosity for the seventh and final fantasy.
Martín García García (Spain) offered an arresting account of Schubert’s ingenious Wanderer-Fantasie. While his tone at times veered a bit too percussive for my taste, he did much to bring out a wide dynamic and dramatic contrast and a keen sense of the work’s large-scale architecture. An interesting selection of three Liszt pieces followed. Deft use of the pedal did much to bring out the sonorities of the titular bells in Les cloches de Genève while García conveyed much charm in the impish legerdemain of Gnomenreigen. The Transcendental Etude No. 10 was technically impressive, although I found myself longing for even more firepower.
Session 4 August 1, 2021
Byeol Kim C. Schumann: Notturno in F Major, Op. 6, No. 2 Schumann: Arabeske in C Major, Op. 18 Mendelssohn: Fantasie in F-sharp Minor, Op. 28 Mercury: Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov) Jalbert: Toccata (2001) Gottschalk: The Union, Op. 48
Lovre Marušić Scarlatti: Sonata in E Major, K. 380 Schumann: Kreisleriana, Op. 16 Mercury: Bohemian Rhapsody (arr. Kurbatov)
Mozart: Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448
Byeol Kim (South Korea) assembled the most diverse and wide-ranging semi-final program, beginning with music from both the Schumanns. Clara’s Notturno boasted a haunting, Chopinesque melody, a performance which should put Kim in the running for the Female Composer Prize, one of over a dozen special prizes being offered. A limpid account of Robert’s Arabeske followed, and Mendelssohn’s Fantasie in F sharp minor was given a passionate and dramatic performance. I really enjoyed the way Kim brought out the sweeping lyrical main theme in her take on the “Bohemian Rhapsody” transcription. Jalbert’s Toccata was a breathless study in perpetual motion, and Gottschalk’s Union, a wonderfully inventive cornucopia of Americana, put Kim’s searing virtuosity and vast dynamic range on full display. A clear audience favorite, she was the only one of the eight to receive a standing ovation.
Lovre Marušić (Croatia) began with a stately account of Scarlatti’s K380 sonata. Schumann’s extensive Kreisleriana followed. I felt Marušić’s reading would have been even more engaging with sharper contrasts between the wide range of expressions the work explores, but I certainly sensed the pianist becoming increasingly self-assured as the work progressed. Sunday’s session was a high note on which to conclude the semi-finals as we await the jury’s announcement of the four finalists, and the fine level of pianism we can expect from them in the subsequent chamber and concerto rounds.
Cleveland Orchestra
Franz Welser-Möst, conductor
Vinay Parameswaran, conductor
Lisa Wong, conductor
Iestyn Davies, countertenor
Paul Jacobs, organ
Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Severance Hall
Cleveland, OH
April 28, 2018
Gabrieli: Canzon per Sonar Septimi Toni No. 2, from Sacrae symphoniae
Gabrieli: Canzon per Sonar in Echo Duodecimi, from Sacrae symphoniae
Pärt: Magnificat
Gabrieli: O Magnum Mysterium, from Sacrae symphoniae
Kernis: “I Cannot Dance, O Lord”, No. 3 from Ecstatic Meditations
A. Gabrieli: Fantasia Allegra del duodecimo tono
Gabrieli: Omnes gentes plaudite manibus
Bach: Cantata No. 170: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170
Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam”
Encore:
Bach: Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 – Fugue
Saturday night marked the final program of The Cleveland Orchestra’s utterly remarkable festival exploring Tristan und Isolde and its incalculable influence. The notion of ecstasy served as a common thread in the festival’s programs, certainly in the opera itself, and even more explicitly in Messiaen’s Turangalîla. Saturday’s program explored ecstasy in music through a religious lens, serving a wonderfully diverse smorgasbord of works that spanned five centuries. The first half was comprised of seven brief selections, thoughtfully strung together as a continuous arc. After introducing the program, Welser-Möst didn’t return until after intermission, passing the baton to Vinay Parameswaran (assistant conductor of TCO and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra), and Lisa Wong, acting director of the Chorus.
Giovanni Gabrieli is often considered a veritable father figure in the realm of brass playing, writing extensively for brass ensembles that would be dispersed throughout the cavernous galleries at Venice’s Basilica di San Marco. Four of his works dating from the late 16th-century punctuated the first half, presented in arrangements for modern brass ensemble by Timothy Higgins, principal trombone of the San Francisco Symphony. In loose approximation of how the works would have performed at San Marco, two brass choirs were positioned at opposite ends of the stage. The Canzon per Sonar Septimi Toni No. 2 was a bright and festive opener, while Canzon per Sonar in Echo Duodecimi had a striking echo effect as suggested by the title with great intimacy of communication between players, even from across the stage.
Principal trumpet Michael Sachs switched the flugelhorn in O Magnum Mysterium, producing a timbre mellow and stentorian. Scored for the formidable forces of four choirs (two vocal, two brass) grounded by the organ as continuo, Omnes gentes plaudite manibus closed the first half in rousing fashion. The brass had a fine vocal quality – at the end unambiguously intoning the “Alleluja” – and were deftly balanced with the singers.
A varied assortment served as interludes between the Gabrieli, beginning with Arvo Pärt’s Magnificat for unaccompanied five-part chorus. Embodying the composer’s iconic tintinnabuli technique, the beauty of sound resonated as if frozen in time – and how well it fit alongside Gabrieli despite being displaced by several centuries. Aaron Jay Kernis’ “I Cannot Dance O Lord”, also scored a capella, offered a more jarring stylistic contrast (it being the program’s most contemporary work, composed in 1999). The choir was quite virtuosic with some colorful word-painting, very literally “whirling” at the close. Organist Paul Jacobs (a local favorite who appeared on this stage as recently as last November) was the standout of the evening, his first contribution taking the shape of the Fantasia Allegra for solo organ by Andrea Gabrieli – Giovanni’s uncle. A joyous and exultant affair, its contrapuntal intricacies were easily surmounted by the organist, a mere warm-up for what was to come.
The concert’s latter half took a rather different form in focusing on two lengthier works, beginning with Bach’s Cantata No. 170, engaging Welser-Möst, Jacobs, and countertenor Iestyn Davies. Welser-Möst imbued the opening aria with graceful, fluid gestures, and Davies offered a rounded and mellow tone, although at certain points I would have preferred crisper diction. The two recitatives (movements 2 and 4) were marked by organ obliggato, while prominent organ colored the central aria (Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen) as well. Here, Davies communicated deep melancholy and made an impressive showing in the melismas. Though concerned with sin, one couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of joy during the running sixteenths in organ of the concluding Mir ekelt mehr zu leben.
Bach’s Cantata No. 170: Iestyn Davies, Franz Welser-Möst, and Paul Jacobs with The Cleveland Orchestra
Jacobs was the sole performer on stage for the program’s remainder, devoted to Liszt’s daunting Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale “Ad nos, ad salutarem undam” from Meyerbeer’s Le prophète. An interesting work to include during a festival celebrating Wagner as Meyerbeer’s meteoric success in Paris – particularly with Le prophète – fueled much of the envious German composer’s antisemitism. The Fantasy and Fugue is one of Liszt’s crowning achievements; written contemporaneously with the Piano Sonata in B minor, it too shows absolute mastery of large-scale form. It opened with darkness and foreboding, the dissonances piling on top of one another, and emerged as a free-form fantasy of a vast range of moods and colors. A central slow section presented the most literal statement of Meyerbeer’s chorale which Liszt generally used only obliquely, and offered a meditative respite. Liszt left much of the dynamics and registration open to interpretation; at one point Jacobs opted for some bell-like sororities, striking and quite effective. A fiery transition led to the massive fugue, with contrapuntal complexities defying imagination, Jacobs unleashed a firestorm of startling virtuosity.
Miraculously, the indefatigable Jacobs was still up for an encore, clearly enjoying the magnificent instrument. He returned to Bach in the D major fugue (BWV 532), ending the evening on a markedly cheerier note.
Ádám György, piano
Reinberger Chamber Hall
Severance Hall
Cleveland, OH
October 16, 2017
György: Improvisations on Hungarian folk songs, themes by Ádám György, and themes by Keith Jarrett
Chopin: Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1
Chopin: Mazurka in C sharp minor, Op. 6 No. 2
Chopin: Mazurka in A minor, Op. 17 No. 4
Liszt: Rigoletto Paraphrase, S434
Liszt: La campanella, No. 3 from Grandes études de Paganini, S141
Liszt: St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots, No. 2 from Deux légendes, S175
Chopin: Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 31
Encore:
Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C sharp minor, S244/2
After seeing pianist Ádám György give a memorable performance of Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor at the 2017 American Liszt Society Festival this past spring, I have been eager to hear him in a full length recital. The opportunity for just that came Monday evening when the pianist stopped in Cleveland as part of a brief US recital tour, culminating in a Carnegie Hall performance this Sunday – which, by no coincidence, falls on Liszt’s birthday. The venue of choice was the intimate Rheinberger Chamber Hall at Severance Hall, an ideal setting for recitals and chamber music.
Ádám György, photo credit adamgyorgy.com
Introduced as a “diplomat for Hungarian culture abroad”, György boldly opened the program with one of his own compositions, a 20 minute set of improvisations on source material as disparate as Hungarian folk songs, themes by Keith Jarrett, and themes by the pianist himself. It began almost impressionistically, unfolding at a glacial pace and contrasting the extreme ends of the piano’s registers. The work favored a rhapsodic ebb and flow over a taut structural cohesion; while it may have consequently meandered at times, the juxtapositions of modal folk music and the jazz-inflected Jarrett melodies were given with a remarkable fluidity.
Chopin’s Nocturne in C minor, Op. 48 No. 1 followed attacca, offered as something of a pendant to the improvisations. Though perhaps a jarring interpretative choice, György’s reading of the nocturne left little to be desired. An ineffable melancholy characterized the primary theme which led to a stately chordal procession, and the concluding agitato section bordered on the ecstatic. Eschewing the standard concert practice of punctuating selections with stage exits, György remained at the keyboard for the duration, presenting the program in an unbroken arc. A pair of Chopin’s mazurkas followed, both contrasting wistfulness with a folksy charm and rhythmic snap.
Liszt’s Rigoletto Paraphrase is based on the famous quartet from the namesake Verdi opera, and under György’s hands the theme was presented with a delicate elegance, increasingly complex and ornamented. While one would have preferred a bit more clarity in some of the octave leaps and rapid scalar runs, the cascading octaves that concluded showed György’s virtuosity at its finest. La campanella was a tour de force of pianistic acrobatics, the repeated notes high in the treble sounding as bell-like as the title suggests. György sailed through the fearsome trills with apparent ease, and the work built to a thunderous coda. The final Liszt selection on the printed program was the second of the two Légendes, namely St. François de Paule marchant sur les flots. A work of deep religious introspection, the rocking waves depicted in the bass made this imposing piece the evening’s emotional climax.
György turned attention back to Chopin one final time in the Scherzo No. 2 in B flat minor, and this commanding performance was filled with passion and drama. The modest but enthusiastic audience was indulged with a substantial encore, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C sharp minor, to end the evening on a quintessentially Hungarian note and in a blaze of pianistic brilliance.
quasi-faust 