Beethoven
in February (Pizarro, Aimard/Harnoncourt, Reid
- &
Schnabel)
Live at St John's, Smith Square/
Royal Festival Hall/ Blackheath Halls
CDs: LINN
CKD 209 & Teldec Classics 0927 47334-2; +
Schnabel Vol.4 on Naxos Historical 8.110756Naxos
Historical 8.110693 & 8.110756
Beethoven's
piano music appeared in various guises this month, live and on CD.
Artur Pizarro, the Leeds first prizewinner in 1990, is a
pianist to whose playing I have had disconcertingly mixed responses
since then. To anticipate his complete
sonatas cycle at St John's Smith Square, he gave us a CD calling
card, recordings of the ever-popular Moonlight, Tempest, Pathetique
and Appassionata Sonatas played on a specially selected warm-toned Blüthner,
'more nimble and transparent' than a normal 20th grand. This offered
him 'something different, ridiculously expressive, and old-fashioned'.
I was swept along, captivated
at first hearing by its élan, even though some speeds
were questionable and too fast to allow much detailed articulation
or thought along the way.
But Artur Pizarro's
launch of his Beethoven piano sonatas cycle, all 8 recitals being
recorded by Radio 3, was disappointing after high expectations had
been raised by his new CD.
At his first appearance at St John's,
on a standard Steinway, he seemed to take little account of the
uniqueness of each of the early sonatas he chose for this auspicious
event (op.2/1, 13, 14/2 & 22), nor did some of his extreme speeds
and pedalling allow for the acoustics there, not-easy for piano
(I listened in three different parts of the hall).
The magic did
not materialise. A piano recital cycle is a hazardous enterprise,
the solo pianist alone and vulnerable at all stages from score to
brain, memory and fingers and possible imponderables on the night.
I have previously found Pizarro a strangely
uneven pianist, and on this evening his playing sounded untidy
and unengaged.
St John's is
a famously good broadcasting and recording venue, but listening
to the piano there can be problematic. From front non-keyboard side
(often the best for sound) the tone sounded harsh and uncomfortably
loud in Beethoven's first sonata, and even slightly distorted in
a mysterious way. Elsewhere in the hall, the general tone quality
was acceptable, but clarity was submerged by over-pedalling.
The
series runs throughout the year, with all being broadcast on Radio
3, and maybe listeners at home will find themselves favoured - there
is an
illuminating interview with Arturo Pizarro about the project
on the BBC website. It will be interesting to discover as the cycle
develops whether Pizarro grows in confidence with familiarity with
the venue and the instrument.
Pierre-Laurent
Aimard was persuaded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt to perform
and record the Beethoven concertos and forsake temporarily his preference
to 'do something useful - - for music not found in the catalogues,
especially of our own time'. Both are musicians to make you think
anew about whatever they perform. Harnoncourt transforms a modern
orchestra by introducing period style and timbres, and his live
performances recorded in Graz June 2001-2002 are as fresh as new
paint, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe revelling in their collaboration
with these two keen musical minds, both approaching these famous
works 'as if they were waiting to be discovered, with freshness
and an absence of preconceived notions', the piano integrated into
the orchestra rather than 'primarily serving
the soloist's ego'.
Definitely a 'must buy' release, even if you
have several contending versions already.
Less persuasive
was the third concerto live at RFH, with LPO/Ingo Metzmacher.
I suspect a disproportionate amount of rehearsal time went to preparing
a powerful account of Shostakovich's bleak and uncompromising 4th
Symphony, and the accompaniment to the Beethoven Concerto No 3 was
no more than routine. Aimard had shone in his true colours earlier
in the month with the LSO in a coruscating account of Messiaen's
Oiseaux Exotiques, and the world premiere of a new major work for
solo piano composed for him in 2001, George Benjamin's 15 mins Shadowlines;
a continuous sequence of six movements derived from Benjamin's individual
treatment of the canon, that underlying constructive principle sometimes
elusive at first hearing. Always absorbing, and compelling as played
by its dedicatee, Shadowlines demands rehearing - a second performance
during the same concert would have been more rewarding than a new
work by Jonathan Cole which was quickly forgotten, and a sight of
the score to grasp its sectional structure might be helpful.
Finally a recital
which drew only a score of people to Blackheath Halls, with its
convivial 'salon' atmosphere (tables, and drinks from the bar encouraged).
A BBC
Young Musicians finalist, Helen Reid has developed into a
thoughtful pianist who had exactly the measure of the Bösendorfer,
the Recital Room's acoustics recently improved with a curtain behind
the platform. Irresistible, a piano recital programme which began
with Beethoven's delectable Op 126 Bagatelles, and its second half
with the gentle Op 17 Mazurkas of Chopin. These were given with
utmost sensitivity and attention to detail, comparable with accounts
by the most prestigious of famous pianists. Only at the end, in
Chopin's Fantasie Op 49, was there a little slackening of
concentration; I am sure she has played it better and will do so
again, perhaps with the staccato march section first time at a steadier
tempo? Cecilia McDowall's three short pieces grew from passages
in Monteverdi's Vespers, Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty
and Scott Joplin's Solace, and made a good recital item in
an idiom which would not put off people who don't think they like
modern music. The centre piece of the recital was the challenging
Black Mass sonata of Scriabin (1872-1915), formerly a rarity
(the composer was superstitious and afraid to play it; c.f. The
Scriabin Webring: - The Ninth Sonata, op. 68, Scriabin's
Black Mass, was absolutely frightening - . Helen Reid's commanding
performance showed that she is fully equal to the pianistic and
intellectual demands of advanced modern music of any period.
CD RECOMMENDATIONS
***
Beethoven Moonlight, Tempest, Pathetique and Appassionata Sonatas
(Artur Pizarro) LINN CKD 209
*****
Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 1-5 (Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Chamber
Orchestra of Europe/Nikolaus Harnoncourt)
Teldec Classics 0927 47334-2
****
BEETHOVEN Piano Sonatas Vol.4: Schnabel
Naxos Historical 8.110756 etc
Do
not overlook the magisterial Schnabel recordings, remastered
and now being re-released on Naxos Historical at £4.99 - you
can listen
to them on the Naxos website.
I
am enjoying these immensely, bringing back memories of youth and
playing them on 78s at school in the '40s, changing
sides after each movement. It is not clear whether
Schnabel
played Steinways? If so, his pianos sound to have a lighter touch
than more modern ones? The restrictions of recording in the '30s
have a paradoxical advantage, focussing attention on the essence
of the music itself, rather than the wonders of state-of-the-art
recording of today. You quickly forget the background noise, and
may well feel that these accounts from 1932-34 leave little for
younger generations of pianists to add? They are benchmark performances
which put in
perspective most
newcomers who feel an urge to perpetuate 'their Beethoven'.
Peter
Grahame Woolf
|