FULL MOON - a new CD in which Michael Tsalka and Diana Weston present Classical- and contemporary works on square piano and harpsichord

 

Diana Weston & Michael Tsalka (Diana Blom)

A new CD, one that will appeal to those interested in music for early keyboards is FULL MOON.  Diana Weston (Australia) and Michael Tsalka (Israel-China), perform works for duet/4 hands on square piano and harpsichord - music from the Classical period as well as three contemporary Australian works. 

 

The opening work is Sonata in A major for piano forte four hands Op.XVIII/5 by Johann Sebastian.Bach's 11th and youngest son, Johann Christian. Sometimes referred to as the "London Bach" due to his time spent living in the British capital, this Bach son is highly acclaimed for his keyboard works and credited as being the first to perform publicly in London on the fortepiano. Tsalka and Weston's reading of the work of 1781 (or earlier), and cast in the composer's favoured binary sonata format, highlights J.C.Bach's typically cantabile melodies. In the opening Allegretto, the artists give new colour to each small phrase even fleetingly visited in a new tonality, as they engage in dialogue and some splendid ornamentation. Here we meet the vivid, resonant timbral depth of the square, an instrument that was becoming prevalent in the homes of the well-heeled for domestic music-making. The artists' playing of the unpretentious second movement (Tempo di Minuetto) emerges precise and sincere.

 

Remaining in the same key and in the 4-hand setting, also played on the Robertson square piano (c.1835, Liverpool), we hear Sonata II in A major for four hands Op.32 by Czech composer Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739–1813) who, from around 1780, seems to have redirected his attention from large-scale instrumental music towards repertoire for the middle classes. Duets were a popular genre of house music, whether for recreation, musical soirées, didactic purposes (Wanhal was a highly respected teacher of voice, violin and piano among the Viennese nobility) or (via arrangements) for the familiarization of symphonic works. With its musical figures stated in a clear and self-referential manner, indeed, with freshness, the artists give a cheery, diligent rendering of the opening movement's theme and variations (Adagio alla Francese, Varazione alla Italiana), with no "minore" variation present to unsettle the prevailing sense of well-being. Offering variety and contrast, their playing of the Rondo alla Tedesca/Allegro gives the stage to its unadulterated joy, its folk-like dance melody and moments of whimsy. The square piano's forthright, slightly wild timbre invites the artists to engage in the joy of music-making and in the pianistic approach abounding in the work. 

 

And to another domestic piece for use among close friends. In 1799, Beethoven wrote a setting of Goethe’s "Ich denke dein" (I think of thee) and four variations for piano 4 hands for two pupils - the Countesses Therese and Josephine Brunsvik. In 1803, he added two more variations, publishing the song and variations in 1805. Singing the first stanza of this love song, we hear Angélica Minero Escobar. Then, following the warm-hearted instrumental theme itself, Weston and Tsalka connect and exchange ideas as they play out the agendas of those variations that are sunny and amiable and of those of a more searching and pensive nature. And here, there is indeed a "minore" variation, darker and more intense in colour, then to be chased away by the final variation, one brimming with the felicity and sunshine of the D major tonality. Indeed, this work and its tonality reflect an all-too-rare carefree, happy time in the composer's life. As to the possibility of a tender, underlying message in this charming, small piece, Beethoven’s affection for Josephine was expressed in a passionate letter later in his life. 

 

The disc includes two works by Australian composer Ann Carr-Boyd (b.1938), in whose oeuvre the harpsichord figures prominently. "Moonrise over Lake Argyle" (a commissioned work), here performed on square piano (Tsalka) and harpsichord (Weston), depicts nature scenes at Lake Argyle, a massive, man-made reservoir located in Western Australia. Carr-Boyd's own (penned) description of each of the scenes guides the listener through the seamless continuum, in which two seemingly incompatible keyboard instruments create captivating tableaus using modal-type diapasons. Via Carr-Boyd's integration of timbres and her accessible musical language, Weston and Tsalka engage the two instruments in conjuring up vivid musical images of birds, of darting fish, lapping water, the setting sun and the moon, that render this location inspiring, mysterious and magical.

 

Carr-Boyd's "Stairway to the Moon" (2019) exists in a number of settings, these including settings for piano solo, piano duet and for clarinet and piano. On this disc, we hear the arrangement for harpsichord (Tsalka) and square piano (Weston). Before hearing the work, the listener should be informed that the Stairway to the Moon is a natural phenomenon caused by the rising of a full moon reflected on the exposed mudflats in Roebuck Bay in Western Australia at low tide, creating an optical illusion of a stairway reaching up to the moon. People traveling to the region to observe the phenomenon wait at the Mangrove Hotel, where they are entertained by a jazz pianist on a honky tonk piano. Weston and Tsalka bring to life the work's bold and varied canvas, one alternating between the honky tonk pianist's devil-may-care delivery and a sense of awe and wonder at the rare, visual spectacle nature is offering. The composer's score also makes reference to the didgeridoo (in the bass) and the clap-stick. Indeed, in both these works, Carr-Boyd pays homage to the indigenous people of each region, their beliefs and rich cultural heritage.

 

We remain in the Antipodes. Born in New Zealand in 1947, composer/keyboard artist Diana Blom today makes her home in Sydney, Australia. Composed at the request of Diana Weston and Michael Tsalka, Blom's "Night Music" for two single-manual harpsichords takes artists and listener on a tonal-modal, tango-flavoured journey into the night. Forget about the tranquillity of night! Intense and loaded with unflagging energy, somewhat relieved temporarily in the more pared-down middle section, Blom's piece, with its references to bird- and animal sounds, comes across as spontaneous, entertaining and unpredictable, at times jocose. "Night Music" is performed on harpsichords by Marc Ducornet and Zuckermann. 

 

Dr. Weston and Prof. Tsalka have recorded and performed together for some years. Their teamwork is consummate. In "Full Moon", another of their interesting and unique projects, one is aware of the artists' interest in the wide and expanding range of repertoire for early keyboards. As to the history of early keyboard instruments in Australia, Diana Weston writes in the liner notes: "Australia, isolated as it was and lacking external entertainment, imported square pianos by the hundreds, (even surpassing that of Europe), so significant were the pianos as the central hub of the home and society generally." In fact, she told me that there was a tiny square piano on the Sirius, in the first fleet to Australia! 

 

Recorded at Naremburn, New South Wales, Australia in November 2023 for the Wirripang label, the disc's recording sound is genuine and lively. 

 

 

   

 

 

 

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Mozart in Prague - the Israel Camerata Jerusalem performs works of Zelenka, Mozart and Tzvi Avni. Conductor: Avner Biron; soloist: Juan Pérez Floristán

Tzvi Avni (tzviavni-composer.com)

 

Juan Pérez Floristán ©Yoel Levy

The Israel Camerata Jerusalem is currently celebrating its 40th anniversary. Taking place at the Tel Aviv Opera House on March 26th 2024, "Mozart in Prague", an event of the orchestra's InstruVocal Series, was conducted by its founder/musical director, Maestro Avner Biron. Soloist was Spanish pianist Juan Pérez Floristán, winner of the 2021 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition.

 

Setting the geographic scene was Concerto à 8 concertanti by Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745). Born in a market town southeast of Prague, Zelenka's career took him to the Dresden court of Friedrich Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, where he served as a double bass player and composer.  Primarily a vocal composer, Zelenka's instrumental works mostly date from around the time the composer was apprenticed to Johann Joseph Fux. The Camerata's reading of Concerto à 8 highlighted the composer's contrapuntal mastery and harmonic inventiveness (qualities admired by contemporaries J.S. Bach and G.P.Telemann!), the performance also offering interest and variety in the many solo passages and dialogues performed by orchestra members, to the delight of the audience.

 

Soloing in W.A.Mozart's Piano Concerto No.20 in D minor K.466, Juan Pérez Floristán (literally) joined the Camerata players in a performance to remember. One of only two Mozart concertos in a minor key (and the stormier of the two) Floristán addressed the darker, dramatic elements of the 1st movement (Allegro) with rigour and pathos rather than with furore. Added to that were much poignancy and luminosity, crisp fingerwork, unburdened pedalling and finely contrasted dynamics. As to the Beethoven cadenza Floristán chose for the 1st movement (Mozart left no cadenzas to the work), the pianist took the listener through a range of gestures, from the most intimate and delicate to full-on, rich piano textures. Both artist and orchestra lavished the 2nd movement (Romanza) with empathy, the soloist eloquently threading melodies through the weave. Floristán's playing of the stormier middle section emerged intense, the movement's closing feather-light ascending arpeggio then to fade away to a faint whisper. In the final movement, the soloist gave expression to its variety of moods, transitioning naturally from touch to touch and engaging in playful banter with the woodwinds as he addressed the shape of each tiny detail of the Mozart score. Choosing András Schiff's cadenza for the Rondo, Floristán captivated the listener with its variety, rich voice-play and grace. The concerto's first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11th 1785, with the composer as the soloist. In a letter to Nannerl (Mozart's sister), Leopold Mozart wrote of the event: "We had a new and very fine concerto by Wolfgang, which the copyist was still copying as we arrived, and the rondo that your brother did not even have time to play through, as he had to supervise the copying.” Although not performed on period instruments, the modest size of the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, together with Floristán's fine-spun handling of the text made for a personal and moving Mozart experience.

 

For his encore, Juan Pérez Floristán (b.1993) performed Debussy's "Girl with the Flaxen Hair", his rendering of the musical "portrait" discerningly paced, evocative and lush. 

 

Tzvi Avni (b.1927,Saarbrücken, Germany, in Israel since 1937) composed four string quartets over nearly sixty years; the most recent of them - "About These Days" (2021) - was first performed in Germany. At the request of Maestro Biran, Prof. Avni arranged the piece for string orchestra. This was the setting heard at the Tel Aviv concert. A single-movement work of no defined musical form, it gives expression to the anxiety pervading the general mood during the Corona pandemic. Opening with dense eighth- and sixteenth-note chords established in the two opening measures, the second, melody-based subject forms a strong contrast to it. There is no mistaking the dark, introspective message of the piece, with its plangent solos, its mood as relevant today as when it was  written. The Camerata string players gave a dedicated, affecting performance of the piece, its tension here and there giving way to freer-flowing passages, the work then drawing to an end on a major chord. The composer was present at the performance.

 

Reconnecting with the evening's theme, Maestro Biron and the Camerata players concluded the event with a substantial testimonial to the Bohemian connection. W.A.Mozart's music was all the rage in Prague at the end of 1786. Bringing Symphony No.38 in D major ("Prague") K.504 with him from Vienna, the composer travelled to Prague in early 1787, where it was to be premiered. Although not actually composed there, the lavish use of wind instruments in this symphony takes into account that the wind players of Bohemia were famed throughout Europe. With his symphonic style at its most sophisticated, the work also marks the beginning of a late period in Mozart’s symphonies, showing him pushing at the bounds of the symphonic form (there is no Minuet). Together with its darker moments, its complex counterpoint with a rich array of voices and the play of smaller instrumental groups as against larger, the Camerata performance left no doubts as to the references Mozart was making to his written- and not-yet-written operas.  A symphony for connoisseurs, K. 504 reflects the taste and discernment of the audience for which it was intended. Here, in Tel Aviv, energy and lyricism abounded, sparkling virtuosity, and humour, as did opportunities to enjoy the orchestra's fine wind playing. 

 

 

 

Maestro Avner Biron (Courtesy JAMD)

 

The 2024 Bach Festival (director: David Shemer) - interest, variety and excellence in Jerusalem and other centres

 

Maestro Paul Goodwin © Yoel Levy

Inclement weather was no deterrent to those people arriving at the Jerusalem International YMCA on March 18th 2024 to see in Bach Festival VIII, an annual festival under the auspices of the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra and directed by JBO founder and music director Prof. David Shemer. Guests were greeted with a glass of red wine and invited to take their seats to the familiar sounds of Prelude in C major from Book 1 of J.S.Bach's Well Tempered Clavier as played on the harpsichord by Jonathan Berk. JBO CEO Gilli Alon welcomed guests to the event, expressing her thanks to YMCA personnel for their help in the project. Her words were followed by Maestro Shemer, who talked of the Bach Festival as having started out as an experiment, then to be established as a permanent fixture in Israel's cultural life. He spoke of the main event of this year's festival - "Drums & Trumpets" - the Secular Cantatas - as featuring two of Bach's less-familiar cantatas, the works being played on period instruments…including early trumpets. Shemer made reference to the JBO's ongoing cooperation with the Bach House (Eisenach, Germany), whose director Dr. Jörg Hansen was present at the opening, once again bringing an exhibition relevant to the theme of the festival from this unique museum in the town of Bach's birth. Present at the Jerusalem Bach Festival for the seventh time, Dr. Hansen spoke of many of Bach's secular cantatas - all composed for weddings, birthdays, name days and funerals – being lost, with only about 25 of them surviving in their entirety. Hansen drew our attention to a display case showing books of poetry of Picander. (Christian Friedrich Henrici, writing under the pen name Picander, was a poet and librettist for many of the cantatas Johann Sebastian Bach composed in Leipzig.)  Performing on a copy of a Duicken harpsichord (Klop, 1983), Jonathan Berk brought the event to a close with a selection of Bach's chorale preludes (one version by Bach's pupil Johann Ludwig Krebs) and an early seldom-heard suite of the master. Berk is presently studying in Graz, Austria. Displaying technical competence, his playing unfolded with a sense of discovery, giving expression to the rich variety of writing found in the preludes, to their complexity and their potential for embellishment and cantabile playing. Both reflective and intense, Berk's delivery attested to the dialogue present between artist and instrument that is elemental to this repertoire.

 

What was most appealing about "Drums & Trumpets" - the Secular Cantatas, the main event of this Bach Festival (attended by this writer on March 20th at the Jerusalem International YMCA) was its distinctive programming. For each of the main festival programs over the years, the Jerusalem Bach Festival has featured several of the larger sacred works - the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, to mention just three - but this year's festival presented two of Bach's secular cantatas. Guest conductor was Paul Goodwin (UK), with soloists soprano Keren Motseri (Holland/Israel), countertenor Hamish McLarin (UK), tenor Richard Resch (Germany) and Israeli baritone Guy Pelc. However, the "apéritif" to the cantatas was a feature no less invigorating - a selection of instrumental movements from Bach's Easter Oratorio and from three of the cantatas. With Paul Goodwin at the helm, the JBO instrumentalists gave fresh and vivid expression to these pieces, delighting the audience with the music’s variety of mood and timbral interest, the latter enriched and enlivened by fine wind playing. As to the two cantatas, we unexpectedly found ourselves hearing music familiar to us from other Bach works. Bach the recycler was at it again. "Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!" (Resound, ye drums! Ring out, ye trumpets!) BWV 214 (Bach reused parts of this cantata a year later for the first- and third cantata of the Christmas Oratorio) was composed in 1733 for the birthday of Maria Josepha, Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony. Bach had led the Collegium Musicum in the first performance of it at Café Zimmermann in Leipzig that same year. The librettist is unknown. The text's interaction occurs between four allegorical goddesses from Roman- and Greek mythology: Bellona, a Roman goddess of war (Keren Motseri), Pallas, a Greek goddess of wisdom (Hamish McLarin), Irene, a Greek goddess of peace (Richard Resch), and Fama, a Roman goddess of fame (Guy Pelc). Joining them to sing the choruses were Naomi Burla-Levy, Doreen Sassine, Jamil Freij and Roi Witz. Although we today would not recognize the allusions and metaphors referring to the latent political program of the piece (indeed, obscure to anyone but its Saxon audience of 1733), the Bach Festival performance (both soloists and instrumentalists) gave a polished reading of it, bringing to life the musical gestures and verbal descriptions embedded in the text of this dramma per musica. 

 

Apart from the recitatives, "Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten" BWV 207a (Arise, blaring tones of high-spirited trumpets) is a parody on BWV 207, meaning that the original setting - a celebration of the inaugural lecture of a professor of law - was transformed by Bach into an exalted ode to Friedrich August II, praising the virtues of the Elector and referring to the ensuing prosperity of his subjects on the occasion of Friedrich August’s name day. The trumpets and timpani, scored here to add festive colour, energy and joy to the work, are present from the first line and the listener was quick to recognise Brandenburg Concerto No.1 in the opening chorus. With the customary references to ancient antiquity, August is honoured mainly in his capacity as Elector of Saxony, although reference is also made to his Polish kingdom in the final recitative. The performance's fine vocal soloing was met with no-less splendid obbligato playing on the part of JBO players.

 

Bach Festival VIII concluded with "Whom Have I in Heaven but You", an evening of northern German Baroque music, music of composers who had paved the way for Johann Sebastian Bach. Taking place in the agreeable Conference Hall of the Jerusalem YMCA on March 23rd, the event featured tenor Richard Resch (no new face to Israeli concert audiences), violinists Noam Schuss and Yulia Lurye, Sonia Navot (viola da gamba) and David Shemer (organ). Resch referred to this repertoire as music full of feelings - some darker, some brighter in mood - works expressing sadness, faith and hope. The event opened with a full-bodied, sonorous reading of "Herr, wenn ich nur Dich habe" (Whom have I in heaven but You?) from Cantata BuxWV38 of Dietrich Buxtehude. Resch spoke of the aria "Wein, ach wein" (Cry, oh cry), from a Passion by Danish-German organist/violinist/ composer Nicolaus Bruhns, as a piece expressing Peter's disconsolateness at having betrayed Jesus, as a piece embodying the "quintessence of sorrow". Joined by Shemer and Schuss, Resch performed it with profound feeling. Endorsing and reflecting the intense grief intrinsic to the piece, Schuss' eloquent playing gave rise to some splendid ornamenting. Johann Mattheson's oratorio "Der liebreiche und geduldige David" (The affectionate and patient David,1723) was recently rediscovered amongst works lost during World War II (now restored to Hamburg.)  It is set during the elderly King David’s civil war with his estranged son Absalom and climaxes with the king’s lament for his dead son. With organ and viol offering an intimate, reflective setting for the lament, Resch's performance of “Ach Absalom! Mein Sohn” (Oh Absalom! My son!), with its searching, disquieting short pauses, was imposing and heartrending. 

 

As to the instrumental items on the program, the players' diligent reading of two sonatas from Johann Heinrich Schmelzer's "Duodena Selectarum Sonatarum" (Nürnberg, 1659) re-created something of the experience offered to guests at a typical evening of entertainment held at the Habsburg Court. In this, the composer's first large chamber music collection, the viola da gamba is on a par with the violin. From the early 17th century, the Viennese court was under the spell of the Italian style. The Schmelzer sonatas show a wide variety of influences, though the Italian influence is the most apparent. They reflect an age of experimentation and compositional freedom. Similarly, the JBO players' expressive and finely sculpted playing of Sonata Secunda from "Sonatae a 2, 3, 4 e 5 stromenti da arco et altri" (Nürnberg, 1682) of Johann Rosenmüller clearly shows the influence of the years the composer spent in Venice. 

 

Ending on an optimistic note, the artists performed "Redet Untereinander" (Speak among Yourselves), a typical early 18th century North German cantata, composed by Gottfried Philipp Flor. It is thought that J.S.Bach was acquainted with compositions of his father, Christian Flor, during his stay as a student in Lüneburg and may have been influenced by them. Some sources quote Bach as having known the elder Flor personally. The artists took on board the vivid, celebratory canvas of this new year cantata, highlighting its marvellous string writing. Resch gave articulate, vigorous esprit to the text, with its richly descriptive passages. 

 

The YMCA Conference Hall was the ideal venue for this unique program, its lively acoustic calling attention to the timbres of the instruments, the instrumentalists’ splendid playing and to the fresh, warm, easeful flow, the natural resonance of Richard Resch's singing and his deep enquiry into the texts.  

Richard Resch (Martin Lee)

"Mendelsson's Birthday" - the Israel Chamber Orchestra in an all-Mendelssohn program in Tel Aviv. Conductor: Roberto Forés Veses. Guest pianists: Sivan Silver, Gil Garburg

Roberto Forés Veses (Courtesy ECO)

Gil Garburg, Sivan Silver (silvergarburg.com)

 

Seeing the Recanati Auditorium of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art packed to capacity on February 22nd 2024 was proof that the Israel Chamber Orchestra's all-Mendelssohn concert was of great appeal to the concert-going public and that "Mendelssohn's Birthday" (February 4th) was a celebration not to be missed. Conducting the ICO was Roberto Forés Veses (Spain-France). Guest artists were Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg (Israel-Germany, Silver-Garburg Piano Duo).

 

Felix Mendelssohn's one-act Singspiel "Heimkehr aus der Fremde" (1829) ("Son and Stranger" or "Return of the Roamer") might be considered "musica rara" by most audiences. The composer wrote the light opera (a comedy of mistaken identities) to be played at his parents' silver wedding anniversary celebration. The Tel Aviv concert opened with its Overture Op.89, the ICO's playing underscoring the piece's charm and wit with lush and expressive playing. Then, to more familiar repertoire.  In 1842, Mendelssohn was commissioned by the King of Prussia to provide incidental music for a production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Mendelssohn seems to have had no trouble in creating music depicting the world of fairies and human lovers. In a letter, his sister Fanny had written: “We have really grown up together with the 'Midsummer Night’s Dream' and Felix, in particular, has made it his own." Forés Veses and the ICO players performed two of the eleven pieces: the Intermezzo (between Acts II and III) lively, featherweight and restless, depicting Hermia's agitation as she searches for her lover Lysander lost in the wood. The Nocturne, describing Puck’s magical control over the befuddled quartet of lovers as they sleep in the forest, features one of Mendelssohn’s finest and most poignant horn solos (here, with a couple of "clams"), the horn sound evoking the warm serenity of a summer night. I always enjoy the fine, glowing quality of the ICO's wind players. With winds cardinal in Mendelssohn's instrumental music, the players' rich timbres were prominent throughout the concert.  

 

Mendelssohn was thirteen when the family left Germany to spend two years in Switzerland. There, Felix produced four string symphonies, a violin sonata, a piano quintet, the early C Minor Symphony, a double concerto for violin and piano and the two concertos for two pianos, the latter probably written with his sister and himself in mind. The first private performance of the E Major Concerto took place at one of the Sunday concerts taking place at the Mendelssohn house in Berlin. Written at age 14, it was regarded as immature by the budding composer. Hence, it was set aside and not published. Remaining in manuscript until 1961, the Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy issued a version substantially revised by Mendelssohn himself and edited by Karl-Heinz Köhler. At the ICO concert, Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg's handling of the piano roles - of the two pianos with each other and with the orchestra - highlighted Mendelssohn's astonishing creativity and flair, reminding the listener that the adolescent Mendelssohn was already the great melodist of the "Songs without Words", au courant with the German virtuoso piano school and on the verge of artistic maturity. In this sparkling, untroubled work, brimming with youthful vivacity, the composer skilfully weaves darker colours into the music to create contrasts, as heard in the delectable slow movement which was spelled out with warmth, elegance and grace. Altogether, Silver and Garburg engaged in spirited and imaginative interplay, the latter allowing for their individual personalities to shine through. They thrilled the audience with the dashing scales, arpeggios and fleet-footed figurations (albeit articulately enounced) in the final movement.  Add to these the ICO's sympathetic strings and delightful wind playing. For their encore, Silver and Garburg played the sprightly Scherzo from Mendelssohn’s own four-hand (one piano) transcription of the incidental music to "A Midsummer Night's Dream". 

 

In October 1830, Felix Mendelssohn travelled to Italy, remaining there for ten months. Impressions of the trip remain in a series of watercolours and sketches he produced, but also in Symphony No.4 in A major Op.90, "Italian". Apart from the final movement, the symphony is not Italian music as such; rather, it puts into sounds the composer's response to the congeniality of Mediterranean sunshine (Mendelssohn referred to the symphony as a “blue sky in A major”), to Italy's religious solemnity, monumental art and architecture and to the beauty of the Italian countryside. Roberto Forés Veses led the ICO instrumentalists through the work in all its luxuriance, grace and flavours, his uniquely definitive and elegant conducting language addressing the score's gestures and minutest details, summoning up the forthright joy and immediacy of the opening Allegro vivace, the wistful ambiance of the Andante con moto (recalling processions Mendelssohn had witnessed in Rome) and presenting a finely-shaped and supple reading of the Minuet (Con moto moderato). With the raucous Neapolitan saltarello as its basis, the final movement was a scene of joyful abandon, hurtling to a close with a minor-key reiteration of the first movement’s opening theme. 

 

Felix Mendelssohn died before reaching the age of 40. One can only speculate what musical riches were denied the world by so tragically early a demise. 

 

Pianist Daniel Gortler's recent recording of Edvard Grieg's "Lyric Pieces"

 

Edvard Grieg's "Lyric Pieces" for piano were written between 1867 and 1901, the sixty-six pieces published in ten books. Somewhat suggestive of Robert Schumann's piano cycles (but without their feverish intensity) they reflect Grieg's rich world of fantasy, of empathy and also the folk music of his native Norway. Indeed, Grieg has imbued these Romantic miniatures with an aura and pianistic approach that are uniquely his. American-Israeli pianist Daniel Gortler recently recorded a selection of the pieces, the line-up of which being of his own choosing and not conforming to the order in which they were written.

 

Gortler addresses the melodic shaping, the ample realm of changing harmonies and the essence of each musical vignette with insight and conviction. Enlisting his signature sensitive pianistic touch and whistle-clean finger dexterity, the artist probes the many mood pieces - "Arietta" Op.12/3, "Berceuse" Op.38/1, for example; they emerge lyrical, introspective, wistful and highly personal in character. In his reading of "Vanished Days" Op.57/1, Gortler's playing is rich in textural and emotional content, nostalgic and so very touching. Then there are pieces evoking the world of nature - the vivid, effervescent, many-directional movement of water in "Brooklet" Op. 62/4, the descriptive fluttering of tiny wings in "Butterfly" Op.43/1 ending in the blink of any eye,  little hops of the endearing "Little Bird" Op.43/4, the piece's quirky ornaments produced with meticulous precision. In "To the Spring", Gortler conveys Grieg's sense of wonder and joy inspired by the arrival of spring. As to items describing the day's end, Notturno Op.54/4, with its chromatic moments, reflects some waves of unrest, compared to the composer's sense of peace, tranquillity and intimacy in "Summer's Eve" Op.71/2. We are reminded of Grieg's folk heritage, here and there in  glimpses, but more specifically in "Norwegian Dance" Op.47/4, its drone and modal melody evoking the character of the early fiddle, and in the appealing simplicity of the "Peasant's Song". The whimsical "March of the Dwarfs" (Trolls), conjures up the boisterous imaginary inhabitants of the Jotunheimen mountains. Bristling with mischief, precise fingerwork and the effects of strategic timing, Gortler's performance of "Puck" Op.71/3 reminds us that the fairy world is not all goodness and generosity. (In Scandinavia, Puck is portrayed as a Norse demon, indeed, sometimes associated with the devil.) Not only did Schumann write a piano piece entitled "Gade", his third piano trio was also dedicated to Niels Wilhelm Gade, a close family friend. Grieg, in the "Lyric Pieces" pays tribute to the same Danish composer/conductor, who had been a major influence on him in his early years. "Gade" Op.57/2 is a light-hearted, spirited piece.

 

A true master of the miniature, Daniel Gortler captures the moods and characterization, the Nordic flavour, the fairytale magic, the nature scenes and, above all, the refined emotions expressed in the "Lyric Pieces" heard in this recording. Offering rich and subtle expression to Grieg's “poetic diary”, his playing is delicate, polished and transparent, inviting the composer's character and personality to shine through the content of each small, finely-formed musical sketch. 

 

Grieg "Lyric Pieces" (Prospero Classical) was recorded (2021, 2022) at the Jerusalem Music Centre on a Steinway grand piano. Daniel Gortler is a Steinway artist.

Daniel Gortler (www.schubertiade.co.il)

 

 

Tenor Daniel Johannsen in a new two-CD set of Schubert's "Die schöne Müllerin": CD1 with Christoph Hammer (fortepiano);CD2 in Tom Randle's setting for tenor and string quartet

 

 

At the beginning of the 19th century, the intelligentsia and the bourgeoisie of German-speaking countries were much occupied with their love of nature. Rising economic activity and growing wealth allowed for the leisure time necessary to enjoy their passion for the outdoors, for country walks and even for long journeys on foot. "Die schöne Müllerin" (The Fair Maid of the Mill) Op.2, D.795, Franz Schubert's setting of poems of Wilhelm Müller, celebrates the influence of nature on man's emotions, but with added dimensions of a storyline. The first of Schubert's two seminal song cycles (preceding the "Winterreise"), it is usually performed by a pianist and a solo singer, the vocal part falling within the range of the tenor (or soprano) voice. Transposed to a lower range, however, it can also be sung by other voices, a precedent established by Schubert himself.  Actually, Müller's first large-scale poem cycle originated from a literary parlour game taking place in 1816, where the poet joined friends at the home of a German privy councillor to create a "Liederspiel" (a narrative play told in poetry and song), the subject of which was the folk story of a false-hearted miller maiden moving between various suitors. Müller eventually completed the cycle of poems, combining the roles of gardener and miller into a single character and telling the entire story from the miller's point of view. Schubert came across the poems in late 1822. Wishing to create songs on a grand emotional scope, the composer was drawn to this cycle; it occupied him much in 1823. Publishing "Die schöne Müllerin" D.795 in Vienna in August 1824, Franz Schubert chose twenty of the poems, creating one of the first song cycles in music history. Sadly, Müller, who had claimed that his poems "lead but half a life, a paper existence of black-and-white, until music breathes life into them ..."  probably died unaware of the fact that Schubert had put this poem cycle to music.

 

In Schubert's time, the singer would have been joined by a fortepianist. In this 2-disc recording for the hänssler Classic label (2023), the first disc presents Austrian tenor Daniel Johannsen performing the song cycle with fortepianist Christoph Hammer (Germany). In the second disc, we hear Johannsen singing "Die schöne Müllerin" with the Alinde Quartett (2022) in a groundbreaking setting by renowned US-born composer/conductor/tenor Tom Randle 

 

With much focus on the music of Schubert, Johannsen and Hammer have collaborated frequently, both in live performance and in recordings. Their reading of "Die schöne Müllerin" addresses each and every aspect of the cycle as the narrative thread unfolds - the miller's naivety, expressed with artfully-stylised folksiness, outbursts of ecstatic exuberance of love, together with the deep tragedy of the events which unfold in their full intensity. The two artists conjointly highlight the sheer beauty of Schubert's melodic shaping, the composer's economic but striking use of dissonances and the constant duality reflected in rapid changes between major and minor. Nature, in all its splendour, emerges fresh and enticing as it reflects the miller's emotional state throughout. Hammer's playing is buoyant and articulate as he and Johannsen communicate hand-in-glove at each turn of phrase of the Müller text, with the murmuring brook and the turning of the mill wheel the most constant and symbolic backdrop elements to the diegesis. Playing on an original fortepiano by Conrad Graf, Hammer displays its warmth of sound, the delicacy and emotional and dramatic variety offered by this instrument and of his own musical palette. Instead of bowing to restraint (a quality so often attributed to the fortepiano), Hammer invites the instrument's capacity for expressive freedom and considerable carrying power to serve the music and words. With the direct action of the small hammers on the strings and the natural decay in the mechanism, there is space between the notes, rendering clarity of delivery. Johannsen, engaging his wonderfully distinct diction and meticulously-defined phrasing, unveils the gestures and meaning of each song, his richness and radiance of timbre, his fine vocal and interpretational skills giving expression to the emotions and meaning (camouflaged and otherwise) present in each song. The result of superb teamwork, Johannsen and Hammer's performance is precise in detail and subtle, indeed, a convincing, gripping and moving interpretation.

 

And to the Tom Randle setting. Remaining faithful to Schubert's text and concept, Randle underscores key words and creates fine contrasts between intimate, jubilant and vehement moments. Translating the fuller, more dramatic keyboard textures into the string quartet medium, Randle adds extra melodic lines, "comments" and some doubling. There is much delicacy and beauty both in the setting and in the Alinde Quartett's superbly eloquent, attentive playing. Daniel Johannsen relates- and reacts to the string players and to Randle's spectrum of references. The adaptation is profound and it is indeed very Schubert. I personally missed the fortepiano textures when it came to certain associations, especially those of the mechanical, pounding mill-wheels and the burbling brook, keyboard timbres so intrinsic and unique to the work. Still, Randle's transcription is refined, intelligent and aesthetically appealing. It asks to be listened to again and again.

 

Recorded in Grafrath (CD 1) and Ratingen (CD 2), Germany, the sound quality is lush and convincing.

Tom Randle@tomrandle

Christoph Hammer (kulturhaus.lu)