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| Tami Kanazawa,Yuval Admony (courtesy K-A Duo) |
One of the many international events
celebrating 250 years of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth, “A Piano Duo's
Perspective on Beethoven: From Grosse Fugue to Tailor's Patch”, was an event of
the Webinar Mini Winter Series of the Tel Hai International Piano Master Classes
(Israel). Taking place on January 10th 2021, the lecture-concert’s
live-streaming production presented Beethoven’s four-hand setting of the Great
Fugue, Saint-Saens’ Variations on a Theme by Beethoven and Two (of four)
Variations on a Waltz by Diabelli Waltz, the latter composed and played by
Yuval Admony. The first two works were performed by Tel Hai faculty members duo
pianists Tami Kanazawa and Yuval Admony, with Admony’s talk sharing their
experiences of playing the works, offering information on them and discussing
each of the pieces from the perspective of duo pianists. Welcoming viewers,
several being Tel Hai International Piano Master Classes alumni and
introducing the event and artists was Tel Hai alumna and staff member Didel
Bish.
Talking of Beethoven’s
Great Fugue, a work dating from the final months of the composer’s life, Yuval
Admony spoke of the piano score, missing for over a century and important in
its inclusion of Beethoven’s editing markings, as having been rediscovered in a
Philadelphia archive. Sold for one million English pounds at Sotheby's
auction house in New York, the purchaser then generously donated the
hand-written score to the Juilliard School of Music. Originally composed for
string quartet (Op.130), the Great Fugue was so dissonant and advanced in its
innovations that critics of the time found it unfathomable; indeed, it was only
in the 20th century that critics began to read into its meaning, recognizing it
as one of the composer’s greatest achievements. Admony finds it incredible to
think that Beethoven, by then totally deaf, was able to hear all the fugue’s
sounds in his head, to look far ahead into the future and compose music that he
himself would never have heard. Referring to Beethoven’s 4-hand piano setting (Op.134),
Admony feels that this version “might have a thing or two to add to the
original quartet setting”, bringing out its percussive effects and in its many
roles, themes and voices colliding and mixing in a bubbling mix. Visually, he
feels it might be easier for listeners to focus on two performers playing on
one instrument rather than following four players, with the “shocking” effect
of pouring all the material into one blend being more condensed in the former.
Admony adds that the work presents a challenge to both players and the
listeners. He proceeds by giving an analysis of the work, after which we view a
performance of the Grosse Fuge by the Kanazawa-Admony Piano Duo, filmed in 2009
at St. James Piccadilly Church, London for the Beethoven Piano Society of
Europe. Charged and impactful, yet controlled, articulate and intelligent, the
artists’ reading of the Grosse Fuge presents the work’s complexity and
multi-layering, its multifaceted canvas of stark-, at times dancelike-, at
others, frenetic moments, its flashes of optimism, also moments of silken
tranquillity, the latter giving the impression of an eternity. Kanazawa and
Admony‘s playing also brings out how naturally pianistic Op.134 is, with its
many sweeping, billowing trills, for example. They unveil the psychological,
physical, and spiritual states inherent in the piece, endorsing Stravinsky’s
referral to it in the 1960s as “an absolutely contemporary piece of music that
will be contemporary forever”.
Yuval Admony continued
with discussion of how composers approach the writing of variations to subjects
borrowed from other composers, referring to this practice as a warm
appreciation of the composer quoted. Camille Saint-Saëns’ Variations on a Theme
of Beethoven Opus 35 (1874) takes its subject from the trio of the third
movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata in E-flat, Op. 31, No. 3. We listened to
Daniel Barenboim playing the theme from the sonata; marked “moderato grazioso”,
Barenboim’s rendition was reflective, despite the trio’s minor outbursts.
Admony comments that Saint-Saëns, on the other hand, identifies with the
theme’s potential playfulness and that he creates a piece both light in touch,
of carefree character, also with touches of humour, its funeral march indeed emerging winsome rather than bleak. At one stage, Saint-Saëns resorts to turning
the theme upside down. The fugue, Admony adds, can also be regarded as a
tribute to Beethoven by Saint-Saëns. Viewing Kanazawa and Admony’s performance
of the variations, filmed at the Casals Hall, Tokyo in 2000, one becomes
acutely aware of the artists’ highly streamlined teamwork, as they pass
gestures back and forth in an entertaining play of delicacy, lushness and delight,
colouring their playing with the piano’s rich palette of colours and textures. Engaging in
subtlety of touch and timing, the work’s lively and technically demanding
course emerges with precision, as in the rapid alternating chords between the
two pianos. The duo's playing is as exciting and experiential to watch as it is to
hear.
In 1994, concluding
his master’s thesis on Beethoven’s “33 Variations on a Waltz by A. Diabelli”,
Yuval Admony thought it might be an interesting idea to write some variations
of his own. The fact that Beethoven had dismissed Diabelli’s theme as a
“tailor's patch” (Schusterflecken) raises the question of the criteria
for writing a theme suited to variations. Admony summarizes the ideal kind of theme as having a clear shape, usable, identifiable motifs, both
harmonically and melodically, and easily followable harmonic progressions,
continuing that Diabelli’s theme ticks all the boxes, the proof of which being
that 50 composers have used Diabelli’s theme on which to write variations. We
heard tastes from those of Liszt, Schubert, Czerny and Hummel. Using this
theme, Admony himself has composed four variations for piano (two hands), two
of which we heard, performed by him with consummate artistry - “Diabelli’s
Lament” (Variation II) melancholy in its chromaticism, pensive and
imaginative in character and “Last Dance” (Variation IV) a tone poem floating on delectable, featherweight textures. Both pieces are Romantic in approach. I was left curious to hear the
other two variations, referred to by Admony as “more technical and pianistic”.
Yuval Admony is the
author of a recently-published book - "Musical Fun - Thoroughly
Done", 4-hands teacher-pupil pieces, all addressing basic aspects of
music theory and including fables and illustrations.
The Webinar Mini
Winter Series event concluded with Tami Kanazawa and Yuval Admony responding to
questions and comments of viewers.
