Edvard Grieg: Piano Music Vol. 2

The prolific piano works of the master composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) have been issued by the Naxos label in many volumes recorded by Einar Steen-Nøkleberg at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo with this August 1993 session yielding 70 minutes of works based on folk music traditions in the composer's home country.

There was great interest among many European composers in utilizing these resources, with Antonin Dvokrak and Bedrich Smetana particularly coming to mind with their work with Czech folk music, just as one prominent example, and this is a reflection of a growing nationalism arising in that part of the world, including the unification of such countries as Germany and Italy, not to mention the increasing desire of the Polish people to reestablish their nation.

Grieg tended to be best known for his "small form" work as opposed to larger-scale piano sonatas and concertos or orchestral works and the liner notes intriguingly quote from his letters regarding his popularity with audiences, but also the difficult reviews from critics.  The notes also point out the melodic bases for Norwegian folk music and the emphasis on harmony and rhythm which makes the composer's music particularly distinctive and appealing.  

In fact, it is remarked that Grieg was especially insistent regarding the importance of rhythm in works that were influenced by his country's dance traditions, while it was also noted that "harmony is at the heart of his work" with the master writing "the realm of harmony, has always been my dream world" and that there was a mystery to the tie between his sense of harmony and the folk songs that inspired him.  There are more than 45 such pieces and dances on this record, including two improvisations based on them nd two shorter works, as well.

It is said that his work was not particularly technically challenging, but that his compositions were very widely played and enjoyed, despite the lack of critical acclaim.  It is easy to hear why with this album, which is beautifully played and recorded, and is especially enjoyable in these challenging and difficult times.

Alexander Scriabin: Mazurkas (Complete)

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was one of the many remarkable Russian musicians and composers of the late 19th and early 20th century, creating, as the empire was in rapid decline and revolution in the near future, some of the greatest music of the era.  He was the son of a pianist and became a virtuoso on the instrument receiving, just barely past his teens, the Gold Medal, the highest honor of the famed Moscow Conservatory.

Later, he taught at the institution for several years before leaving to focus solely on writing and performing, including spending six years in western Europe and touring America in 1906.  He became fascinated by mystic teachings and abandoned religion to delve deeply into esoteric philosophy.  While Scriabin wrote a few symphonies, a pair of tone poems and some other pieces, he is best know for composing more than 200 works for the piano.

He wrote 23 mazurkas, the name coming from a fast-tempo Polish folk dance genre, and these date from 1888 to 1903 and these are redolent with beautiful melodies, strong emotion and, even as the liner notes that the young composer was under the spell of Frederic Chopin and Robert Schumann, it adds that there is a distinctive characteristic of "poetic improvisation, full of magic and charm" and that, as the pieces became more complex and with greater feeling and atmosphere, Scriabin demonstrated the marks of a mature creator.

The pianist for this 1995 recording issued four years later by Naxos is Beatrice Long, a Taiwanese artist who teaches at the Brooklyn Conservatory for the campus there of the City University of New York, and her excellent playing is beautifully recorded.  Her rendering of these amazing short pieces has lately been a tonic for tense and troubled times and anyone seeking such a balm could benefit from listening to this excellent recording.

Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 2 & 3

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was a rare combination of renowned pianist, conductor and  composer who may have been the last of the major "romantics" in Russia before he fled his homeland after the fall of the czarist regime and the onset of the Soviet Union.

This release by China's Yedang Entertainment Company pairs the amazing second and third piano concertos of Rachmaninov and from recordings decades apart.  The concertos are landmarks in the form that amaze and awe with their impeccable melodies and remarkable harmonic structures.  These performances, at least to this amateur's ear, are excellent and display great sensitivity to the material.

The second concerto came after the young Rachmaninov suffered a terrible psychological trauma when his first sympony, premiered in St. Petersburg in 1897 was a chaotic failure.  Seeking treatment from a neurologist, who used autosuggestion to get the composer to approach his next project with more confidence.  The result was the second piano concerto, which the liner notes, suggest "isa fully integrated work that reveals the composer's authentic idiom."  The dedication to Dr. Nikolai Dahl, the piece, the author of the notes, "was ever so richly merited."

The piece is full of soaring, majestic and stately melodies that are achingly beautiful and affirming, redolent of the composer's hero, Tchaikovsky, especially in the first two movements, while the final movement brings in some powerful and intense dymanics with the orchestra amidst moments of introspection.  Recorded in earely 1959 by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kurt Sanderline, and featuring the amazing playing of soloist Sviatoslav Richter, the performance is spellbinding.

The third concerto appeared in late 1909 with the pianist debuting the work in New York with a repeat performance a couple months later at Carnegie Hall under the direction of the great Gustav Mahler, whose rigorous rehearsing and attention to detail highly impressed Rachmaninov.  The composer worked frantically to prepare the work before his American concert tour and it was said that, after the ink dried and he heade by boat for New York, he was "practicing the solo part during the sea voyage on a silent keyboard for fear of disturbing his fellow passengers."

There were some issues, however.  As scored, the piece was long for the form (even though conductor Mahler was known for massive, impossibly long symphonies at the time) and Rachmaninov shaved off some ten minutes, or about a quarter of the work, to fit the programming mandates of the era.  Critics were also put off by the complexity of the piece, which quickly became known as a technically daunting work for pianists to take on.

In the February 1991 performance, on the heels of perestroika and glasnost and as the USSR neared collapse,Viktoria Postnikova plays with great sensitivity, handling the work with great power and aplomb, and the support of the doncuting of the USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra by her husband Gennady Rozhdestvensky, is also stunning.

Even the untrained can hear how demanding playing the piano parts must have been, but it is also the orchestration that can be very challenging with shifting rhythms and remarkable uses of counterpoint.  There is, too, a stunning balance between softer, quieter passages and the more volatile and emotive elements that make this work stand out.  Restored to its full length, it is a powerful, rich and uplifting experience that shows Rachmaninov at his full power as a composer.

Would this have been possible without the turmoil of the first symphony and the valuable work done by Dr. Dahl?

Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1-3

Idil Biret, the Turkish pianist who masterfully performs the three piano sonatas by Chopin in this 1991 Naxos release, has recorded prolifically for the label including complete works by Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninoff, much of which this blogger owns and greatly enjoys,

Her technique and sensitivity to the material is obvious, even to a true amateur listener such as this blogger, though the fact that the emotional expression in her work comes through so that it can be felt by anyone who pays due attention is testament to her remarkable abilities.

Biret, a native of Turkey, studied from a young age and learned under the legendary Nadia Boulanger in Paris, becoming a soloist in major concert halls from the age of 16.  Her work with Chopin led her to receive Poland's highest civilian honor, the Cross of the Order of Merit as well as a Grand Prix du Disque Frédéric Chopin award for her complete recordings of the composer.

The best known of the three sonatas presented here is, of course, the second, known as "The Funeral March" of 1837 with its very familiar dirge theme, but the third sonata from 1844 is excellent. The first, completed in 1828, when Chopin was still in his teens, was not published until after his death and may be seen as a student's experiment, albeit of a student of a genius level.

As stated in the notes and elsewhere, Chopin's music was not the bombastic, concert hall ready type exemplified by his flashy contemporary, Franz Liszt.  It was more nuanced and was very delicate and elegant and, as Ulrich Spratte states in the notes, was "in the more refined ambiance of the fashionable salon" rather than the grand hall.

In the hands of a peerless interpreter like Biret, this gorgeous music is given its fullest expression.  Biret and Naxos proved to have had a remarkable and rare partnership in presenting music like this that is a fantastic experience to hear.

Györgi Ligeti: Works for Piano, Vol. 3

This amazing recording features the first two books of Ligeti's Etudes for Piano, representing later work from the 1980s and onward, the Musica Ricercata from the early 1950s, and a brief etude from 1995 and the third etude book.

It is an illustration of Ligeti's penchant for building upon a traditional form with a highly personalized modern style, as well as the phenomenal playing of Pierre-Laurent Aimard.  There is a great deal of complexity in tempos, range, expressiveness and power in these works, especially the etudes, and in the hands of Aimard, the pieces are staggering in their conception and execution.  As a Sony Classical production, the sound is also top-notch and heard on headphones, the album is more exceptional from the standpoint of the clarity.

It is also illustrative to read Ligeti's notes about why he composed etudes:

The initial impetus was, above all, my own inadequate piano technique. . .I would love to be a fabulous pianist!  I know a lot about nuances of attack, phrasing, rubato, formal structure.  And I absolutely love to play piano, but only for myself . . . that's what I would like to achieve: the transformation of inadequacy into professionalism.  I lay my ten fingers on the keyboard and imagine music.  My fingers copy this mental image as I press the keys, but this copy is inexact: a feedback emerges between idea and tactile/motor execution . . . the result sounds completely different from my initial conceptions: the anatomical reality of my hands and the configuration of the piano keyboard have transformed my imaginary constructs . . . I call for support upon the four great composers who thought pianistically: Scarlatti, Chopin, Schumann, and Debussy.

Ligeti also highlights the polyphony employed in ensemble playing in Africa, specifically Uganda, Malawi and other nations and the playing of the mbira (highlighted here before) and other similar instruments that bear a relation to the piano.  Colin Nancarrow, another major modern composer, and the jazz pianists Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans are also mentioned as influences when it comes to the uniqueness of the playing and writing of each.

He also briefly discusses the Musica Ricercata as devolving from his devotion to twelve-tone music as well as his appreciation for Bartok and Stravinsky, noting that that the first of the eleven pieces has two tones transposed through octaves and then each adds another tone, so that the final has all twelve.  As Ligeti states, the suite comprises

A severe, almost noble piece, hovering between academic orthodoxy and deep reflection: between gravity and caricature.

To go from the later etudes back to the early twelve-tone work is to see how much a composer can evolve over the course of a long, fruitful career.  For an amateur seeking a greater appreciation for the range of works for the highly expressive piano, this album was a real eye-opener.

Enrique Granados and Isaac Albéniz: Spanish Piano Music, Vol. 1

The English Nimbus label has released many excellent world music (especially Indian) and classical recordings over the decades.  This 4-disc set of the piano music of the eminent Spanish composers Enrique Granados and Issac Albeniz is a top-notch recording that not only presents the works for which both are principally knows, Granados' Goyescas and Albéniz' Iberia, but other pieces representative of the two men.

The composers were contemporaries, who were born and died seven years apart, and they studies from the same musicologist, Felipe Pedrell, who inspired the men to embrace the idea of a particularly Spanish music. 

Albeniz was from a small town in the northeastern part of Spain, not far from the French border, among Basque country.  He was a child prodigy, taught by a sister, who made his concert debut in Barcelona at five years of age.  Though he passed the entrance exam to the conservatory at Paris, he was denied admission because he was considered too young.  Like Mozart, to whom he was compared, he was then shepherded by his father around Spain for performances with his sister.  After studying in Madrid, he went to Leipzig and Brussels and contemplated studying with Franz Liszt, but his plan never materialized.  Later, he lived and worked in London, though his interest in promoting a Spanish national music led him to his masterwork.

Albéniz composed, between 1905 and 1909, his Iberia suite of four books reflecting his impressions of the Spanish peninsula, with most of the focus on the Andalucía region.  A fishing village, a town overlooking a famed gorge and a suburb of Seville are impressionistic subjects in the first book.  The second reflects concepts derived from observing gypsies in Granada, an Andalucian dance, people in a tavern near Seville, architectural splendor in the Andalucía region and, in the only instance of a non-Andalucian subject matter, a neighborhood in Madrid.  Just after finishing the work, Albeniz, who had Bright's disease, succumbed to liver disease a few days prior to this 49th birthday.

In addition to Iberia, this set contains his Suite Española, the España "souvenirs", a tango, and other works, including two unfinished pieces, Navarra (intended for Iberia) and Azulejos, which were completed by pianist Martin Jones for this recording.

Granados, a Catalonian who was raised in Barcelona, was best known initially as a pianist with highly-regarded improvisational skills, though his first published work, the Danzas Españolas brought him attention as did an opera, María del Carmen.

The composer based his Goyescas on the work of the famed painter Francisco de Goya and was completed in the early 1910s.  Notably, the composer was asked to adapt the music for an opera, which was completed in 1914, just as World War I erupted.  Finally, two years later a performance was held in New York and it was well received to the extent that President Woodrow Wilson invited Granados to a White House reception.  Delaying his return to Europe for the honor, Granados and his wife were on the ferry, the S.S. Sussex in the English Channel when the ship was hit by a German torpedo and partially destroyed.  Granados, who was 48, made it on to a lifeboat, but his wife Amparo struggled in the ocean and the composer dove in the water to save his wife, but both drowned.

Other works by Granados included in the set are a reverie, transcribed by Jones from a piano roll recording of the composer that was made the year he died; a set of Escenas Románticas (romantic scenes), and an Allegro de concierto.

There is a great deal of romantic feeling and emotion in these beautiful pieces, along with a high degree of technical precision, and Jones, who recorded the works over several sessions between late 1995 and Spring 1998, is excellent throughout.  He has recorded many, many albums for Nimbus, including the complete works of such composers as Mendelssohn, Debussy (part of which was featured here), Brahms, and Stravinsky.  The recording quality is clear, crisp and rich and the set is a real treat, especially for an amateur who knew little of Granados and Albéniz and their work.

Claude Debussy: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 3: Preludes, Books 1 and 2

This recording, the third of a series of five discs issued by the British Nimbus label in 1998, features the two books of preludes, totaling two dozen pieces, created by the great French composer in 1909-10 and 1912-13.

Although inspired generally, it is said, by the exceptional series of 24 preludes by Frederic Chopin, these works don't bear much resemblance structurally to those classic piano works, which were progressions in key signatures.  Rather, Debussy was motivated by a variety of source material, from a statue in the Louvre museum to a line from poet Charles Baudelaire to a label from a bottle of Italian wine to a reminiscence of days spent by Debussy in Eastbourne, England.

The composer did not take kindly to being labeled "impressionistic" in his style of writing, with the liners by Roy Howat noting that Debussy was interesting in "'something different'—in a sense, realities" though these could be seen as part of a mystery, a natural splendor, a spiritual grandeur that reflects in the emotive, dynamic and shifting elements of his music, in which it is easy to see why "imbeciles" (as he called them) would apply the label "impressionistic" rather than "realistic."

Notably, the composer wrote in 1911, between the production of the two prelude books, that "the noise of the dea, the curve of the horizon, the wind in the leaves, the cry of a bird; all leave impressions [bold added for emphasis] on us."  Howat suggests that Debussy's fascination with musically reflecting environmental aspects was a reality for him, because of an alienation from "an everyday world with which he never quite came to terms."  This, in fact, is not a surprising judgment, given the position of artists of all types, who often develop a "reality" that seems fantastic to others.

In any case, these two dozen pieces do show a range of atmospheres and stylistic variation that show that Debussy was both reflecting tradition while working with a modern palette of sounds and concepts, with unusual scales and the use of chromatic, rather than tonal, elements employing new chordal approaches in his music.  The preludes bring out contemplation, excitement, mystery, playfulness, experimentation, and many other feelings and ideas in a way that is simply unique to the composer.

During the time he was working on the first book of preludes, Debussy learned he had rectal cancer and, as his condition worsened, he underwent an early form of colostomy surgery.  The disease progressed, though, and the composer died of it in Spring 1918.  He was buried in Paris amidst a furious round of bombing by the Germans as the First World War ground to a close.  This aspect lends, perhaps, a further interesting meaning to the debate about musical "reality" as opposed to "impressionism."  Whatever labels are applied to Debussy's music, his unerring instinct for new ways of creative expression and experimentalism are noteworthy throughout his career and the preludes exemplify this.

Martin Jones, a celebrated British pianist whose work for Nimbus includes recordings of all the Felix Mendelssohn piano pieces and those of Spanish composers like Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz, as well as Johannes Brahms, Percy Grainger and Carl Czerny, among others, plays beautifully and sensitively.