Garrick Ohlsson plays Liszt

BACH Fantasy and Fugue for Organ in G Minor, BWV 542; (transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt, S. 463)
LISZT Fantasy and Fugue for Organ on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" (after Giacomo Meyerbeer), S. 259; (transcribed for piano by Ferruccio Busoni)
LISZT Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173
LISZT Étude No. 5, “Feux follets,” from Études d’exécution transcendante, S. 139
LISZT Valse oubliée, S. 215, No. 1
LISZT Nuages gris, S. 199
LISZT Mephisto Waltz No. 1 (Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke), S. 514

I was eager to hear more of Garrick Ohlsson after his performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic last week, and so yesterday afternoon I attended his recital at Carnegie Hall featuring works by Franz Liszt. Ohlsson replaced Maurizio Pollini who was scheduled to perform but cancelled because of illness.

The program opened with piano transcriptions of two organ compositions. Liszt wrote Fantasy and Fugue for Organ on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" in 1850, which Busoni transcribed for piano in 1897. The work was structured in three parts: fantasy, adagio, and fugue. Liszt transcribed Bach's Fantasy and Fugue for Organ in G Minor in 1869, several years after he had retired from concert performances. Ohlsson displayed formidable technique in the denser passages of both pieces as well as ardent lyricism in the Bach fugue and the Busoni adagio.

The second half of the concert featured a sampling of shorter works that spanned Liszt's career. Liszt composed Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude in 1834 when he was 23 years old. As the title suggests, Bénédiction featured a sublimely beautiful theme with softly undulating notes that suggested an encounter with the divine.

Liszt wrote Étude No. 5 at the age of 15. It's a bright, glittering piece that showed his precocious talents at that age. The next two works, on the other hand, were composed during Liszt's later years. Valse oubliée conveyed a certain restless melancholy, brimming with wistful atmosphere, and Nuages gris was a slow quiet piece with a darker cast, almost like a longing for death.

Ohlsson saved Mephisto Waltz No. 1 for last and delivered it with great bravado.

The encore, a short work in A-flat Major from Klavierstück (which Liszt wrote 1865, if I heard Ohlsson correctly), had a lovely autumnal air and was a bit more introspective than most of the preceding works.

Liszt, born in 1811, was a contemporary of Schumann and Chopin and so this recital was a wonderful follow up to last Wednesday's concert with Richard Goode. Two programs featuring works from the Romantic period by two great pianists, both in the same week. What more can you ask for, indeed.

Batiashvili and Neikrug at the Philharmonic

New York Philharmonic
Conductor: Alan Gilbert
Violin: Lisa Batiashvili

Program:
Hector Berlioz, Le Corsaire Overture (1844)
Marc Neikrug, Concerto for Orchestra (World Premiere)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, K. 216, Strassburg (1775)
Claude Debussy, La Mer (1905)

The picture above was the view from my third tier box seat at the New York Philharmonic last night.

The program began with a rollicking account of the Le Corsaire overture by Berlioz, followed by the premiere of Neikrug's Concerto for Orchestra. I didn't know what to expect with this new piece since I wasn't able to find any original compositions by Neikrug on Youtube. From the online program notes:

When Alan Gilbert was at Vail with the Philharmonic a couple of summers ago, and Marc Neikrug was Composer in Residence at the Vail Music Festival, they began to discuss the possibility of a commission. The composer thought possibly a wind concerto, but Alan Gilbert said that’s not what he had in mind; he wanted something “with more flash”…something a little more “sparkly.” Neikrug suggested that a concerto for orchestra might fill the bill. Traditional concertos for orchestra (by Bartók, Lutoslawski, for example) tend to highlight sections of the orchestra as virtuoso entities, but rarely pick out individual instruments or players, the way a solo concerto would. By contrast, the present work will build the concerto from multiple layers to show off the Philharmonic: the brilliance of the entire orchestra playing together; sections of the orchestra (e.g., strings, winds, percussion); smaller groups of musicians (a trio of strings, for example); as well as individual players.

The concerto turned out to be a rather serious piece with a percussive opening in the first movement, followed by a scherzo with winds sounding vaguely like Stravinsky, and then an adagio for strings, evoking Mahler. The finale was quite grand and impressive and involved the entire orchestra.

On my first hearing, it was hard to tell what Neikrug sought to achieve with this score other than providing a virtuosic showpiece for the Philharmonic. But I did like it a lot, especially its brooding atmosphere and interplay of harmonies and dissonances. My only crits were that the concerto could perhaps benefit from improved precision among the strings and more concise phrasing towards the climax.

Batiashvili gave a radiant and emotionally charged account of Mozart's third violin concerto, which can sometimes seem chirpy and simplistic in lesser hands. Her tone was sumptuous throughout the piece and her candenzas had a noble beauty.

Gilbert likewise provided a sensuous reading of La Mer, perhaps a bit short on mystery but he did move this piece along with dynamic cadences that kept my interest from flagging. I began to understand why Sviatoslav Richter once called it "a piece that I rank alongside the St. Matthew Passion and the Ring cycle as one of my favorite works."

All in all, a great program. Next week: Mahler's Sixth.

Richard Goode at Carnegie Hall

SCHUMANN
Kinderszenen, Op. 15
Kreisleriana, Op. 16

CHOPIN 
Nocturne in E-flat Major, Op. 55, No. 2
Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39
Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 64, No. 3
Waltz in C-sharp Minor, Op. 64, No. 2
Waltz in F Major, Op. 34, No. 3
Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47

Last night pianist Richard Goode presented a program of solo piano pieces by Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin at Carnegie Hall.

Schumann and Chopin were both born in 1810 and went on to become two of the great masters of the Romantic era. Surprisingly, they had little contact with each other and moved in different circles (Schumann was based in Leipzig whereas Chopin lived in Paris). Schumann was primarily influenced by Beethoven; Chopin revered Bach and Mozart. This concert was a great opportunity to hear both composers side by side.

In 1838, Schumann composed Kinderszenen and Kreisleriana as short character studies for the solo piano. The thirteen sections of Kinderszenen were inspired by Schumann's reminisces of childhood. Goode played them with a suitably nostalgic and wistful air, and his Traumerei (Dreaming) was gorgeous, especially in the final measures.

Kreisleriana, inspired by a character from E. T. A. Hoffmann, has a greater emotional range with eight sections ranging from tempestuous to introspective. And yet Goode reigned in any showiness and instead delivered the essential character of each movement with deep thoughtfulness and clarity.

In the second half of the program, Goode evoked 19th century Paris with Chopin. His sound was silken and otherwordly, particularly in the waltzes, amd the final ballade was a showpiece of glittering virtuosity.

Goode played three encores: Chopin's Mazurka in C Major, Op. 24, No. 2, Beethoven's Scherzo from Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major, Op. 31, No. 3, and Leoš Janáček's On the Overgrown Path, Book I.

I enjoyed Goode's understated yet profoundly sensitive style and am looking forward to hearing him again next season.

Affordable Art Fair

Affordable Art Fair
Address: 7 West 34th Street (near 5th Avenue), NewYork, NY
Hours: 11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Tickets: $12 ($10 with student ID)


website

Today was the last day of the Spring Edition of the Affordable Art Fair in New York City. While there was a wide range in quality, I thought it was an interesting show and found many hidden gems. In contrast with more prestigious art fairs like Art Basel Miami, the dealers were quite friendly and the prices were indeed affordable (and negotiable). Here are a few of my discoveries:

Jinchul Kim
Fraser Gallery

Nigel Cox
Quantum Contemporary Art

Tadeusz Biernot
Engine Gallery

Rieko Fujinami
Website

Daniel Ochoa

Julie Nester Gallery

Nguyen Quang Huy
Art Vietnam Gallery

I'll definitely go again in the fall. I might even save up to buy a work or two....

Garrick Ohlsson plays Mozart

Last night the New York Philharmonic presented Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 (1777) and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 (1888) with pianist Garrick Ohlsson and conductor Herbert Blomstedt.

Mozart wrote the concerto at the age of 21 for Louise Victoire Jenamy whose last name perhaps accounts for the nickname Jeunehomme.  Even though many consider it to be Mozart's first masterpiece, this work is rather hard to find in concert programs (the Philharmonic last played it in 1997). It is also Mozart's longest concerto for piano.

Ohlsson played with bright, lapidary style with judicious pedalling and ornamentation. His forthright tone and complete lack of sentimentality, even in the Andantino, somehow threw the concerto's melancholy undercurrents into sharp relief and even made them heartbreaking. He gave a ravishing account, one that will stay with me for a long time.

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 is more frequently performed and Blomstedt, now 84, kept the piece fresh, immediate, and exciting. He even managed to prevent endless repetition of the "Fate" theme from becoming exasperating, which is a miracle of sorts. The second and third movements were especially fine.

The program will be repeated tonight and on Saturday.

Two debuts at the Philharmonic

Last night the New York Philharmonic presented Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 with pianist Yuja Wang and conductor Jaap van Zweden in their subscription debuts.

The concert has been reviewed extensively and very positively. I have nothing much to add besides agreeing that both pieces were played exceptionally well, with great flourish and somewhat manic tempi. Wang's encore last night Chopin's Valse Op. 64 No. 2 in C Sharp Minor. The running notes in the second theme were absolutely breathtaking.

While I left the concert more wowed than moved, I'm looking forward to hearing more of Wang and van Zweden in the future.

Die Walküre

Conductor: Fabio Luisi
Brünnhilde: Deborah Voigt
Sieglinde: Eva-Maria Westbroek
Fricka: Stephanie Blythe
Siegmund: Stuart Skelton
Wotan: Bryn Terfel
Hunding: Hans-Peter König

The Metropolitan Opera presented Richard Wagner's Die Walküre on Friday night. I had seen the new Robert Lepage production last year so I wasn't planning on seeing it again this season. But a few days ago, while browsing the Met website, my fingers started clicking uncontrollably, completely against my will, and before I knew it I bought myself a ticket.

I enjoyed last year's performance with James Levine as well as the controversial set which consisted of oscillating planks and digital projections. It was all very striking and creative while staying true to Wagner's stage directions.

I still loved the set on my second viewing though a video glitch momentarily projected the Microsoft logo during one of my favorite scenes, Brünnhilde's War es so schmählich, was ich verbrach (where she begs for Wotan's mercy in Act 3, not completely ruined but the Met should seriously consider switching to Mac). Thankfully the planks moved on cue and the whirring, clanking noises were also less noticeable. The final image of Brünnhilde in a reverse crucifixion of sorts amidst flames, suggesting Wotan's aerial view of the mountaintop, was as amazing as ever.

As a Wagnerian conductor, Luisi is not yet in the same league as Levine but nevertheless led a forceful account of the score with faster tempi and incisive phrasing (albeit with occasionally ragged playing among the horns).  While his preludes to all three acts were thrilling and he eloquently conveyed the nuances of the more intimate scenes, he somehow lacked the grandeur and architectural form of his predecessor. In Luisi's own words:

We can play Wagner’s music as music. You can take all of this ‘pan-Germanic’ pathos out of these operas, drop this very slow and heavy pace and find the music there, which is Wagner’s great gift. You can bring out the intensity in this music, but also its flow. I think that by making the orchestra and the audience listen to some of the subtleties that are so much a part of Wagner, I can help actually push things forward and we can free ourselves from this bad and wrong tradition, this myth of the superior sound of the German orchestras. It’s not true and it’s not real. These so-called traditions come only from the 1920s and ’30s. These great composers came from the 18th and 19th and early 20th centuries!

Voigt, Westbroek, and Terfel were as good as ever, each bringing a palpable humanity to their roles, but it was Blythe who once again electrified the audience as Fricka. In her short Act 2 scene she dispelled any doubts as to who wore the pants in Valhalla.

Skelton was a credible Siegmund though a bit one dimensional in terms of acting and vocal expressiveness. His Winterstürme was lovely but not as deeply affecting as the renditions by Jonas Kaufmann last year and Placido Domingo in previous seasons. Same with König - he has great booming voice but came across a bit teddy bearish as Hunding.

Die Walküre has to be my favorite opera in the Ring cycle. The five-plus hours went by quickly with Luisi's pacing and even the extended monologues sounded like Homeric poetry rather than the usual "Oh God, they're repeating themselves again..." By the end I was wondering whether I should see it one more time with Katarina Dalayman as Brünnhilde, but perhaps that would be overkill. Or maybe not? I should definitely stay away from the Met website though.