Concert Review: A Stream of Knots and Crosses

Andrew Rudin celebrates his 80th birthday at Bargemusic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Andew Rudin with the Moog synthesizer and at his current workstation.
The composer turned 80 last night and celebrated with a birthday concert at Bargemusic.

The composer Andrew Rudin celebrated his birthday on Thursday night, with an intimate concert of his  works at Bargemusic. Mr. Rudin, a pioneer in who wrote the first large-scale work for the Moog synthesizer, is now 80 years old. The program focused exclusively on piano and chamber works for acoustic instruments.

2018-19 Season Preview: A Matter of Taste

The venerable Carnegie Hall has a different flavor this season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The muses dance in an early program book for Carnegie Hall.
Image from the Carnegie Hall Archives.

The announcement of Carnegie Hall's mammoth season schedule is always an occasion for celebration. This year's press conference, held upstairs in the Resnick Education Wing introduced an unorthodox slate for next year. The new schedule has programming from familiar orchestras and ensembles but one gets the sense that, like '16-'17, that this is an experimental season trying to push the venue in some bold new directions.

Concert Review: Swimming Against the Tide of Protest

The Mariinsky Orchestra (with protestors) returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen 

A sea of notes: Valery Gergiev (left) and Denis Matsuev at play.
Photo by Denis Matsuev © 2016 personal collection of the artist. 

A visit from Valery Gergiev is always an occasion for celebration...and for protest. The conductor and his Mariinsky Orchestra were met at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday by applause inside the historic venue, while the sidewalk outside the lobby filled with placard-carrying citizens, objecting the close ties between Mr. Gergiev and Vladimir Putin, the current president of the Russian Federation. However, there were no politics inside the great hall this night, only a program of 20th century Russian music.

Concert Review: An Orchestra of Ten

Marc-André Hamelin returns to Carnegie Hall. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marc-André Hamelin and his orchestra.
Photo by Canetty Clarke © 2017 Hyperion Records.

The Canadian-born Boston-based pianist Marc-André Hamelin is not the biggest star to play his instrument. He doesn’t gyrate on his bench, flail his arms or wear short skirts that scandalize traditionalists. No. On Wednesday night, he came to Carnegie Hall, programmed unbelievably difficult stuff, and then blew the audience through the back wall of Stern Auditorium.

The sad part is, this hallowed venue was only half full to hear a musician of this caliber.

Concert Review: The Odd Couple

Dorothea Röschmann and Mitsuko Uchida at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pianist Mitsuko Uchida (left) and soprano Dorothea Röschmann.
Original photo of Dorothea Roschmann  © Sony Classical. Photo of Ms. Uchida by Justin Pumfrey © Universal Music Group.
Photo alteration by the author because it's nice to have them in the same picture.

Every once in a while in this business you get to see something unique. That happened on Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, when soprano Dorothea Röschmann gave a lieder recital accompanied by a world-class pianist: Mitsuko Uchida. It is unusual to hear an internationally known virtuoso and a regular touring visitor to Carnegie Hall with a vast repertory in the role of accompanist, but the pairing proved inspired.  The evening, a stop on the artists' current North American tour, featured art songs by Robert Schumann and Alban Berg, in a concert that made the cavernous Stern Auditorium seem intimate and warm despite the crowd in attendance.

Concert Review: Blocks, Points and High Explosives

The Piano Music of Pierre Boulez at Zankel Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich played Pierre Boulez' piano works
on Monday night at Zankel Hall. Photo by Neda Navae © 2015 ECM Records.

There are many words that can be used to describe Pierre Boulez. Composer, innovator, iconoclast, maverick, visionary all come immediately to mind following Monday night's recital at Zankel Hall. At this concert, pianists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich had agreed to perform the difficult feat of playing the composer's complete repertory for solo piano as part of their current North American tour.

Concert Review: Everest, Part One

Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays The Well Tempered Clavier, Book I
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard.
Photo by Felix Broede for Deutsche Grammophon/UMG.

If the modern piano recital can be equated to the climbing of mountains, then Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier (Clavier simply means "keyboard") represents one of the steepest, highest and most dangerous slopes of all. For Pierre-Laurent Aimard, the iconoclastic French pianist whose mentors included Pierre Boulez, Thursday night's performance of Book I of this massive keyboard work at Carnegie Hall was the equivalent of a climb up Everest--without oxygen or Sherpa guides.

The Superconductor Interview: A Taste for Complexity

A pianist in motion: Marc-André Hamelin.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marc-André Hamelin.
Photo by Sim Cannety Clarke © 2014 Hemsing Associates.

Among piano virtuosos, Marc-André Hamelin stands apart. The Canadian pianist and composer is known for his relentless exploration of the most challenging repertory of the instrument, bringing "lost" composers from the 19th century back into the public eye.

In New York to make his first subscription appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Hamelin graciously agreed to an interview while hurtling through the steel canyons of Manhattan in the back of a taxi. In these concerts, he is playing Cesar Franck's Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra a work that used to be frequently heard but is now regarded as an antique.

Concert Review: The Keys to the Kingdom

Marc-André Hamelin returns to Zankel Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marc-André Hamelin. Photo by Sim Canetty Clark for Colbert Artists Management.

Any recital by Marc-André Hamelin in New York City is greeted with eager, one would say even fevered anticipation by piano aficionados. Mr. Hamelin may not have the international fame of Yevgeni Kissin or Lang Lang. He has been invited (yet) to join Metallica onstage. But this artist has something more than virtuosity. He has musicianship--and a willingness to explore the difficult corners of the piano catalogue where other artists so often fear to tread.

Concert Review: There Still Ain't Nothing Like a Dame

Mitsuko Uchida returns to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Mitsuko Uchida. Photo © Decca Classics/Universal Music Group.

It's almost unfair to write a "review" of a pianist like Mitsuko Uchida. The Japanese-born, Vienna-educated Dame Commander of the British Empire brings a unique expertise and musical understanding of whatever material she programs, combining a bold musical imagination with a bold technique and a smooth, slightly dry legato that has made her an international superstar.

Cataclysmic Concerts: The Best of 2012

The year in concerts, recitals and chamber music.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Some say the world will end with fire. But this didn't actually happen either.
Image from The Day After Tomorrow © 2004 Centropolis Entertainment/20th Century Fox. 

With the exception of a certain often-mentioned iPhone alarm (that disrupted a Jan. 11 concert by the New York Philharmonic) there weren't too many in-concert disasters in 2012.  Or maybe I spent the whole year going to the wrong performances?

Here is a "dozen sampler" of shows that stood out in 2012, from avant-garde chamber works to a unique walk in a freezing cold garden of song. This is  part of our ongoing Year in Reviews series here on Superconductor. 

Berlin Philharmonic: The "completed" Bruckner Ninth at Carnegie Hall.

"The questions asked by the descending opening theme of the first movement are answered by a dissonant, raging theme from the trumpets and horns. The whole is expressed in a gigantic double fugue over a thick texture of strings. Sir Simon Ratle and his orchestra poured themselves into this music."

San Francisco Symphony: American Mavericks

"Michael Tilson Thomas chopped fruits and vegetables, preparing a smoothie with the blender. He added a banana, and tasted it again. Eventually, he added some blocks and stones to the piano, playing tonal clusters on the strings. (Later, another musician tried the smoothie.)"

aron quartett at the Austrian Cultural Forum

"The aron quartett played the four movements with grit and earnest, with long melodic lines that unfolded from instrument to instrument. Plucked, scraped notes alternated with winding themes tossed from player to player in a performance that made a good case for more New York performances of Erich Zeisl's catalogue."

Concert Review: The Human Touch

Pierre-Laurent Aimard in recital at Carnegie Hall
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Piano man: Pierre Laurent-Aimard and friend.
Image © 2012 Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon. 

Go to enough piano recitals and you learn that the major artists working today on the concert circuit differ themselves by touch: the sound made from the particular combination of muscle movements in depressing the key of a black Steinway. Thursday night's Carnegie Hall recital, featuring French soloist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, was all about touch, with major works by Debussy and Schumann flanking a more modern composition by Heinz Holliger.

The performance opened with the second book of Preludes by Debussy. Before Debussy, a cycle of Preludes was the composer's opportunity to show his command of tonal organization, usually starting at the "home" key of C Major and moving around the different tonalities to create a homogeneous set of works that illustrated different colors of the instrument.

Debussy's Preludes break the mold, starting with the bitonal Brouillardsand engaging in a series of fascinating tone poems. Mr. Aimard shifted gears continuously, from the habañera rhythms of La Puerta del Vino to the hopping, deliberately awkward rhythms of General Levine. Ondine provided contrast again in its bold, swelling arpeggios, played with liquid ease and careful pedal-work.

The Superconductor Interview: Shai Wosner

The recitalist and recording artist talks Schubert.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Shai Wosner makes his Mostly Mozart debut on Aug. 10.
Photo from ShaiWosner.com

"Schubert is one of the composers I feel closest to." The speaker is Israeli pianist Shai Wosner. The Onyx Records artist and New York resident is scheduled to make his Mostly Mozart debut on August 10th as part of Lincoln Center's A Little Night Music series.

"It's not any particular piece--it's sort of his work in general I feel strongly about. It's his sensitivity--it's very right for our time especially these days."

He talks about the major work he is performing at the Lincoln Center program: the A Major sonata written at the end of Schubert's short life. "I try to see the way a work is structured and how its structure affects the smaller elements like melody, harmony and rhythm. The A Major sonata is not so much different from other pieces in that I try to go into it at is own pace. Some pieces have their own conception of time."

"First of all, everything today is so hyper-connected and super-fast," he explains. "Not that Schubert's music is slow. But his sense of time, what Schumann called the "heavenly lengths" has the ability to slow things down. And that's something we can all treasure today."

A Milestone Reached

Half a Million Readers Can't be Wrong!
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Richard Wagner, grown taller and rocking the gold lamé suit. 

Sometime last night, the page-view counter on Superconductor ticked over the 500,000 mark. I want to thank all of the artists I've written about, the press agents who have made it possible for me to see so many performances and the record labels for providing me with stuff to write about.

I'd like to thank my colleagues: newspaper critics, book authors and fellow bloggers for camaraderie and encouragement through yet another serving of the Tchaikovsky Fifth.

I'd like to thank the advertisers too, with a polite reminder that advertising rates are available. (Hey, it's a business!)

Above all, though, I'd like to thank you readers for coming to Superconductor and staying with the blog for so many articles--especially when I went off my head and decided to make this a daily (or as I like to call it, an almost-daily publication.

I hope you continue to enjoy reading Superconductor. Here's some nice music:

Sir Georg Solti conducts Die Walküre. Unreleased recording from 1983.

Raindrops in Outer Space

Chopin's Prelude in D features in Ridley Scott's Prometheus.

Renaissance android: David (Michael Fassbender) enjoys Chopin in Prometheus.
Image from Prometheus directed by Ridley Scott © 2012 20th Century Fox/Scott Free/Dune Entertainment.

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, and I took a much-needed break from the heat and hustle to see Prometheus, Ridley Scott's new science fiction opus, a prequel to the British filmmaker's first smash hit, Alien.

Alien is one of my favorite horror films of all time, a chill-inducing re-take on the sci-fi classic The Thing from Another World. It is basically a creature flick with an eight-foot-tall bio-mechanical monster stalking and killing crewmen aboard an atmospheric, dark space-ship. Prometheus is more cerebral, an H.P. Lovecraft-inspired quest for the origins of life on Earth that--you guessed it--leads to crew members being horribly killed in all sorts of inventive ways.

Among the flickering lights, black goo, alien technology and tentacles that one expects from this franchise, there was a small musical pleasure: Chopin's Prelude in D minor, the Raindrop. The pianist is Philip Howard.

Concert Review: Seasonal Migrations, Daily Variations

An evening of piano variations at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul Pelkonen

The fierce concentration of Emanuel Ax. Photo © 2011 Newton Classics.

On Thursday night, the pianist Emanuel Ax gave an unusual program at Carnegie Hall, focused exclusively on the art of the piano variation. Mr. Ax chose works by Copland, Haydn, Beethoven and Schumann to look at the idea of theme and variations from different historical perspectives.

The concert opened with Copland's 1930 Piano Variations. Built from a series of dissonant intervaled chords, Copland's composition is a long way from his later, audience-friendly styles. Mr. Ax produced open chords that hung, slab-like in the air, alternating with difficult descending intervals as he explored the unique sound-world of this piece.

The Haydn Variations in F minor were cut from a more genteel cloth, a slow, sad Andante that stands in contrast to this composer's penchant for breezy melody. A second, major-key theme provided contrast, with Mr. Ax navigating the alternating keys with a firm hand and a sense of melodic flow.

Concert Review: Beethoven for Conversation

Steven Isserlis and Robert Levin play the Cello Sonatas

by Paul Pelkonen

Beethoven at his fortepiano. Note the lack of pedals.

Within the vast catalogue of works written by Ludwig van Beethoven, the five Sonatas for Cello and Piano are relatively obscure: chamber pieces written for salon performances and various musicians and patrons the composer encountered in his career.

On Saturday night at the 92nd Street Y, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Robert Levin shone light on these lesser-known works. Contributing to the unique nature of these performances was Mr. Levin's choice to play fortepiano, an older style of keyboard instrumet with a shallower wooden frame and no pedals. The instrument, built by Paul McNulty, is modeled after an 1805 fortepiano, a spindly creation that looks more suited to a furniture museum than the concert stage.

The concert opened with a set of variations based on "Bei Mannern," the Act I duet from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte. These were played with engaging warmth as the softer sounds of the fortepiano intersected perfectly with the cello's imitation of the human voice. The variations range from light and playful to slow and serious. Beethoven's interest in the humanist message of the text allowed him to alternate between the solemnity of a humanist message and the playful first interaction between Pamina and Papageno.

Concert Review: The Substitute Virtuoso

Louis Lortie in recital at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul Pelkonen

The pianist Louis Lortie. Photo by Elias.

A few weeks ago, Carnegie Hall subscribers were informed that pianist Maurizio Pollini had cancelled his planned New York recitals for this season for "health reasons." This the second year in which the Italian virtuoso had declined to appear on this side of the Atlantic. On Sunday afternoon, those subscribers had the pleasure of hearing Louis Lortie, who offered a program of Beethoven and Chopin in the second of these scheduled concerts.


This Canadian pianist has built a reputation in recent years for clean, imaginative playing. He began the concert with two of the most popular Beethoven Sonatas, the Waldstein and Les Adieux. The first movement of the Waldstein was played with a pell-mell spirit that slowed with the application of rubato in the second theme. Mr. Lortie accelerated again, playing Beethoven's thematic building blocks with a sure touch. The glissando notes came as fast as it was possible to play them without slurring.

In his methodical way, Mr. Lortie brought equal weight to the Waldstein's short second movement, providing melodic expression and making this Adagio more than just a bridge between big ideas. The quick turn into the final Rondo happened almost invisibly, as Mr. Lortie siezed hold of the big, singing theme, playing the repettions of it with rhythmic drive and a warm sense of melody.

Concert Review: Flash of the Titans

Yefim Bronfman in recital at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Determination: Yefim Bronfman in concert. 

When the pianist Yefim Bronfman made his entrance at Carnegie Hall on Friday night, it was the start of a heroic confrontation between the burly Russian-born artist and the black Steinway: his vehicle to play sonatas by Haydn, Brahms and Prokofiev.

Superconductor 2011 Gift Guide Part V: Piano Music

12 days of Christmas, and 88 keys.

A piano just makes the holidays better. Scene from The Simpsons
episode Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire © 1989 FOX/Gracie Films/Matt Groening.

The last page of the 2011 Gift Guide features piano music: selections of the best piano recitals of the year, and a survey of major reissues and boxed sets. For the piano lover, this is your shopping Liszt. Hey, he turned 200 this year.


SINGLE DISCS

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3, Symphonic Dances Op. 45

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra cond. Robert Spano 

This exciting disc of Rachmaninoff's most challenging concerto features Garrick Ohlsson meeting the work head-on. Mr. Ohlsson interlocks smoothly with Mr. Spano. They craft a thrilling ride through the work's three movements. With an energetic set of Symphonic Dances that demonstrates the quality of this Southern orchestra.

Hélène Grimaud: Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 19 and 23 (Deutsche Grammophon)

The French pianist delves into Mozart with her first recordings of these lyric piano concertos. As a bonus, soprano Mojca Erdmann sings the concert aria "Chi'io mi scordi di te?" a welcome rarity.

Alice Sara Ott: Beethoven (Deutsche Grammophon)

The talented Ms. Ott goes Ludwig with this disc, featuring her feather-light chording and high-speed run through the Waldstein Sonata. The last movement is eloquently played and almost impressionistic in its soft first statement of the main theme. 

Marc-Andre Hamelin: Etudes (Hyperion)
The most significant virtuoso working today gets in on Lisztomania, taking on the formidable Piano Sonata, which manages to fuse four movements into one contiguous whole. Mr. Hamelin also applies his stunning technique to playful works: the Fantasia on B-A-C-H and three aural postcards from Venice and Naples.

Lang Lang: My Piano Hero. (Sony Classical)

Mr. Lang celebrates Liszt's 200th birthday with this exuberant disc of favorites and virtuoso workouts, anchored by a rock-solid performance of the First Piano Concerto. 

BOXED SETS:

Schubert: Piano Sonatas and Impromptus,  Andras Schiff, Piano (Decca, 9 CDs)

András Schiff is one of the most eloquent pianists on the concert circuit. Schubert is one of his particular strengths, and this cycle captures some of his best playing at an early peak. Crisp keyboard diction, crystal-clear digital sound and a sense of intimacy, especially in the beautifully played Impromptus.

Martha Argerich: Solos and Duos (EMI, 6 CDs)

After DG and Decca re-ignited the Cult of Argerich with their re-issues of her classic solo recitals, chamber works and piano concertos, it was time for her seocnd label, EMI to follow suit. This set find the Chilean pianist applying her skills to solo recitals and works for piano and violin 

Maurizio Pollini: 20th Century (Deutsche Grammophon, 6 CDs)

The fearless Mr. Pollini makes "difficult" modern piano music easy to understand with these deceptively simple performances. Featuring his account of the knotty works by Stravinsky, Bartók, Schoenberg, Webern, and other so-called modernists who threw out the rule books a century ago and created a brave new sonic world.

Alfred Brendel: Complete Beethoven Sonatas and Concertos (Decca, 12 CDs)
A long-awaited reissue of the Alfred Brendel "big box", all of his celebrated recordings of the piano sonatas and his first cycle of the five concertos, played with Bernard Haitink and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Top-notch Beethoven at a bargain-basement price. And if you like Mr. Brendel's playing, his equally celebrated Schubert cycle was also reissued this year.

Leslie Howard: The Complete Liszt Piano Music (Hyperion, 99 CDs)
This exceptional cycle contains all the Liszt piano music. The sonatas, poems, concertos. The Années de la Pelerinage. The Hungarian Rhapsodies. Even the opera transcriptions and piano versions of orchestral works by Beethoven, Berlioz and Wagner. All captured in superb performances, in glittering sound. This bread-box sized box is the deep end for the piano addict, and the most important reissue of 2011.


Check out the rest of the 2011 Superconductor Gift Guide:

Part I: Gigantic Boxed Sets

Part II: Slightly Smaller Boxed Sets

Part III: Beethoven for Christmas
Part IV: Opera Recordings