Wednesday 24 August 20.00
Charles Richard-Hamelin – piano
Andrzej Bauer – cello
Sinfonia Varsovia
Grzegorz Nowak –
conductor
When I first visited Poland
and Warsaw in 1992 (a joint venture project I wrote about in a book on the
country) there were staged a host of extraordinary musical performances. I wrote:
Warsaw is no slave to the cult of celebrity (it
cannot afford them) and hence the musical work to be performed is often the
primary focus of attention rather than the performer. Many rarely performed
works regularly receive an airing in Warsaw.
The Ballroom of the Royal
Castle is a superb
musical venue and an aesthetically overwhelming room. Domenico Merlini, the
distinguished eighteenth century Italian architect from Brescia who brought Palladianism to Poland,
designed it with the allegorical guidance of King Stanisław Augustus. New gold
leaf glisters from every crevice in a blaze of mirrored chandeliers. It was
here I heard the first performance for two hundred years of a recently
discovered festive piano concerto in the Russian style by Ferdinand Ries, the
close friend and pupil of Beethoven.
The
music of Chopin had been the overriding reason for my coming to Poland and it
was with surprise and delight that in the space of six weeks I was unexpectedly
presented with all twenty five works that Mozart wrote for the stage. The cycle
was performed by one of the most remarkable opera companies in Europe, the Warszawska
Opera Kameralna (Warsaw Chamber Opera). Warsaw is the only capital city in
the world where such an historically accurate Mozart cycle together with much
of his instrumental music is performed on original instruments every year.
Warsaw is no great distance from Vienna and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) was
produced in May 1783 by a touring German company for the birthday of King
Stanisław Augustus Poniatowski just nine months after the Vienna premiere. Don Giovanni arrived in the capital to play in the National Theatre
before the king in October 1789 with the same Italian Domenico Guardasoni
company that had premièred the opera just two years before in Prague with Mozart conducting. His operas
were performed in Warsaw
well in advance of Berlin,
Paris or London.
The
city has had a distinguished operatic heritage since the early baroque period
when it was the only capital other than Rome
to have had an opera theatre that hosted famous Italian soloists. Many works
were especially written for the Warsaw
stage during the Jagiełłon and Vasa dynasties of the seventeenth century. The
volatile Tarquinio Merula wrote a theatrical duet called Satiro e Corisca for King Zygmunt III Vasa performed in Warsaw in the summer of
1626 some ten years before public operatic activities began in Venice.
Joseph
Elsner’s greatest work, an extraordinary Passio
Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, is scored for hundreds of musicians including 4
choirs, a piano, military bands and an enlarged percussion section. The
autograph of the piece was discovered in the Berlin State Library. The Death of
Christ and the Earthquake are in a particularly impressive Sturm und Drang style. The first complete modern performance was
given in March 1999 in
the Neoclassical centrally-planned Holy Trinity Lutheran
Church in Warsaw by Warszawska Opera Kameralna (Warsaw
Chamber Opera). Elsner was ‘permitted’ to dedicate the work to Tsar Nicholas I
who was at that time King of Poland.
I have
the distinct feeling that great excitement is building again in the country at the discovery
of the long lost treasures of Polish music. It is exciting to be living in a country still in the throes of discovering its true identity, eclipsed for
so many years. Poland continues to work through the state of transition and
music is a vital part of this process. Churchill’s so-called ‘Iron Curtain’ was
not simply a political barrier but also a cultural barrier. This and the
intimidating Polish surnames (to foreigners) meant that so much culture and brilliant music
apart from Chopin remains unheralded
in the West. Matters are slowly changing and the Chopin
i jego Europa Festival is a vital part of this ongoing process.
Tonight’s
programme is an excellent example of exploration of an unknown Polish repertoire.
The first work by Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946) the Overture to the Ballet ‘King of the Winds’ . Nowowiejski was a
Polish composer, organist, conductor, teacher and ‘organiser of musical life’. He was born in Barczewo in picturesque Warmia in the former East Prussia – a beautiful
relatively undeveloped part of Poland with superb Teutonic castles and lakes. He
enjoyed enormous success in Europe and America with an oratorio he wrote
entitled Quo Vadis (after the Henryk
Sienkiewicz novel).
 |
| The Bishop's Palace - Lidzbark Warminksi - Warmia |
The
work (premiered in 1929 in Poznań) is spectacularly orchestrated and galvanised
with patriotic energy. Despite being an Overture, this grand work is relieved by
some beautiful impressionistic episodes reminiscent of Debussy’s La Mer. With Grzegorz Nowak we have
possibly the finest Polish conductor working today possessed of enormous
rhythmical authority, attention to instrumental detail and ensemble. The brass
of Sinfonia Varsovia were tremendous adding to the overall effect of grand
theatre or possibly grand cinema in 2016.
Then
the Schumann Cello Concerto in A minor,
Op 129. This is a late reflective work by Schumann (1850) during an unhappy
stay in Düsseldorf – ‘emotion recollected in
tranquillity’ as Wordsworth might have put it. It is not widely known that the
composer learned to play cello as a child. There is no extravagant virtuoso writing
for the cello here which may account for its more obscure status. The superb cantabile of this consecutive three
movement work was ardently captured in, spirituality by Andrzej Bauer (a former
pupil of the great English cellist William Pleeth). The second movement Langsam which is essentially a song, was
very beautiful indeed. Grzegorz Nowak and Sinfonia Varsovia were discreet and
never overwhelmed the soloist.
 |
| Feliks Nowowiejski (1877-1946) |
After the
interval another work by Feliks Nowowiejski, the Overture to the opera Legend
of the Baltic (1924). Another theatrical, splendidly extrovert work
with a definite ‘legendary’ feel to the music if that makes any sense! The work
even contains skillful orchestral parts for celeste and harp. There a fervent
patriotic outbursts on timpani and brass. Nowak was quite brilliant at gathering
to these disparate parts of a condensed drama of various themes. Noisy
sometimes perhaps but rousing in the very best sense. Would make superb film
music and certainly be none the worse for that! I have often thought the same of
the lyrical orchestral writing music of Paderewski.
To
conclude the concert, probably what everyone was waiting for, the Chopin Piano Concerto in F minor Op.21 with the
second prize winner of the 2015 Chopin International Piano Competition, Charles
Richard-Hamelin as soloist.
‘As I already have,
perhaps unfortunately, my ideal, whom I faithfully serve, without having spoken
to her for half a year already, of whom I dream, in remembrance of whom was
created the adagio of my concerto’ (Chopin to his friend
Tytus Woyciechowski ,3 October 1829).
The work was written 1829-30 This concerto was inspired by Chopin’s
infatuation or was it youthful love for the soprano Konstancja
Gladkowska. Strangely it was published a few years later with a
dedication to Delfina Potocka.
I have little to say
other than praise this fine performance of the F Minor Concerto Op. 21 a I did during the competition, the
first piano concerto Chopin wrote. For me it was almost faultless
in all respects. The concerto followed the Mozart model and was directly
influenced by the style
brillant of Hummel,
Kalkbrenner, Moscheles or Ries. It is hard to reproduce this intimate yet
fragile glittering tone on a Steinway or Yamaha. Here again Chopin magically
transforms the Classical into the Romantic style.
Hamelin was confident,
relaxed, enjoying his playing immensely. He had excellent communication with
the conductor. He retained a natural virtuosity that preserved the form and was
always a servant to the conception and interpretation.
A singing full bel canto tone in the affecting Larghetto that was full of poetry and taken
at just the right tempo. In many ways you could say that the whole work
revolves around this movement. I always think of the sentiments contained in
the 1820 poem by John Keats La
Belle Dame Sans Merci when I
hear this music with its passionate interjections
I met a lady
in the meads,
Full beautiful—a faery’s child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
I made a
garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.
I set her on
my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A faery’s song.
That final forty
note fioritura of longing played molto con
delicatezza always carries me away into Chopin's dreamy Romantic
poetical world.
Tremendous joy, energy
and drive in the Rondo Allegro
vivace final movement in the
exuberant style of a krakowiak dance. How Chopin must have loved
the bucolic nature of the Polish countryside and its music! The
Chopin extension of the Hummel piano concerto was here fully realized.
Melody and bravura figuration (F minor to the relative
major A flat for instance) wonderfully and authoritatively brought
off with great balance of formal structure.
This composition that
lies between Mozart and the styl
brillant was wonderfully
executed as were the masculine gestures towards the concertos of Weber
(following the cor de signal for example – with a most
unfortunate ‘fluff’ by the French horn player – I always dread the coming of
this terrifyingly exposed horn solo – so many things can go wrong!). A
satisfying performance in every way expressing the dreams and
exuberance of youth.
As encores, first a Chopin Mazurka.
Then a simply magnificent performance of the ‘Heroic’ Polonaise in A-flat major Op.53. I really
feel Richard-Hamelin’s majestic, titanic performance of this work (I heard him
perform it in Duszniki this year - this was even better) with its
emotionally disturbing rubato, sense
of that strange Polish concept of untranslatable into English żal (melancholy evolving into resentment spilling over into raw anger – vital to understanding Chopin) and control of dynamics is unsurpassed
by anyone, anywhere and that is really saying something. But I believe it. And
the predominantly Polish audience felt it in their blood and believed that the inaccessible ‘Polish element’ Chopin spoke of had been expressed….an instant
standing ovation, cries and shouts, wild scenes.
A work surely that expresses the feelings of frustration and anger of 'the common man' in our beleaguered times where we seem to be denied control of outcomes. Fryderyk Chopin's expression of spiritual resistance is as deeply relevant today as ever it was during his own beleaguered times.
Nadia Boulanger was once
asked what made a great as opposed to an excellent performance of an individual
piano work. She answered 'I cannot tell you that. It is something I cannot
describe in words. A magical element.' That was present…
Friday 26 August 20.00 Apollon
Musagéte Quartet
Paweł Zalejski – violin
Bartosz Zachłod – violin
Pior Szumieł – viola
Piotr Skweres – cello
This young Polish quartet was formed
in 2006 and already has an enviable reputation in major concert halls
throughout Europe and America.
The first half of their
programme was dedicated to a single work the great Quartet in G-major D.887 by Schubert. The work was written in 1826
when Schubert was already seriously ill with tertiary syphilis probably
contracted in a festive outing as a younger man with one of his tearaway friends.
At this stage the disease may damage the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood
vessels, liver, bones and joints. He was to die only two years later, the
quartet unpublished and unperformed. As such it is suffused with existential
anxiety, nostalgia, yearning, melancholy, remembered pleasures of dance and
song – also explosive anger too at the nature of inevitable mortality and the
imminent loss of the joys of life. Winterreise
was written only four years before. The
work poses enormous spiritual as well as musical challenges to bring off
successfully and movingly.
 |
| Winter in Mazovia |
At the beginning there was
curious moment pregnant with meaning. A member of the audience had brought an
infant into the concert hall which began to gurgle peacefully. Knowing what was
about to unfold, I felt this to be not an irritating distraction but as a curious
accident that acted as an almost painful but shockingly apt commentary on the meditations
on mortality that would shortly suffuse the musical work to follow. The baby was taken out of the
hall shortly after the development of the beginning Allegro but the echo of the little one remained...the dawn of a life.
Having reached my age I have
listened to many recordings of this work by great quartets. I may be bringing unfair, invidious comparisons to this still developing group of young musicians – I have heard the Amadeus,
the Belcea, the Takács, the Quartetto Italiano and the Melos perform it. After his sublime song
recital earlier in this festival, I am also at present reading the quite extraordinary
book by Ian Bostridge Schubert’s Winter
Journey. In the Introduction Bostridge quotes from Schubert’s My Dream manuscript, July 3, 1822
written at the time of the composition of Winterreise only four years before this quartet when the composer was already terminally ill.
With
a heart filled with endless love for those who scorned me, I…wandered far away.
For many and many a year I sang songs. Whenever I tried to sing of love, it turned
to pain. And again, when I tried to sing of pain, it turned to love.
My own view of Schubert at
this stage of his life requires a deep understanding of the shadow of death
that hovers menacingly over such a work as this. Instability, sometimes shocking, drifts overall between major and minor, infusing much of the piece.
However much healthy
young musicians may attempt to enter the terrors of this existential dilemma it
is not easy to imagine when young the abyss one feels inevitably opening at one’s
feet – easier to imaginatively envisage as middle age passes and winter approaches
but no easier to accept – assuming one dares as a youth to meditate at all on such serious
matters.
Quite naturally I felt them more preoccupied with the musical and technical challenges of this huge work than plumbing the depths with musical nuances of the soul and unsettled torment of the heart. The work was performed far too 'straight' for me lacking in emotional insight.The audience also provided a distraction from gathering the essential and accumulative nature of this profound work by applauding between movements. I have no objection at all to applause between the movements of dexterously presented, extrovert symphonic works or concertos but not the deeper revelations of intimate quartets and certainly not during the last quartet Schubert wrote please.
Silence in the face of
this profound music would have been far more freighted with deep meaning and appreciation
of what was being expressed than applauding the players who are conduits for
the music after all. There is vastly more to this work than technical
accomplishment. Added to this the insistence on the quartet tuning between movements
completely disrupted the continuity and intimate communion with Schubert
for me (was this really necessary even if the intonation
of the ensemble suffers slightly…?). I was simply unable to grasp the work as
an organic whole. My own musical limitations perhaps…but my heart did not take
flight.
After the interval a work
less demanding in a devotional sense, the more extrovert Piano Quintet in G minor Op. 57 by Shostakovich (1940). Here they
were joined by that fine pianist and second prize winner in the 2015 Chopin Competition
on Warsaw, Charles
Richard-Hamelin. I was very interested to hear how he fared in
chamber music and he acquitted himself brilliantly with a clear
feeling and skill for taking a more modest role in chamber ensemble playing.
The chamber music of Shostakovich,
this major voice of Modernism, is rightly highly esteemed possibly even above
his symphonies by the cognoscenti. This
music of the young composer (he was 34 and healthy unlike Schubert who was
already tragically dead at 31) the work is
expressive in a far more direct sense. This seemed to me far more conducive to the various
temperaments and talents of this young quartet (actually now quintet of course).
The themes stated in the opening
grow and skilfully develop throughout. An emotional work certainly but not
imbued with deep spiritual angst. The
quiet transition from the first movement to the opening of the Fuga was beautifully accomplished. The
opening Lento of the fourth movement after the Intermezzo was emotionally deep but not overdone. The energy of the quirky theme of the Finale finally brought rousing applause.
Curiously the audience restrained their applause for the conclusion of this far
less recondite work.
Saturday 27 August
17.00 Dimitry Shishkin
During
the International Chopin Competition I wrote of Shishkin:
A fertile
imagination, unique reading of the score and
breathtaking virtuosity in performance. Rich tone, rather light touch
for a Russian and superb control of dynamics, pedalling
and articulation. This was absolutely fantastic playing on
every level. A unique 'voice'.
He was already playing short works at the age of 2.
He is also a composer and painter. Shishkin is not a profound Chopin poet like
Eric Lu but if any pianist was to convince me of Chopin in a modern dramatic
and dynamic style on a Steinway it is was this pianist. A body attached to
a pair of hands. Brain and finger in intimate connection way beyond the conventional. Here we have a truly developed artist. A unique 'soul' in
the Dostoyevskian sense.
I
felt this recital did not compare in
individuality and sheer interpretative courage with his competition performance
in an astonishing Stage I of the competition as I remember it.
He
began with the four Chopin Impromptus which were elegantly brought off with immense
refinement of touch and articulation. The first in A major Op. 29 begun at perhaps to fast a
tempo but the G flat major Op. 51 was
a most beautiful thing. The Fantasy-Impromptu
in C sharp minor Op. 66 was one of
the finest performances of this much maligned and over-performed work I have ever
heard. Most pianists make little of it musically but Shishkin recreated it
meaningfully with much imagination and musical insight – even though Chopin himself
did not want this Albumblatt published
although composed for the Baroness d’Este.
I
felt the three Mazurkas Op. 59 were more imitative of Polish models
than was necessary although his rhythmic variation was certainly enlivening. Of
course he retained the magnificent tone, a refined sound that we do not often
associate with Russian pianists - more French in character. The Nocturne in E flat major Op. 9 No.2 was very fine with seductive cantabile.
The
opening to an almost symphonic rendition of the B-flat minor Scherzo was
the forbidding question with an answer from the grave just as Chopin desired.
An improvised compositional quality throughout - a player
entirely immersed in his own sound world. 'Authentic' Chopin in
the John Rinkean sense of individual vision. I see the drama of this scherzo
building as an arc but he saw it differently but utterly convincingly. His digital
dexterity is astonishing – again, a pair of hands with an independent life attached to a
body.
After
the interval four Scarlatti Sonatas which I did not take to having played them
myself on the harpsichord. They were over-pedalled to my mind and not in the
same league as the superbly articulated cantabile of the young Pogorelich, the astounding Federico Colli or if I may without
being unfair to youth, Horowitz.
I
will pass over the Busoni Variations and
Fugue on Chopin’s Prelude in C minor Op. 22 in silence – another monster of
virtuoso vanity on the part of this composer-pianist. I really only appreciate
Busoni’s arrangements of Bach Chorale Preludes.
I
am afraid I also felt Shishkin simply did not penetrate below the virtuoso
surface (and an incredible, mind-bending
tour de force it was!) of the final work in his programme, the Liszt Mephisto Waltz No 1. I became irritated
by his passing over completely in a headlong virtuosic flight the poetic and programmatic
erotic and sensual evil nature of the shifting harmonies flitting about the sulphurous
atmosphere of the piece – everything the brilliant Daniil Trifonov perfectly understood
in his transformation into Mephistopheles at the keyboard in Duszniki Zdroj in 2011.
His
encore of the Chopin Grand Waltz in E
flat major was pleasant enough and the Etude
quite stunning.
The
inherent creativity of Shishkin explains a great deal about his reconception of
some of the compositions he chooses. As a creative artist he could hardly do
otherwise. Creativity is the fibre of his being. Such individual invention will
not be to everyone's taste and certainly not
in matters of Chopinesque 'correctness'. However his general musical stance
is perfectly in keeping with the original eighteenth and nineteenth
century role of the composer-pianist. Shiskin always has a great deal to say of
unique interest about Chopin's music.
Saturday 27 August
20.00 Eric Lu
The
first time I heard this pianist in Duszniki Zdroj in August 2015 I wrote quite lyrically about his playing,
especially in the intimacy of the Dworek
Chopina. Again I was full of praise during the International Chopin
Competition in October 2015 when he was awarded 4th prize, at
seventeen the youngest laureate in the history of the competition. I was anxious
to see if the many intervening concerts he had been offered as a result had matured
or affected his playing in the last ten months.
 |
Neuer
Markt in Vienna
with Capuchin Church and Haus zur Mehlgrube on the
right
Bernardo Bellotto 1760 |
He
opened his recital with Mozart, one of the greatest classical influences on the
music of Chopin who revered his music above all save that of Bach. The Piano Sonata in C major K 330 was
written when Mozart was twenty-seven. Lu certainly has the tone, sensitive touch
and sense of classical style to be a fine Mozart player. All he needs is a stronger
sense of the affectations and nuances of that period in Vienna where the sonata was probably composed for his aristocratic pupils.
In his solo piano music
and chamber music much in Mozart reminds me of
conversation between highly civilized, ironic, charming, occasionally melancholic
and sometimes moody, passionate folk but always restrained within the limits of ‘good
taste’. The Andante in particular is
dominated by cantablile vocal writing
as is so much of Mozart, dominated as he is by an operatic subconscious. The Allegretto is charm and civilization
itself of a high degree. Kristian Zimerman plays this sonata with great period style,
charm and taste.
In
the Schubert Four Impromptus Op. 90 D.889 there were some beautiful moments
indeed particularly No 3 in G-flat major. However again I felt Lu had as yet not yet absorbed
this music into his organic life and insufficiently explored the nature of
Schubert the man. How old is this pianist? Eighteen.....and here I catch a man some 50 years older pontificating as they tend to do!
In
many ways Schubert codified the genre of the Impromptu as when he was composing these pieces the
nature of this genre was not all clear. There is a close connection
between music and poetry that Schubert certainly recognized in his
immortal songs. Literature, especially poetry, was of prime importance to the Romantic imagination in a
way young performers scarcely seem to understand today. Reading the literature of the day opens a window to the soul - however not easy in 2016 in a world dominated by the nature of physical power rather than sensibility. The profound influence at the time of the writings of Rousseau in say La Nouvelle Héloïse is almost incomprehensible to us.
I have a specific sound
world in mind for Schubert, one that has an analogy with pastel drawings and the
search for certainty. Perhaps this has something to do with my listening and playing his music on period pianos of his day - a Hammerflügel by Joseph Brodmann of Vienna for example. The wonderful András Schiff
has become so convinced of the importance of this he has recently released a superb double
Schubert CD on a Joseph Brodmann instrument of 1820 (ECM New Series
2425/26 481 1572). The essays written by Schiff and Mischa Donat that accompany the CD are also most interesting and thought provoking. I feel Schubert benefits more than most composers in this shift of perspective. On the other hand I think Beethoven would have been overjoyed at what the modern instrument can produce as he always felt severely limited by the instrument in his magnificent musical imagination. One only has to listen to Grigory Sokolov play the titanic 'Hammerklavier' Sonata to realize this...
On such earlier instruments much of Schubert's solo piano music is that of a deeply
introspective figure with desperate rushes of courage and faith in
the face of a blighted human existence dominated by the melancholic
shadows of death. The blithe Trout Quintet and the strength
and determination inherent in say the operatic Wanderer Fantasy are
exceptions. The ambiguous hints, half-light, struggles with insecurities
and flashes of natural joy and struggle with the shades were absent for me in
an otherwise very fine performance. Surely the Impromptus were conceived as Hausmusik played by Schubert to a group of friends in a Viennese apartment on a Graf or Brodmann instrument. Naturally one cannot replace the Steinway in a modern concert hall and build a modern concert career, but one can modify one's approach to the instrument in the light of informed exploration of earlier sound worlds.
Imagine for a moment....a world without electricity! The overriding influence of the cycles of Nature on life and thought...
With this composer the external context of his life too is of major importance in interpretation as is clear from the outstanding book recently written by that great Lieder tenor Ian Bostridge entitled Schubert's Winter Journey - essential reading in 2016. Many young performers have difficulty penetrating the complex psychology of Schubert. The ‘technical’ aspects of the music clearly hold no
challenges for Lu, but more thought
particularly in terms of excessive dynamic variation on the modern instrument (particularly this composer) would not go astray. For me at least Schubert is not painting in oils in the Impromptus and is a less declamatory composer than Lu would have us believe. All this is so personal is it not, how one conceives of Schubert the man and his sound palette?
The performance is a meeting between the composer and the performer and the listener, and it is only together that they can create the piece.
Schubert's Winter Journey Ian Bostridge (p. 162)
After
the interval the Chopin 24 Preludes. From
the very first note it was as if a new pianist had been born who had suddenly plumbed
the depths of the music he was performing.
Really it was a quite striking moment
of change and sudden access of authority.
It
would have course been impossible for Chopin to have ever considered performing
this complete radical cycle in his musical and cultural ambiance (not least
because of the brevity of many of the pieces). Although it is now well
established as a complete work, a masterpiece of integrated ‘fragments’ (in the
nineteenth century sense of that aesthetic term). Each can of course stand on
its own as a perfect miniature landscape of feeling and tonal climate but ‘Why
Preludes? Preludes to what?’ as André Gide asked. I think it unnecessary and
superfluous to actually answer this question but one answer might be ‘Death’.
We must to turn to Chopin’s love of Bach to at least partially understand them
(he took an edition of the ‘48’ to Mallorca where he completed the Preludes). I
think it was Anton Rubinstein who first performed them as a cycle but I stand
to be corrected on this.
I
felt Lu had come to a far deeper understanding of how to give them the difficult
appearance of an integrated 'philosophy' or spiritual narrative than a
year ago. Far fewer solecisms crept in during this performance of the Preludes. My main difference of opinion would have been
in the tempo he adopted for one or two. Most were superb and captured the
Polish Chopinesque unease with life and destiny perfectly. This review is not
the place to go into great detail.
I have always felt the relevance of a
poem by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas when contemplating this cycle which for me
seems to run the entire gamut of human emotion. The poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That
Good Night could apply to the spirit of the cycle as a whole. I quote two stanzas I feel apply to Chopin in the Preludes:
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave
men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind
eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage,
rage against the dying of the light.
Certainly
the Preludes were written in a period of great emotional
upheaval for Chopin.
As
encores the Schubert Moment Musicaux in
F-minor, a fine but rather too up tempo (for me)
Chopin Waltz in A flat and to
conclude the popular Bach/Siloti.
A
well deserved standing ovation, cheers and a huge queue of many metres way into the depths of the foyer to sign his CD of performances in the International Chopin Piano Competition. Good taste! A tremendous future ahead for this massively talented young man.
Sunday 28 August 20.00
Seong-Jin Cho - piano
Sinfonia Varsovia
Grzegorz Nowak - conductor
Sadly I was simply not able to attend this concert for personal family reasons. I am quite sure that the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor Op.23 would have been quite brilliant and monumental with Seong-Jin Cho as soloist and this ensemble. The work would have suited his developing genius admirably.
Life and its frustrations...
Monday 29 August
20.00
Eric Lu – historic piano (Erard 1849)
Szymon Nehring – historic piano (Erard 1849)
Eric Hoeprich – basset clarinet
Orchestra of the XVIII Century
Grzegorz Nowak – conductor
The conductor of this
orchestra in previous festivals, the great Frans Brüggen, has not been with us for two years owing
to a higher calling. A great loss to all of us.
The concert opened with
the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, K.622.
This was one of Mozart’s last compositions – he was to die less than two months
after the premiere. Written by the composer for the famous clarinet and basset
horn player Anton Stadler (1753-1812) it was actually written for a rare instrument
known as a basset clarinet. In a library in Riga in 1992 programmes
were found of concerts which Anton Stadler played there in 1784. Two of those
programmes show an engraving of Stadler's instrument.
Some modern reproductions have
been made from this drawing, possibly one being played by Eric Hoeprich this
evening him being one of the world's leading exponents of the historical clarinet.
There was no conductor, the soloist leading the orchestra (he was also a
founder member and principal clarinet of this orchestra).
This was one of those ‘perfect’
stylistic performances of the work and I am left with nothing to say other than
praise. There is such a rich warmth to this remarkable instrument, a true soul
to it, a mellow woodiness of rich timbre and texture particularly in the lowest
register (down to C) for which the instrument was especially constructed to
encompass. Elegant phrasing and that heartbreaking melody, sublime in every
way, of the Adagio of this concerto. I
do not wish to sound trite but one inescapably feels for Mozart this was an addio to life itself.
The young Polish pianist
Szymon Nehring then joined the orchestra for a performance of the Chopin Piano Concerto in F minor, Op.21 on a 1849
Erard historic instrument. I thought he extracted much colour
from the Erard with great refinement of
touch and nuance too – I was most impressed with his adaption to the period
instrument. His control of pianissimo was
subtle and moving, perfectly in keeping with the descriptions of Chopin’s own playing
which Berlioz described as soft as ‘the playing of elves’ even requiring one to
place one’s ear against the instrument to hear him!
The Larghetto was exquisite with rubato of great sensibility.
The Allegro vivace was spirited and fortunately the exposed nostalgic natural
horn call towards the conclusion was right on pitch! A moment I always dread in
this concerto. I really felt Nehring is a natural player of such period instruments.
His encore was also so suitable for his refined touch on this instrument, a
highly sensitive performance of the Chopin Étude in C- minor op. 25 No 7. The inaccessible ‘Polish
element’ Chopin spoke of was present in abundance. A far superior performance of
this concerto to the one he gave of the E minor in the Chopin competition –
curious thing music ‘this cabbalistic craft’.
Unfortunately the
under-rehearsed orchestra under this conductor scarcely assisted this young
tyro. Chopin’s orchestration has often been criticized and I am afraid if one
was to regard this outcome as representative such an opinion would be justified.
However a far closer study of the score is required by the conductor to extract
the enormous subtlety Chopin extended to his ‘chamber’ orchestral scoring even
if the conductor is Polish and outstanding in other repertoire. Strident
tympani and sudden massive symphonic tutti are scarcely in order. The orchestra
plays a supporting role to the piano in these early concerti. One must always
have as Chopin models the Hummel styl brillant concerti in the back of one's mind. I am surprised that some of the residual
brilliance of Frans Brüggen has not remained with the orchestra after his
long association with them and Chopin (in for example the wonderful, inspired 2005/2006
recording of both concerti with Eric Lu’s sometime teacher Dang Thai Son as
soloist on NIFCCD 004 - Black Series).
After
the interval, at 18, the ‘authentically young’ Eric Lu joined the orchestra for
a performance of the Chopin Concerto in E-minor, Op. 11. This was a
fabulous exercise in styl brillant playing although I felt the performance
suffered the same lack of rehearsal time and a conductor not sufficiently intimate
with the score – all sorts of unbalanced instrumental counterpoint of minimal
interest kept popping out unexpectedly on occasion covering the piano sound almost
completely, at least from the balcony where I was seated.
The Allegro
maestoso has the word maestoso qualifying the
direction Allegro for a reason. It is a direction we often
encounter in the Chopin polonaises - a traditional expression of distinct
Polishness fir the composer that contains within the original dance the martial qualities of
nobility, grace, resistance, élan, the glitter of the sabre,
the proud stroking of the Sarmartian moustache valiantly facing the enemy.
Where was this in the orchestra support?
Lu
managed the instrument outstandingly well but adopted more agitated tempi than
during the Chopin competition – the outer movements glittered but I felt lacked
the ‘musical soul’ and introspection I am accustomed to hearing with this
pianist. Again the Dang Thai Son interpretation of this concerto at moderate, deeply
expressive tempi and depth of sensibility remains the non plus ultra performance
for me on period instruments.
Concerning
the Romance. Larghetto, in a letter to his close friend Tytus
Woyciechowski Chopin wrote of this movement ‘It is a kind of meditation
on the beautiful springtime, but to moonlight’. Lu understands this
Mozartian lyrical refinement. His cantabile in the statement
of this melancholic love song contained within it an atmosphere of eloquent simplicity.
Moments of sadness and introspection were overcome as if the sun emerged
tentatively from behind clouds in gestures of poetry. In a characteristically
oblique reference, Chopin had once written to Tytus of Konstancja Gładkowska ‘Involuntarily,
something has entered my head through my eyes and I like to caress it’. I
always feel Chopin's imagined gentle caress of Konstancja in Lu's refined playing
of this movement.
The Rondo. Vivace was a spectacular tour de force of styl
brillant pianism. The movement follows attacca, meaning
without pause and suddenly we are launched from our romantic reverie into the
youthful dance world of the fun-loving youthful Chopin, that of the energetic krakowiak.
The actual sound that Lu extracted from the instrument in
this wonderful styl brillant movement was quite
breathtaking even if in the headlong rush lacked time for us to take breath!
I
felt more exposure to the instrument, familiarity with it’s tone and keyboard (so different to a modern
Steinway) would have ironed out a few infelicities of phrasing, tone and touch
and allowed the music to relax and breathe more expansively.
These earlier pianos and their relatively light touch tend to ‘run away with
you’ and sometimes possibly through nervous tension, synchronicity with the conductor
and orchestra were occasionally slightly suspect.
Standing
ovation after a brilliant performance with just a few minor reservations on my part.
The concerto was premiered
in Warsaw three weeks before Chopin left Poland forever…
Tuesday 20 August 20.00
Beatrice Rana – piano
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra
Jacek Kaspszyk – conductor
And so we come to the last
concert in this excellent festival series.
I am always bemused and rather
impressed by Polish audiences at the opening and closing concerts at serious music
festivals. They always make a significant attempt to add ceremonial to the occasion
and dress well, even formally, for the event. Not everyone of course but a
significant number…makes a change!
After the farewell speeches
I must say it was a rather ‘patriotic’ programme opening with the Polonaise for Symphony Orchestra by
Krzysztof Penderecki. This was written in 2015 to a commission by the Fryderyk
Chopin Competition for a polonaise to mark the inauguration of the
International Chopin Competition in Warsaw that year. Quite a massive orchestra
was assembled with even a brass band in the balcony. It is a succinct
expression of ‘Polishness’ and quite ‘tongue in cheek’ at times interspersed
however with charming expressive elements.
Perhaps someone in contact with the
Delphic Oracle can explain to me why the Piano
Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op.16 by Prokofiev was selected for this final
concert and the theme of the festival? Works by Chopin, forgotten Polish musical treasures,
Mozart and Bellini…then Prokofiev? This is not deny it is a great work,
possibly one of the most difficult in the concerto repertoire and performed tonight
by the glorious Italian pianist Beatrice Rana (laureate of numerous piano competitions).
It was completed in 1913 and then destroyed by fire in the Russian revolution. Prokofiev
reconstructed this work in significantly different form in 1923 and dedicated
it to the memory of the young pianist and composer Maximilian Schmidthof, a
friend of Prokofiev's at the St. Petersburg conservatorium. He had
committed suicide in 1913 by shooting himself after leaving a nihilistic note and quoting in a letter a poem by Mikhail Lermontov:
IT'S
TIRESOME AND SAD
It's tiresome and sad,
and there's no one to land you a hand
In your heart's hour of trials and fears.
What you want is... What use, though, forever in vain to demand?
And the years pass you by, all the very best years.
Try loving, but whom? For the time, it's not worth all the trouble,
And no one keeps loving forever.
Look into yourself, - All the past disappears like a bubble,
Both the joy and the torment, to naught your endeavour.
Your passions? Once, sooner or later, when Reason has found you,
Their sweet sickness will pass at her stroke;
And life, as you look with cold, distant attention around you,
Is just such a stupid and meaningless joke.
January, 1840. Mikhail Lermontov.
И СКУЧНО И ГРУСТНО
И скучно и грустно, и некому руку подать
В минуту душевной невзгоды...
Желанья!.. Что пользы напрасно и вечно желать?..
А годы проходят — все лучшие годы!
Любить... но кого же?.. На время — не стоит труда,
А вечно любить невозможно.
В себя ли заглянешь? — Там прошлого нет и следа:
И радость, и муки, и всё там ничтожно...
Что страсти? — Ведь рано иль поздно их сладкий недуг
Исчезнет при слове рассудка;
И жизнь, как посмотришь с холодным вниманьем вокруг, —
Такая пустая и глупая шутка...
Январь 1840. Михаил Лермонтов.
(Translated by Maxim Litvinov)
It is a work full of magnificent
energy and life – an affirmation. This truly avant-garde work was attacked as ‘shameful’ in early performances as one of the worst examples
of ‘modernism’ causing Prokofiev to be branded an ‘anarchist’ or ‘futurist’. Progressive
artists of the day loved it. It is exceptionally demanding on the pianist,
orchestra and conductor. Rana managed the forbidding and gargantuan cadenza at
the end of the first movement with awesome stamina and power. Equally the Scherzo. Vivace she disposed of the second
movement with its rapid sequences of perpetuum
mobile semiquavers with formidable virtuosity. If you would like to hear it
again (it requires repeated hearings – impossible to take in on first exposure)
or for the first time, she very recently recorded this work on Warner Classics with
the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano.
Two fine and demanding encores: The Etude-tableaux in C minor Op. 39 No. 1 by Rachmaninoff and the Prelude in F sharp major by Chopin.
Despite
the brilliance of execution and clear compatibility with conductor and orchestra
I saw no place for this serious and rather dark masterpiece on an evening of festive
cheer. Someone might enlighten me…
 |
| Jan Matejko (1838-1893) The Battle of Grunwald (1878) |
After the interval a
mighty patriotic work by the Polish composer Emil Młynarski (1870-1935), the Symphony in F major (‘Polonia’) Op.14
(1910). He was co-founder and artistic director of the Warsaw Philharmonic in addition to being head of the Warsaw Institute of Music, an orchestra in Glasgow and the Conservatorium and Opera in Warsaw. Administrative duties dominated his life over and above composition.
At the time this symphony was written Poland was still mired in the
Third Partition (1795-1918). The country was effectively merely a state of mind. Poland did not
exist as a sovereign independent nation on any map of Europe. This must
definitely be borne in mind when assessing this work and its impact without the 'distortions of freedom'. I felt at times Młynarski to be 'the Elgar of Poland' but in reverse. Here we do not have an expressed atmosphere of imperial triumph and splendour but a courageous statement of the obverse of the coin, the nature of resistance to oppression and imperial aggression.
Fate and geographical location
has not been kind to Poland – somewhat of an understatement! The at times
almost hysterical, strident affirmation of Polish identity in this work plumbs
the depths of derivative Romanticism but these are mere quibbles I feel in view
of the historical circumstances of its composition. Religious hymns, oberek rhythms, krakowiak dances, magnificent brass fanfares, repetitive tutti of
monumental and majestic proportions repeated over and again – this potent
mixture (some may even say ‘tasteless’) brought smiles of real pleasure and
respect from me for a composer with an overwhelming and unashamed feeling of
nationhood and pride in taking up ‘musical arms’ in the continuing battle for
the existence of his nation.
The orchestra seemed almost relieved it was over, the conductor visibly worn and the Polish audience not overly enthusiastic. I reflected that their historical past may be more alive in me! I wondered how long it might be before this symphony is performed again? There is an older recording together with his Violin Concerto performed by Konstanty Andrzej Kulka.
There is an aspect I have
noticed present in much of Polish art, music and literature (pace the genius of Fryderyk Chopin). Many
great Polish works are so consumed and concerned, obsessed even, with the sheer weight of the blighted history of the nation, the struggle for freedom and desperate existential
need, that the events cease to be able to be universally applied thematically,
so unique in character and tragic in outcome are the moments the artists depict.
Examples
abound in the astounding historical canvases of Jan Matejko, in literature the
grand panoramas of the novels of Henryk Sienkiewicz and in such a symphony we
heard tonight. The unique culture of this nation, forged in an unimaginable crucible
of suffering and ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’ expressed so potently
by its artists, forces many great art works into a curious cul de sac where much of significant worth can scarcely escape the frontier
of the nation. Let us hope such astonishingly individualistic statements as these will finally
escape the ‘Iron Curtain’ which was as much a barrier to the cross fertilization of so-called 'Eastern European' cultures as a barrier to the movement of peoples.
The Chopin i jego Europa (Chopin and His Europe) music festival is making
a valiant and largely successful attempt to facilitate a broader understanding
between European peoples of their common cultural heritage. More strength to their Polish
arm and the long delayed resurrection of a stolen and despoiled national identity.
 |
Jan Matejko
Stańczyk (the Jester) during
a Ball at the court of Queen Bona in the face of the loss of Smolensk |
