Rixiang Huang, Piano

Recorded March 7, 2020, Alfred Newman Hall, University of Southern California, CA; Recording Producer, Engineer, and Editor, Josue Gonzalez;

Photographer, Jiachen Liu; Piano Technician Ann Hayden;

Booklet Editing and Art Direction, Chenting Zhao

On March 7 of this interminable pandemic season, prizewinning pianist Rixiang Huang was busy playing a highly demanding piano recital at the University of Southern California, where he is a doctoral candidate at the Thornton School of Music. From this recital, a recording was made and released commercially in April as a CD entitled “French Romance.” The recording is now available both as a physical CD (including Poulenc, Debussy, Ravel, and Mussorgsky) as well as a download-only recording (with additional tracks of Bartók and Mendelssohn). There is much to admire in it.

About the repertoire, the French works include a short song transcription from the Poulenc’s Léocadia incidental music, specifically Les chemins de l’amour, plus Ravel’s Sonatine and Debussy’s Estampes. Though entitled “French Romance” the CD contains just around thirty minutes of French music, with the other thirty-one being the great Russian masterwork, Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. The additional download-only tracks range still more widely (with Mendelssohn’s Phantasie, Op. 28, and Bartók’s Sonata, Sz. 80), bringing the total to around an hour and a half of very diverse piano music.

About the performer, Rixiang (Ricky) Huang (https://www.rixianghuangpianist.com/) is an excellent young pianist, whose live performances of Haydn, Beethoven, Granados, and Liszt I reviewed quite favorably last year at a Bradshaw and Buono winners’ recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall (Bradshaw & Buono Winners Recital in Review). He has won an impressive array of other prizes and accolades as well, and he currently studies with the noted pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane. His playing on this recording displays the tremendous technical facility and range that one heard around a year ago in live concert, and it bodes well for continued success in his career.

The disc opens nostalgically with an arrangement of Poulenc’s meltingly beautiful song Les chemins de l’amour. Once a signature piece for the legendary Jessye Norman, the music had originally been set to a heartbreaking Anouilh poem of love and loss and has since been played in various arrangements for different instruments. No transcriber is credited for Mr. Huang’s solo piano version of the song, perhaps understandably in that very little is added to the original (to keep its purity intact).  Mr. Huang lets the melody speak, as he should, and it is a poignant performance.

Debussy’s Estampes follows, and all three movements show individuality. The opening of Pagodes was a high point for this reviewer, reflecting a special sensitivity, grace, and delicate tonal shading. That sensitivity was less apparent to this listener in the second piece, Soirée dans Grenade, which suffered a bit from an almost metronomic stiffness, particularly the staccato sixteenths in measure 18 (and every analogous spot to follow). More of the crescendo in these spots (as marked even in Debussy’s manuscripts) would have lent a more human impulse and gesture to the phrasing to offset this quality. In the third and final piece of the set, Jardins sous la pluie, the drumming of the garden “rain” was quite evocative. Minor quibbles aside, many will be sure to enjoy the entire set, especially the Pagodes.

Next on the disc is Ravel’s Sonatine, and here the phrasing is flexible and singing, while still maintaining a restraint in accordance work’s neo-classical spirit. Mr. Huang shows a genuine expressiveness in the work’s central Mouvement de Menuet, and the finale, Animé, has just the right crystalline brilliance and drive.

Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition concludes the physical CD’s selections, and it does so with gusto. One may well ask why yet another recording of this well-known piece is needed (and why place one might place this juggernaut on a disc of French delicacies), but the results speak. It affords a chance for Mr. Huang to shine in almost every facet of his pianism. That is part of the goal of a debut CD, after all (which has this listener wondering why it wasn’t simply a self-titled CD rather than one shoehorned into a “French Romance” theme).

The Mussorgsky benefits here from a highly intense Gnomus and an exceptionally plaintive rendition of The Old Castle. The deft finger-work (especially in Tuileries, Limoges, and the Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks) is expert, as is the power in the lumbering – but not too slow – oxen of Bydlo, the storming of Baba Yaga, and the final Great Gate of Kiev. To play each contrasting piece with the different required touches, sounds, and moods is to master an encyclopedic range of pianism, and Mr. Huang delivers it all with seeming ease. The piece marks the end of a highly auspicious first commercial CD.

The additional digital downloads of Bartók and Mendelssohn are more than a bonus. Though the Bartók Sonata seems at first not as savage as one sometimes hears, it has instead a reined-in energy which is effective in building excitement, and Mr. Huang unleashes the accelerando to the close of the first movement with ferocity. The final movement is bristling. It may be one of this listener’s most enjoyable Bartók Sonata performances to date. Mendelssohn’s relatively underplayed Phantasie, Op. 28 is also excellent, with Mr. Huang’s fleet-fingered reading bringing it lucidity and cohesion.

One won’t find these last two pieces on the physical CD itself, so adventurous music lovers might consider purchasing the download-only version. A preview is available at https://rixianghuang.hearnow.com/. The complete recording is at Spotify, Itunes, Apple Music, and other stores.

Jonathan Griffith, DCINY Artistic Director and Principal Conductor

Featuring Distinguished Concerts Orchestra and Distinguished Concerts Singers International

Michael Adelson, DCINY Assistant Artistic Director and Conductor

Debra Cook, Soprano

Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Perpetual Light was the apt title for this Sunday’s concert presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York, and, though the title presumably refers to the Lux Aeterna finale of the John Rutter Requiem which made up this concert’s second half, the title suits DCINY’s uplifting programming overall. The DCINY organization occupies a unique position in New York concert life by drawing together singers from all over the world for choral and orchestral concerts, and their performances consistently radiate fellowship and joy in music-making. This weekend the large combined forces included choruses from Alabama, California, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and, as the program states, “individual singers from around the globe.” In addition to the much-loved Rutter work, the concert included shorter works by Rain Worthington, Mark John McEnroe, Arthur Gottschalk, and Sergio Cervetti before intermission.

It should be noted that all the works on the first half were chosen by Croatian-based conductor Miran Vaupotić, who we were told could not be present to conduct them due to visa issues. Fortunately, conductor Michael Adelson, the Assistant Artistic Director of DCINY since 2019, was able to step in as a replacement, and he led the orchestra with precision and assurance. The works chosen happened to be in somewhat accessible contemporary styles overall, but that is not to say that they were without challenges of balance, rhythm, and synchronization. Thankfully all involved were up to the demands, as one has come to expect from this orchestra.

Still Motion by Rain Worthington (b. 1949) set a tone of anticipation for the program’s opener. Described by the composer as “a mix of edgy energy, reflective sadness and strength of conviction” the work creates a hypnotic effect through repeated motives, particularly in the percussion parts (including vibraphone and tam-tam). The ever-reliable Distinguished Concerts Orchestra played it with a sense of expectant drama, and the composer was present to take a bow.

Next up were two symphonic pieces, Dance of the Pagans and Storm Clouds Approaching, by Mark John McEncroe (b. 1947). One reads in the program notes that that these two pieces were orchestrations of works written for piano, taken from Mr. McEnroe’s volumes 2 and 3 of Musical Images for Piano: Reflections & Recollections Series. The first piece, fittingly folk-like in its simplistic symmetrical phrases and repeated melodic patterns, was brought to life by the deft orchestrator’s hand of Mark J. Saliba, who perhaps ought to have been given shared billing, beyond the mention in the program notes. The second piece, moodier and more complex, seemed to present more challenges in terms of expressiveness and ensemble but was handled well by conductor and orchestra alike. The composer enjoyed a bow for each piece.

Music of Gottschalk came next, but not Louis Moreau Gottschalk (as one assumed on first glance at the DCINY website) but Arthur Gottschalk (b. 1952). We heard Tebe Boga, a solemn religious work set to a text roughly the equivalent to the Latin Te Deum but in Old Slavonic, as the work was commissioned for the Siberian State Orchestra and Choir by conductor Vladimir Lande. Composed in 2018 for orchestra, choir, and solo bass-baritone, it was adapted here for just bass-baritone and orchestra, and the intrepid soloist was Timothy Jones, who handled the entire text with compelling involvement and sure delivery. It was fascinating music by a composer who clearly knows his craft. It was originally intended to be interpolated into performances of the same composer’s Requiem: For the Living, so perhaps DCINY will present that work at some point.

Closing the first half were two atmospheric movements from the opera Elegy for A Prince by  Sergio Cervetti (b. 1940). The opera is based on Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince, and we heard Scenes 1 and 9, from Act II. The role of Swallow (and later Match-Girl) was sung by soprano Megan Weston, whose sweetness of sound worked in contrast in Scene 1 with the projected anguish of excellent bass-baritone Luis Alejandro Orozco as a Prince-turned-statue. Ms. Weston was even more remarkable in Scene 9, her high notes soaring in the music’s beautiful evocations of Swallow’s descent from heaven. Tenor Quinn Bernegger, in the role of Young Writer, then summed up the opera’s themes of compassion and benevolence, concluding with nobility the scene and the first half of this concert.

John Rutter’s much-loved Requiem closed the program under the direction now of Jonathan Griffith, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of DCINY. Composed in the relatively consolatory spirit of Fauré’s Requiem, it omits the traditional Dies Irae, and its movements of meditation and comfort outbalance the darker sections. As a British composer, Rutter also inserts two completely English movements, Out of the Deep and The Lord is My Shepherd (the second and sixth of the overall seven-movement “arch”). This music emerged in its full glory, with the multiple choruses blending quite well (and their behind-the-scenes leaders taking a well-deserved bow afterwards). The final Lux Aeterna was sheer heaven, with partial thanks to soprano soloist Debra Cook, who sang with a covered, velvety quality in her high registers, never shrill or harsh and with true intonation. She was also superb in the Pie Jesu. Outstanding as well was principal cellist Elizabeth Mikhael in the second movement Out of the Deep, beautifully resonant both in her opening solo and as the cello part was interwoven with chorus and orchestra. Kudos to all – and to DCINY for a remarkable achievement.

Yi Zhong and Joseph Kingma, pianists

Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. (YASI) Piano Salon, New York, NY

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Two pianists shared a concert this week at the Yamaha Artists Services, Inc (YASI) piano salon on Fifth Avenue: Joseph Kingma, winner of the 2017 Liszt International Piano Competition in Ohio, and Yi Zhong, a prize winner of the 2016 Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition. The concert was presented under the auspices of the American Liszt Society (ALS), and pianist Gila Goldstein, president of its New York/New Jersey Chapter since she founded it 1992, spoke words of introduction. She prepared the sizeable crowd for an evening of virtuosity, not exclusively by Liszt but also Rachmaninoff and composers who followed Liszt.

Yi Zhong played first, starting with two movements of Liszt’s transcription of the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique. We heard Reveries – Passions and Un Bal. Un Bal is the better known of the two movements, and it was brilliant in Mr. Zhong’s hands, projecting charm and sweep in its lilting waltz and mounting to a bravura ending with rapid octaves, huge leaps, hand-crossings – “the works.” Mr. Zhong is a fine champion for this transcription movement, which is still relatively rarely played.

Still rarer are live piano performances of the Symphonie’s longer first movement, Reveries-Passions, and perhaps with good reason. Berlioz, as one of history’s great masters of orchestration poured much of his inspiration into the orchestral colors, and many of these are hard to capture via solo piano, not to mention at high speed while addressing balance and detail. It is rather telling that, when pianist Christopher O’Riley performed the entire fifty-minute Symphonie in New York in 2018, it was in collaboration with Basil Twist’s aquatic puppetry, ballet, lights, and tinsel. Without ample color of some sort, the high drama can descend into hokum and the piano writing into dreck. Mr. Zhong thankfully avoided that fate, but the loudness of the hall piano still dominated the experience. Mr. Zhong certainly has the pianism to tackle just about anything, but this special niche of the repertoire will call for that “je ne sais quoi.”

A bit of a sonic reprieve came with the sublime Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor (The Maiden and the Nightingale) from Goyescas of Enrique Granados.  Mr. Zhong showed a genuine warmth of feeling here, which grew still more apparent in the next work, the Intermezzo No. 1 of Mexican composer Manuel Ponce (1882-1948). Ponce remains best known for guitar works, so it was refreshing to hear part of his piano output.

Mr. Zhong concluded his programmed portion with Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 (Rakoczy March) in Vladimir Horowitz’s version, played with tremendous technical skill and a Horowitzian gleam. Mr. Zhong is a pianist of impressive stamina, fierce concentration, and unquestionable technical command, and these bode well for his busy performing life. He returned for an encore, a jazzy piano arrangement by Alexis Weissenberg of the charming En Avril À Paris (April in Paris) of Charles Trenet (not to be confused with Vernon Duke’s April in Paris). These Weissenberg arrangements have also been performed by Marc-André Hamelin but have only recently (late 2018-2019) been made available in a Muse Press publication (edited by Mr. Hamelin), so Mr. Zhong is surely close to the forefront of some fresh repertoire.

The second pianist of the evening was Joseph Kingma. This reviewer worried a bit that the aural saturation point had already been reached in the first half, so the prospect of hearing Liszt’s Sonetto 104 del Petrarca from Années de Pèlerinages (V. II, Italy) and the complete Thirteen Preludes Op. 32 of Rachmaninoff was daunting; any misgivings, though, were short-lived.

Mr. Kingma coaxed the listener into the music’s poetry from the very first notes of his Liszt, showing the command of a master and a composer’s insight. Though his technique emerged through the program as one which is capable of anything, it was always used in the service of the music itself.

Mr. Kingma’s Rachmaninoff Preludes were astonishingly good, each in a different way. To say that the Op. 32 set is hard to pull off in live performance is an understatement. The Preludes as a group challenge every facet of pianism and musicality (including stamina), but, beyond that, they require that an artist draw out the uniqueness of each one, lest they all become a blur for an average audience after forty minutes. It was clear that Mr. Kingma knew each piece from inside the music but could also step outside each one enough to “translate” it in a sense to his audience – a rare gift.

From the stormy virtuosity of No. 1 to the dark brooding in No. 2 with its restless undercurrent and the brisk energy of No. 3’s wintry troika ride, Mr. Kingma captured the opening three wonderfully. The elusive, shifting moods in No. 4 are unwieldy for many but were projected quite persuasively, and an ethereal transparency graced the Prelude No. 5 in G major (Moderato). If one occasionally wondered whether the pedal might be a bit sluggish (as also possibly in Sonnet 104 early on), that reservation was fleeting, and the Prelude No. 6 lived up to its Allegro appassionato designation, roiling with rapid-fire finger-work and power.

These pieces travel to interesting territory tonally (one was reminded of Shostakovich and Prokofiev in moments of the No. 7 in F major, Moderato), and just when one felt one knew every inch of Rachmaninoff’s work, Mr. Kingma rekindled the desire to relearn them all more deeply. One hopes he will record the entire set (if he hasn’t already). He has clearly delved into each one on all levels, from the broader swaths to the finer lines, colored inflections, and nuances.

The set progressed seamlessly to its close, from the fleet-fingered lightness of No. 8 to the masterful pacing of No. 9, the palpable tragedy of No. 10 in B minor, and the mercurial shifts in No. 11. Only the briefest glitch arose in No. 12 – remarkable amid such a large undertaking – and the final ponderous No. 13 (Grave) held the audience spellbound. On that subject, lest one think it was an audience of all cognoscenti, two neighboring attendees who had been audibly trying to distinguish Berlioz from Granados sat utterly transfixed and silent – an affirmation of the power of music and of Mr. Kingma’s performance.

The only distractions by the end were the bongo-like noises of the hall’s radiator, which, in view of all the acoustical technology used in this space, seemed rather ironic. Both artists deserved better, so one hopes that this problem can be resolved. Apart from such matters, congratulations are in order to all involved.

Edson Scheid, period violin

Centaur Records CRC 3735

Recorded September 4, 6, and 8, 2018 at Martin Patrych Memorial Studios, Bronx, NY

Produced and Engineered by Joseph Patrych

On Paganini’s Trail… H. W. Ernst and more, played by violinist Edson Scheid, is a 2019 release on Centaur Records that many musicians will undoubtedly want to hear for several reasons. First of all, Mr. Scheid is a superb violinist and a musician who can handle the fiendish challenges of this repertoire while finding the music in it. Without that fundamental merit, very little else would matter. Secondly, though, it is also a well curated program that promises an interesting glimpse into the world of nineteenth-century violin giant, Nicolò Paganini (1782-1840) including his Introduction and Variations on Nel cor più non mi sento, Op. 38, plus a generous helping of the music by virtuoso Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1812-1865) who followed him. He even followed him literally, as the liner notes tell us, renting rooms near Paganini’s to learn from his practice. As a bonus, there is a solo version of Mozart’s Rondo from the Duo in G Major for Violin and Viola, KV 423, crafted by Mr. Scheid himself with techniques that Paganini and Ernst pioneered to simulate multiple instruments. Finally, it is of interest that the entire program is listed as being played on a “period violin” – and one is hard pressed to find other (if any) recordings of these works billed as such.

Most classical music fans these days are familiar with “historically informed performances” (HIP) of Baroque and early Classical music (albeit with mixed responses), but nineteenth-century ones are a different matter altogether. For performance practice studies to creep so close to the present feels almost like an archaeological dig in one’s own closet. Many techniques and varieties of expressiveness from the Romantic era are alive and well today, and quite a few of us musicians (several on staff at New York Concert Review) had teachers who studied with musicians from the nineteenth century.  It is natural to ask: what is now considered to define a nineteenth-century “period” violin or violinist?

The liner notes mention that Ernst and Paganini have rarely (if ever) been played on “a period instrument with gut strings and without a shoulder rest.” Apart from the strings and shoulder rest issues, we are not told the make of Mr. Scheid’s instrument or bow (which would be of interest chiefly because of the CD’s billing as “period violin”). We do know that Paganini himself played an Amati and after he lost that, a Guarneri del Gesu (an exact Vuillaume replica of which is played today by a noted violinist who is not part of any historic movement). Ernst himself played a Stradivarius, as do quite a few fortunate artists today, and it seems that the question of luthiers may not to be central to historic fidelity issues – but one is still curious because of the cover words, “period violin.”

One is left assuming that the string type and absence of shoulder rest may be central, and they are certainly important.  Gut strings, often described as providing more complex timbres and overtones, almost human-sounding, were largely replaced by synthetic and metal ones in the twentieth century, before the HIP movement really blossomed, though a number of twentieth-century giants – including Heifetz, Milstein, and Rosand – continued to favor them at least for one or two of the four strings. As for the shoulder rest or absence of it, it can affect shifts and technique overall (and depending how big it is even the resonance), but there seem to have been too many approaches to this (sponges, pads, etc.) to allow true historic codifying.

Beyond the abovementioned issues, what Mr. Scheid links to the Paganini-Ernst “period” are performance elements, and he cites two, including more sparing use of vibrato and the greater use of portamento or slides (though there have been historically differing views on the latter as well). Some violinists assert that gut strings feel more pliable, facilitating some of that portamento gliding, so one aspect can relate to the next – but back to the music itself, lest one get lost in jargon.

The disc starts with music of Ernst. Apart from two very famous Ernst pieces, including the Variations on the Last Rose of Summer and the transcription of Schubert’s Erlkönig (both included here), much of Ernst’s output is still relatively underplayed, so it is great to have all Six Polyphonic Studies here (the last being the Last Rose of Summer Variations).  Granted, there have been fantastic performances of several Ernst works by Midori, Hillary Hahn, and others, and there have also been notable collections since the turn of the millennium, including a 2008 CD of Ilya Gringolts and Ashley Wass on Hyperion and a complete Ernst cycle with Sherban Lupu and Ian Hobson on Toccata Classics (with its final Volume Six just released in 2019); the elements of curation and historical context, though, set Mr. Scheid’s album apart.

As for the playing, Mr. Scheid’s is consistently virtuosic, as it would have to be to navigate this repertoire. Mr. Scheid holds degrees from the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Yale School of Music, and the Juilliard School, where he was a two-time winner of the Historical Performance Concerto Competition, and he has aptly been described by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as “both musically and technically one of the most assured and accomplished of today’s younger period violinists.” Beyond this, he is especially adept at coaxing warm and multicolored tones from the gut strings of his violin, and he could probably convert the world’s many historic performance cynics into believers.

The first of Ernst’s Polyphonic Studies (Rondino Scherzo- Con Spirito) has one marveling at how a single violin handles music that would keep even a pianist quite busy. There is a test element at work here – these studies are like Paganini Caprices on steroids – but thanks to Mr. Scheid’s artful touch, the pyrotechnics don’t grow tiresome.  The profusion of double-stops (and triple and quadruple – one loses track) can require a bit of beat-stretching, but that stretching never becomes obnoxious in Mr. Scheidt’s hands. The Study No. 2 (marked Con Grazia) is playful, almost coquettish, and the Study No. 3 (Terzetto – Allegro moderato e tranquillo) is imbued with a wistful expressivity. On that topic, the more intimate selections are maximized by beautifully reverberant recording by producer and engineer Joseph Patrych of the Martin Patrych Memorial Studio.

The Study No. 4 (Allegro Risoluto) opens with dizzying speed, and the deeper sound that Mr. Scheid achieves in one register against gossamer arpeggiations in others highlights well the different tiers of sound in a fascinating way (again perhaps with some thanks to those gut strings). The Study No. 5 (Air de Ballet) may be the trickiest to enjoy, as the multiple challenges are simply impossible to downplay.  Mr. Scheid handles all of them amazingly, but the acrobatic elements seem intended to delight audiences in live performance, in which one could watch the dazzling “ballet.” Close-your-eyes listening fare this Air is not; the Study No. 6, though, the Last Rose of Summer Variations, lives up to its reputation as virtuosity with a soulful core. The slides or portamenti are indeed more recognizably profuse here than one hears in other performances, but they work well. As for the wildly difficult variations, it would seem the height of gall to criticize the wizardry of anyone able to pull them off. What might induce groans from fine violinists is given an almost “tossed off” feeling here – so bravo!

Ernst’s Grand Caprice for Solo Violin (on Schubert’s Erlkönig) follows chillingly. Its relentless repeated notes, and the hair-raising subject matter behind them (the story of a death ride from Goethe via Schubert), are all fodder for an exciting performance, and that is what we have, with an edge-of-seat suspense.

Only after all of the above Ernst does the CD proceed from “Paganini’s trail” to some actual Paganini, with the latter’s Introduction and Variations on Nel cor più non mi sento, Op. 38. Here the portamenti are profuse and exaggerated to the point where they are almost comical, but that may be part of the point of such over-the-top virtuosity, stagy echoes and all – to bring a smile, while dazzling with bouncing bow, stratospheric range, and endless surprises. Mr. Scheid plays this music brilliantly.

The final work on the CD, Mozart’s Rondo from the Duo in G Major for Violin and Viola, KV 423, caps off the CD and is a delight. While the average listener will enjoy it for the lightness and spirit achieved, the more experienced violin aficionados will enjoy marveling at the techniques employed to simulate two string instruments on just one. Moments here where one senses some unconventional pitch variations simply make the experience feel more live.

All in all, this disc is an admirable and noteworthy new release, which violinists will want to own and many will enjoy.

Pianists Antoni Kleczek, Ukki Sachedina, Sua Lee, Katelyn Vahala, Tianle Chen,

Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, New York, NY

 December 8, 2019

It is always a revelatory experience to hear the winners of the Rosalyn Tureck International Bach Competitions (TIBC), as this reviewer has done numerous times, and this year’s edition, the sixth, was no exception. The TIBC was conceived in 2003 by pianist Golda Vainberg-Tatz to honor her mentor, the celebrated Bach interpreter Rosalyn Tureck (with Dr. Tureck’s blessing shortly before she passed away), and the piano competitions began in 2008 (now in odd-numbered years, but having taken place 2008, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019). Each event is an enormous undertaking, superbly organized by the dynamic and elegant Ms. Tatz, and each draws an international jury and outstanding international participants (now ranging from ages 8-28). Focusing on Bach, but by no means exclusively Bach, the TIBC events have selected some stellar pianists, and its winners are lighting up the stages worldwide.

Thanks to the abundance of J. S. Bach’s output, there was a dizzying array of categories for awards (one counted 8 by genre, plus four additional prize categories). On Sunday we heard the five winners. Antoni Kleczek (USA) won in Category 2 (Inventions, Sinfonias, Duets) and shared the Contemporary Music Award. Ukki Sachedina (USA) won in Category 3 (Preludes and Fugues). Sua Lee (Korea) won in Category 4A (English Suites, French Suites, and Partitas 1,3), and Katelyn Vahala won in Category 4B (Partitas 2,4,5,6, and French Overture), as well as sharing the Contemporary Music Award. The winner in Category 7 (Recital) and Category 8 (The Goldberg Variations) was Tianle Chen (China).

Tianle Chen ( winner of the Recital, 7th Category, and the Goldberg Variations, 8th Category.)

As with many artistic endeavors, a piano competition needs backing, and this one has drawn the support (among others) of pianistic luminary Evgeny Kissin, for whom TIBC’s Evgeny Kissin/Steinway and Sons Recital Grand Prize is named. This year, that Kissin Prize was not awarded, not because some high level was not reached, it was explained, but because the voting for that prize must be unanimous, and it was not.  Other prizes not awarded included Category 5 (Various Works), Category 6 (Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Italian Concerto, Sonatas), and the award to the Outstanding Competitor from the Juilliard School.  On the subject of luminaries, though, the Kern Foundation “Aspiration” (named for the formidable pianist Olga Kern) offered the Aspiration Foundation Award which was won by Antoni Kleczek, the afternoon’s youngest performer at age thirteen.

Antoni Kleczek opened the winners’ recital with a masterful performance of Five Bagatelles (1994) by Carl Vine (b. 1954). The Five Bagatelles are also known as Threnody, after the fifth Bagatelle, which is entitled Threnody (for all of the innocent victims). Carl Vine composed the set in a way that embraces a variety of styles, and it was thus an ideal vehicle to reflect a performer’s range. The first piece, marked Darkly, opens with an eerie feeling of foreboding, and Mr. Kleczek captured this mood with complete immersion. The second piece, marked leggiero e legato, pits driving eighths and sixteenths below longer notes in the treble phrases, and it is a digital test, in a way, to ensure that the tops emerge clearly over the rapid finger-work – this pianist was more than up to the task. The third movement, the set’s slow soulful centerpiece, was beautifully introspective in the rendition of this young musician. The fourth jazzy piece had just the right swing to it, giving the set a brief lightness, and the fifth, a haunting bell-like lament, showed again that this young pianist possesses a musical maturity far beyond his years.

Anthoni Kleczek- winner of Second category inventions / symphonias,
Winner of the Olga Kern AspirationAward, and winner of the Contemporary Award.

The second pianist was Ukki Sachedina, playing Felix Mendelssohn’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor op 35. no 1 – as Mendelssohn’s Preludes and Fugues are allowed in Category 3 in combination with Bach’s own. Mr. Sachedina gave this Prelude great thoroughness and dedication, with minimal fuss and all of the emotion concentrated in the sound. The Fugue lived up to all expectations set by the Prelude, with clarity, excellent control of dynamics, and attention to each detail of counterpoint. The entrance of Mendelssohn’s own E major Chorale theme was truly noble, as was the hallowed quiet ending.

The first actual Bach of the program came from the afternoon’s third pianist, Sua Lee in three selections from Bach’s English Suite in D minor. We heard the Prelude, Sarabande, and Gavotte. Ms. Lee gave the Prelude an improvisatory feel, letting it naturally unfold into the Allegro section, which was remarkably controlled.  Only some slightly rushed repeated bass pedal tones departed from the utter steadiness, but these seemed almost inevitable in the excitement of Bach’s building. The Sarabande sounded as I had never heard it before with all manner of surprising personal touches in the double (including, unless this listener was dreaming, no Picardy third at the close – a surprise). The second Gavotte in D major was similarly graced with some very individual ornamentation and was striking and ethereal. It is rare to see this sort of individual playing in such a young performer so it will be interesting to hear how she develops over time.

The fourth pianist Katelyn Vahala gave a confident account of selections from Bach’s Partita No. 4 in D major – the Overture, Menuet, and Gigue. The Overture had just the right regal quality in its double-dotted rhythms, and what followed was excellent, though for this listener it seemed that some of the ornaments may have encumbered the tempo slightly in spots – or perhaps that deliberate quality was intentional.  With Bach, as stated by the jury chair Jeffrey Swann, there is such a wide range of possible interpretations – and sometimes that flexibility is applied to expressive manipulations of rhythm – this listener just wasn’t always in complete agreement. The Gigue closed and was wonderfully rhythmic and robust. Among Gigues this Partita’s one is quite a difficult one, with leaps that snag the best pianists, but with only the minutest exceptions Ms. Vahala was right on target. The playing all around was that of a highly accomplished pianist.

The afternoon’s final pianist Tianle Chen played two selections, starting with Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring (Chorale from Cantata no. 147) in the Myra Hess version – it was sensitively wrought. As winner in the Goldberg Variations category, he had the dubious obligation to extract a segment from this sacrosanct set, but he chose well (or someone did) with the Aria followed by Variations XX-XXX. Again Mr. Chen impressed. It is probably a challenge to leap from the Aria to Variation XX, especially at the lightning speed Mr. Chen chose for the latter, but for whatever reason it had momentary rough spots that one suspects could have been avoided with a bit more breathing room. Variation XXI was a joy, perfectly clear in each voice. Mr. Chen has superb fingers for detached rapid passagework, and one was reminded of the playing of Gould at times (if that is acceptable to say in this Tureck-oriented environment). In Variation XXIII, Mr. Chen’s staccato sixteenths moved to seamlessly perfect 32^nd notes, and there was tremendous lightness and clarity. Occasionally in the parallel thirds one wanted more “traction” (as well as in Variation XXIX) lest things run away – but all in all one was left simply wanting to hear the whole set. Mr. Chen’s pianism has much to offer the world.

The judges included Jeffrey Swann (chairman), Michael Charry, Emanuel Krasovsky, André Laplante, Joanne Polk, Matti Raekallio, Jose Ramos Santana, Mark Sullivan, and Douglas Sheldon, and a preselection jury of Martin Labazevitch, Mark Sullivan, and the director Golda Vainberg-Tatz.

Congratulations to all of them for their selections, to the young pianists, to their teachers, to the contest administration, and of course to all who learned great repertoire without winning a prize – undoubtedly, they have won in important ways, as does anyone who gets to know Bach’s music. Here’s to hearing more in a few years!

Yuri Vodovoz, violin; David Oei, piano; Guest Artists Tzu-En Lee, viola; Julian Schwarz, cello; Donovan Stokes, double bass

Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

December 8, 2019

It was a great joy to anticipate the Alaria Chamber Ensemble’s recital at Weill Hall this past weekend, for several reasons – among them the programming itself. The inclusion of a premiere always heightens a listener’s interest (or ought to), and on this afternoon’s program there was to be the world premiere of Eric Ewazen’s Piano Trio No. 2, composed for the Alaria just this year. Surrounding the Ewazen premiere were powerful works by Arvo Pärt, Ernst von Dohnanyi, and Franz Schubert – in particular the ever-popular Quintet in A Major (“Trout”) for piano and strings – so a feast was in store.

The Alaria Chamber Music Program, as one reads in the printed program booklet, has been active since 1984, formerly in residence at Mannes College (The New School for Music), and has been offering master classes, coaching, and concerts at venues throughout the city. The principal performers on this occasion were Alaria board directors Yuri Vodovoz, violinist, and David Oei, a pianist who seems to be simply everywhere on the New York music scene these days. Excellent guest artists were violist Tzu-En Lee, cellist Julian Schwarz, and double bassist Donovan Stokes.

Before even a note was played, one received the impression that the Alaria is run as a well-oiled machine (one can learn more about them at www.alaria.org). A beautiful program booklet with helpful and thorough program notes by Lawrence Bein deserves mention, considering that we complain often enough about poor and patchy notes – or a complete lack of them.  Words of introduction were spoken from the stage by Artistic Director Yuri Vodovoz and Chairman of the Board Peter Frank, and the audience learned that prior Alaria commissions have included works by Paul Schoenfield, Daniel Brewbaker, and Peter Schickele – an impressive enrichment of the chamber music repertoire.

Sunday’s program opened with Arvo Pärt’s elegiac work Mozart-Adagio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1992) written in memory of the violinist Oleg Kagan, who died in 1990 at age 44. The work is quite haunting, framing and adorning, with dissonances and fragments, the Adagio movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata K. 280. The trio played it with utter immersion, though at times for this listener the sound was a bit too live and “present” for the otherworldliness of the piece.

The perfect sound was achieved throughout Dohnanyi’s Serenade in C for string trio, Op. 10, played by Mr. Vodovoz with Tzu-En Lee and Julian Schwarz. This five-movement Serenade, composed 1902-4 when the composer was in his mid-twenties, is full of joy and energy, captured well by this ensemble. Each musician had his stunning moments – among them a ravishing viola line from Ms. Lee in the second movement Romanza and some honeyed lyricism from Mr. Vodovoz in the fourth movement Tema con Variazione – but one appreciated in a subtler, more cumulative way the musicianship of Mr. Schwarz, who was responsive in every moment, playing with a beautiful burnished tone when he came to the fore. The Serenade has its treacherous moments – among them the octaves in the frenetic and chromatic central Scherzo, where increasing efforts to match intonation perfectly tend to receive diminishing returns (as opposed to simply yielding to the motoric frenzy, scratchiness notwithstanding); in general, though, one savored Dohnanyi’s exuberance throughout, as these three musicians worked quite well together. Many moments found them melding into a vibrant collective sound, and they clearly delighted in the double-stops and energy of the Finale.

Eric Ewazen’s Piano Trio No.2 followed. This listener has appreciated Mr. Ewazen’s music since hearing his Ballade, Pastorale, and Dance for flute, horn, and piano some years ago, so this premiere was met with avid interest. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Ewazen’s music, he has tended to be (at least based on what this listener has heard) unabashedly tonal, but with a voice that is all his own. He states in his refreshingly clear notes that his influences include the music of Copland, Bernstein, and (from his days at Eastman), Howard Hanson, as a hearing of this trio would attest. The Piano Trio No. 2 is a work that many audiences will be apt to find immediately appealing, as it encompasses lucid neo-classicism, earnest lyricism, and bracing brilliance in the finale. Overall, this listener enjoyed the piece, though not quite as much as the earlier flute-horn-piano work (as some stretches seemed just a bit facilely developed, almost glib – perhaps completed in haste?); that said, it was full of engaging ideas, and with the passion invested in it by the performers, especially by Mr. Oei, who showed the devotion of a champion, it emerged as compelling and closed the first half in triumph. Enthusiastic ovations brought Mr. Ewazen to the stage for a bow, and the commission benefactor, Heather Marcus, was given well-deserved thanks as well.

After intermission came Schubert’s “Trout” Piano Quintet, adding double bassist Donovan Stokes to the four musicians of the first half, Mr. Vodovoz, Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Oei, and Ms. Lee. Clearly, as one could hear from the start, these musicians made up a felicitous five. Schubert added to an already rich musical afternoon, and one already looks forward to the next Alaria program. Congratulations to Alaria, and long may they thrive as an asset to NY cultural life!