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Richard Strauss Duo Recital

Richard Strauss Duo Recital

Sharon Cheng, soprano and Michael Fennelly, piano

Jennifer Grimaldi, soprano and Max Midoit, piano

Bechstein Piano Centre, New York City

May 4, 2010

What a pleasure it was to hear two fine sopranos, accompanied by two sensitive pianists, skillfully performing the glorious songs of Richard Strauss in a well-lit intimate setting. This year, I have attended many vocal recitals in dimly-lit major concert halls where established artists sang numerous sets of obscure and forgettable songs by great composers. But tonight, we heard fourteen Strauss songs, and there wasn’t a weak one amongst them. And our pleasure hearing these songs was enhanced by the fact that there was enough light to comfortably read the written program, with its fine notes and the original German poems written along side their English translations.

To get to the performing space of the Bechstein Centre, one enters through the piano showroom. Walking among these storied instruments is a wonderful way of transitioning between the hurly-burly of midtown Manhattan and the anticipated vocal recital to follow. A left turn takes one to the performance space. Against the right wall are many upright pianos, in the front a raised stage with a large Bechstein Grand. It was sad that there were so few people in the audience to hear this fine recital.

The recital began with a performance by soprano Sharon Cheng, who sang four of the five Brentano Lieder, Opus 68. Ms. Cheng, whose vivid red dress appropriately reflected the vocal fireworks she produced, possesses an exciting and securely produced voice which grows more and more thrilling as she moves into the stratospheric parts of a soprano’s range.The high point of the set was her performance of the last song, Amor. Ms. Cheng nailed this show stopper’s very, very high notes with ease.

Sharon Cheng, soprano

Jennifer Grimaldi, soprano

Michael Fennelly, pianist

We then heard Jennifer Grimaldi, whose more somber black dress reflected her beautifully phrased and emotionally intense performance of three of Strauss’s most famous songs, Allerseelen, Morgen, and Cäcilie. Many singers seem to be afraid of singing the “hit tunes,” perhaps feeling that they will have “nothing new to say.” But performances such as Ms. Grimaldi’s, deeply felt and expressed through beautiful sounds, thrill us even though we have heard these songs so many times before. Michael Fennelly and Max Midoit were the sensitive and supportive accompanists. That they were sometimes a bit too loud was a function of the very lively performance space and the powerful Bechstein Grand upon which they were playing.

After intermission, Ms. Cheng performed the Brentano Lied she omitted on the first half. She concluded her set with wonderful performances of Ständchen and Kling, showing that she too was not afraid to sing the “hit tunes.” Many young singers often don’t program the “hit tunes” because they are afraid that their performances will be compared to those of established stars living or dead. But both Cheng and Grimaldi were up to the task. I urge all singers to forget about how someone else has performed a song. The great ones stand up to repeated performances. It’s the mediocre ones that one should be wary of. The recital ended with a most moving performance of the Vier letzte Lieder, sung by Jennifer Grimaldi.

by Harry Saltzman for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Enhake Quartet

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

May 3, 2010

An evening of works by five living composers was presented by the Enhake Quartet from Florida State University on May 3rd. The members of this foursome, all impressive soloists and adept chamber musicians, made strong cases for each of the compositions on this program. One of the defining characteristics of the Enhake is rock-solid rhythmic integrity which was evident from the start of “Breakdown Tango” by the composer John Mackey. Propelled by the violinist M. Brent Williams’ driving sixteenth note ostinato, each of the other players added a layer of complexity until the grand climax gives way to a lonely habanera solo on cello. Throughout the tango, clarinetist Wonkak Kim wove his sultry, stylized melodies into the fabric. Much of this piece feels as though it has quotation marks around it, yet in spite of that, it is well crafted and benefited from precise ensemble.

Two movements of Kris Maloy’s “Quartet in Four Actions” entitled “Slink” and “Float” further proved the quartet’s strengths in balance, intonation, and musicality. The simple arc of “Slink”, with its slowly blossoming minor third motive, was beautifully paced and modulated. At the outset of “Float”, cellist Jayoung Kim spun a legato line of great elegance, the initial voice in an expansively lyrical canon. As the music spiraled downward in dynamic and pulse, the players handled their challenges with poise.

Libby Larsen’s “Rodeo Queen of Heaven” proved to be the most harmonically adventurous composition in a decidedly conservative program. It commenced with a burst of activity. As the pianist Eun Hee Park held a tenacious pedal note, her colleagues embarked upon an almost improvisational extended fantasia. Ms. Larsen asks the performers of this piece to extend the boundaries of traditional technique, and Enhake is ideally suited to the task. This was a polished, yet spontaneous performance.

Peter Lieuwen’s “Gulfstream”, which opened the second half, was quite obviously programmatic in its deft evocation of the swirling waters of that grand body of water. Again, Eun Hee Park provided a solid foundation of fluent pianism, at times industrious, and then gently undulating. Along the way, Mr. Kim showed his impressive range in a quasi cadenza-like solo for clarinet. This was not an ambitious work, but well structured and idiomatic in its writing.

For sheer enjoyment, it would be hard to beat Peter Schickele’s “Quartet in A” as a program finale. In four clearly defined movements, the composer employs elements of French salon music, American jazz, and Eastern European folk dance, complete with off-kilter meter changes. Mr. Schickele knows how to feature his musicians, providing them with meaty, virtuosic rifts, and intuitively musical passages which just seem fun to play.

I look forward to hearing Enhake again soon, and by then I hope they will have been able to commission an even greater range of works for their growing repertory. They are excellent artists and technicians who present thoroughly prepared performances.

by David La Marche for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Dan Franklin Smith, piano

Musica de Camara

Museum of the City of New York

May 2, 2010

Dan Franklin Smith is a pianist that any composer should feel lucky to have as an advocate. In “A Musical Tapestry for the Beginning of the 21st Century,” a program featuring eight composers ranging in age from their twenties to mid-eighties, Mr. Smith drew the best from each work. His artistry and versatility seemed to know no bounds.

Opening the program were two premieres starting with Three Dances for Piano (1995) by Susan Riley-Caldini (b. 1952). From the gently lyrical “Dusk” and “Dawn” to the syncopated center, “Dancing Hard in the Moonlight,” Smith’s interpretations had immediate appeal. Promising student David Robert Johnson (b. 1988) was represented next in his “Rhapsody and Postlude” (from Suite for Piano, 2006). An improvisatory work that could have seemed facile in lesser hands, it explored some romantic and impressionistic-sounding colors, which Smith brought out beautifully.

The famous “Blue Rondo a la Turk” (1960) by Dave Brubeck (b. 1920) might be thought of as an “old chestnut,” but it sprang to life, fresh as ever, partly due to a careful program order. Following in a jazz vein were three movements from “Portraits in Jazz” (2001) by Valerie Capers (b.1935). “Bossa Brasilia” and “Waltz for Miles” evoked jazz greats with a touch of nostalgia, but it was “Billie’s Song” that showed Capers to be something of a magician in evoking the singer’s pianistic timbres – with Smith as her able assistant.

Alison Nowak (b.1948) broke from the program’s predominant tonality with her Three Inventions for Piano (2008). Carefully crafted, sometimes approaching pointillism, the work was given a committed performance that seemed to delight the composer.

The “find” of the afternoon for this listener was a work entitled “The Star to Every Wandering Bark” (2003), by Richard Pearson Thomas (b. 1957). Inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, the work showed such ravishing lyricism and meaningful development, that I left the concert determined to obtain the score and anything else by this composer. Moments could be described as Coplandesque, but Mr. Thomas writes from an undeniably individual voice. Kudos to Mr. Smith for this excellent introduction!

Intermezzo (2006) by Francesco Lecce-Chong introduced another promising young artist in a work of considerable range and virtuosity. Smith handled it with polish and drama, capping it off with the marvelous set “Three South American Sketches” by Andre Previn (b. 1929). It was a brilliant close to an outstanding recital.

by Rorianne Schrade for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

All Saints Church, New York, NY

May 2, 2010

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

The program was perfect: it had a central idea, which was music from or inspired by France. But even though the works were nicely tied together, they were also satisfyingly well-contrasted from one another. Bizet’s Symphony in C was composed by a Frenchman, who at 17 years of age was hardly a man or hardly French; his music, after all, was greatly inspired by the classical structures of Beethoven’s fourth, Schumann’s second and Mendelssohn’s third symphonies. Yet expansive French melody and chromaticism shine through, and this work is worthy of frequent performances. The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony played it marvelously well; David Bernard’s tempo choices were safe and fittingly musical at the same time—the last movement Allegro vivace, for example, wasn’t hurried or flashed for effect, but played so details could be heard. Only occasionally were trumpet and timpani eighth notes late or behind after a tied note. And only a few oboe and flute unison E’s were slightly off in the Adagio. In general, this was indeed a polished performance.

Debussy’s Nocturnes are associated with French Impressionism, yet they were an inspirational source for Stravinsky’s rhythmical Sacre du Printemps. The dreamy mood in Nuages (clouds) was captured exquisitely, and the orchestra was in sync with all of Fete’s syncopations and fly-by-night articulations. The stopped horns and trumpets were solidly in tune—though trumpet ensemble was a bit off in the March. The Premiere Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Orchestra was written later and shows a different, even less predictable side to Debussy—one with constantly shifting harmonies and irregular phrases and rhythms. It was given a sweetly seductive, technically masterful performance by the always excellent Jon Manasse.

Gershwin’s An American in Paris made a great impression all around: ensemble playing was in control—except in one syncopated brass section toward the end—balances were kept in check, intonation was excellent, tone quality beautiful, and the solo trumpet and trombone playing was very solid and evocative. Bernard added some nice touches, like a longer-than-usual bassoon grace note at the beginning of one of the slower parts. The swing section—featuring trumpet solos, trills and numerous syncopations was too slow for my taste, but every other tempo sounded completely natural. Bernard, who conducted the entire program from memory, should be very proud of what he has accomplished with this difficult program; the orchestra was confident and musical, technically impressive and extremely well-prepared.

by Anthony Aibel for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Hiroko Sasaki, piano

Hiroko Sasaki, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
April 28, 2010

Hiroko Sasaki

One of this writer’s fondest memories was the distinguished debut of a young Japanese-born pianist, Hiroko Sasaki, on May 8, 2003 (my review of that Weill Hall concert appeared in volume 10, No. 3 of this journal). Ms. Sasaki has continued to confirm my initial impression that she was “a true artist at work.” She sounded as splendid as ever at one of her return appearances under the auspices of the Abby Whiteside Foundation’s series on April 20th in the same venue. Indeed, the pianist’s program of both books of Debussy’s Preludes consolidated that same concert of seven years ago that had included works of Haydn, Chopin and the first volume of the Debussy (even the encore, Le Petit Berger, that I had called a perfect ending the first time, was repeated).

Ms. Sasaki, who left her native Japan at age 13 to join the Yehudi Menuhin School, and subsequently earned her degree at The Curtis Institute (at 16), made her orchestral debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra and has concertized extensively in the US and Canada as recitalist and chamber musician. She is still residing in New York City and is on the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

As I vividly recall, Ms. Sasaki’s distinctive interpretative persona successfully fuses Classical understatement with Romantic freedom. Her elegance has exquisite proportion but always (as I previously wrote) “sprint, gravitas and repose.” Danseuses de Delphes, which can often sound square and blocky, had a tart mobility which the pianist skillfully achieved by playing the answering response phrases a trifle faster and more impetuously than the forgoing ones. Her tempos, most of them on the brisk side, brought to the fore countless other felicities (I especially liked her ongoing, Gieseking-like treatment of THE eponymous interruption in Le Serenade Interrompue; and the way she managed the buildup in La Cathedrale engloutie (in accordance with Debussy’s own piano roll performance. As I remember, the two final Book I Preludes, La danse de Puck and Minstrels, were as fleet and invigorating as ever.

Book II, written a few years after Book I (1909-1910), has many similarities, but there are subtle differences, too. Ms. Sasaki, as one would have expected from such a discriminating musician, seized upon many opportunities. I loved her magnificently robust account of La Puerta de vino, and of course the Hommage a S. Pickwick, Esq. PPMPC had full, requisite Dickensian pomposity. Les Fees danced exquisitely, and Ondine was perceptively more dangerous. The culminating Feux d’artifice, with its final echo of the Marseillaise sizzled brilliantly.

All in all, a wonderful concert from beginning to end.

by Harris Goldsmith for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Victor Goldberg, piano

Victor Goldberg, piano
Pro Musicis
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
April 21, 2010

Victor Goldberg is an excellent pianist with a formidable technique, a powerful tone, and a romantic soul (and a distracting habit of tossing his hands way up). Russian-born, he has studied, performed and won competitions in Europe, Israel and America, and is the recipient of the 2008 Pro Musicis International Award.

His Weill Recital Hall concert, rather enigmatically entitled “From the Depths of the Creative Spirit,” showed his pianistic strengths, emotional projection, and stylistic versatility. Except for Domenico Scarlatti’s famous E major Sonata – played with filigree delicacy, crystal-clear runs and elegant leaps – the program featured music of the 19th and 20th centuries. The beginning of Chopin’s B-flat minor Scherzo immediately demonstrated that Goldberg subscribes to a key element of today’s performing style: utmost dynamic contrast. The opening figure’s ominous whisper and the crashing chords following it seemed to skirt the outer limits of the instrument’s sound, a tendency toward extremes that continued throughout the concert. But within these parameters, Mr. Goldberg has a wide range of nuances and colors, which he used with great skill and imagination.

Shostakovich wrote his second Sonata in 1942 during Hitler’s infamous siege of Leningrad that claimed 632,000 lives. One of the victims was Shostakovich’s teacher Leonid Nikolaev, to whose memory the sonata is dedicated. The Shostakovich family had been evacuated from the besieged city, but, though composed in the comparative safety of the countryside, the sonata has an eerie, unsettled quality and a desolate ending; Mr. Goldberg’s intensely expressive performance had a powerful emotional impact.

The program’s highlight was Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Handel, one of the most daunting masterpieces of the repertoire. Goldberg met its instrumental and musical challenges with masterful technical and tonal command. Combining careful planning with spontaneity, austerity with romantic passion, he made the variations building blocks in an overarching structure, yet he also brought out their individual characters, using the repeats to underline different voices. With the final fugue as a true culmination, it was a most impressive performance. Responding to the audience’s enthusiasm, he played encores by Debussy, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

by Edith Eisler for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Daniel Cho, violin

Sunglee Victoria Choi, piano

Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY

April 20, 2010

Daniel Cho

Daniel Cho played with a robust, confident sound at his New York recital debut, sponsored by the Korea Music Foundation; he displays a technique that is comparable to many top professionals today. Winner of the 2009 Great Mountains Music Festival Competition, he studies with Hyo Kang in Juilliard’s Pre-College Division. His technical prowess was exemplary in Wieniawski’s Fantaisie brillante on Themes from Gounod’s Faust; his up-bow spiccato, harmonics, difficult leaps, pizzicato and tricky double-stops were all eye-opening.

Corelli’s Sonata in E Major, which was composed in the second half of the 17th century, required clearer, more elegant phrasing and Baroque-Period simplicity, but Seunghyun Yun’s Decalcomania: Lament, a contemplative work combining the overt nature of open strings and the more mysterious qualities of major sevenths and minor ninths, was beautifully played, and with much devotion by Mr. Cho.

In the Grieg Sonata, pianist Sunglee Victoria Choi made the most of every solo turn, and—when required—she played with a lovely, tender sound. Cho had his musical moments too, but he didn’t always make the most of his opportunities to change tone color (his vibrato, pressure of the bow, etc.) in contrasting sections. Here and in Chopin’s Nocturne in D Major, Op. 27 No. 2, he sometimes forgot to substitute genuine sweetness for passion. Still, there is absolutely no doubt that Cho has complete command of his instrument. In fact, his sound is so resonant and lush that he would have no problem projecting over a full orchestra in heavily scored works such as the Shostakovich and Bartok concerti. And he certainly would be heard from the top balcony of a large hall such as Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium; hopefully, he will play there one day.

by Anthony Aibel for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Choral Chameleon

Vince Peterson, Artistic Director

Sanctuary of the Fourth Universalist Society, New York, NY

April 18, 2010

Choral Chameleon is a nineteen-voice chamber chorus whose mission “is to engage listeners in a diverse and innovative musical experience through its integrative concert programming and education outreach.” Their early-evening concert was titled “Hymns for the Amusement of Children” and featured four works composed during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These works were integrated in that their texts all have a connection to childhood. The chorus produces a pleasant sound, especially beautiful in soft homophonic passages. But unlike the reptile for which they are named, throughout the concert the sound of Choral Chameleon never changed color. They do sing with fine intonation and are very comfortable performing complex rhythmic passages. Most importantly, artistic director Vince Peterson has the chorus shape the musical lines so that they all have forward thrust and an expressive musical profile.

The concert began with “Three Choral Settings from Alice in Wonderland” by Irving Fine (1914-1962). These works set the tone of the first half – often jazzy, easy to listen to. By the way, Mr. Peterson made his first entrance carrying a baton in one hand and a plastic water bottle in the other, something this viewer found to be quite undignified.

“Five Childhood Lyrics” by John Rutter (b.1945) followed. I especially enjoyed the first song, “Monday’s Child.” It was good to hear the chorus singing some slow, expressive, a cappella music. The first half ended with the work from which the concert took its title, “Hymns for the Amusement of Children” by Conrad Susa (b.1935.) In the next to the last song, “Undressing in the Evening,” we heard the best of the first half’s three soloists drawn from the chorus, baritone Andrew Cook-Feltz.

The second half featured the world premiere of the oratorio “Such Beautiful Things” by Jeffrey Parola (b.1979.) The skillful libretto by Tony Asaro was drawn from the Brothers Grimm’s “The Traveling Musicians.” This is a well constructed major work, almost an hour long. Of the four soloists, soprano Christina Borgioli made the strongest impression. She possesses a thrilling voice – well produced and beautiful in all parts of her range.

by Harry Saltzman for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Yoonjung Han, piano

Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, NY

April 16, 2010

Gold medalist at the 2008 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, South Korean pianist Yoonjung Han recently presented her debut recital at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. A feeling of celebration and anticipation of the moment filled the auditorium. Having made her debut at the age of thirteen, Han is no stranger to the concert stage. She got right to business with a colorful and joyfully performed Haydn Sonata in E-flat Major, Hob. 52. After the light and giddy first movement, the audience erupted into applause. The Adagio was carefully planned out and balanced, though one might have wished for more spontaneity and abandon. The Presto Finale floated gracefully above ground and was received with a warm ovation.

Han seemed to truly enjoy herself during the Chopin Sonata, Op. 58. Although her sound was a bit timid at times, every harmony had a lovely inflection. This was most apparent in the third movement, which might have been a love duet in an opera Chopin never wrote. My favorite part of the program turned out to be the two selections from Granados’ “Goyescas” after the intermission— (and the gown change). “Los requirebros” (Flattery) was filled with both joy and the requisite flirtation. She showed understanding of multi-layered textures and an admirable sensitivity to the counterpoint and key structure, at the same time masterfully displaying the shimmering figurations. “El amor y la muerte” (Love and Death) was presented with drama, yearning, and passion. She now truly identified with the music and brought out the intensity I hoped for in the Chopin Sonata.

Han concluded the program with Schumann’s “Carnaval,” performed without most repeats. Many fast sections felt rushed, yet she managed to portray the festive character of this colorful ball. Overall, Han’s natural gift for melody and a charming stage presence made her recital a joy to hear.

by Magdalena Baczewska for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Sebastyen Nyirö, piano

CD Review: New York Concert Review

Sebastyen Nyirö, piano

Bach’s Aria with Thirty Variations (Goldberg)

April, 2010

This unusual and, ultimately, compelling new recording of Bach’s transcendental Aria Mit Verschiedenen Verandergungen introduces us yet to another outstanding Hungarian pianist, Sebastyen NyirÖ, who was born in 1979. This may well be the broadest and longest performance of the Goldberg Variations ever. NyirÖ favors taking all the repeats (even those in the Aria da Capo which even the near-fanatical purist Claudio Arrau was even willing to forgo in his early 1940s RCA recording released posthumously on two CDs. Rosalyn Tureck, another famous (or notorious) advocate of repeats and slow tempos, likewise ran over onto two CDs in the Philips Great Pianists of the 20th Century reissue. Simone Dinnerstein, another champion of slow tempos, played all the repeats in her in-concert performance at Weill Recital Hall, but reluctantly condoned omitting a few of them in order to limit her commercial recording (a labor-of-love, later taken over by Telarc) to a single CD. Nyirö’s rendition runs to 85 minutes and fourteen seconds: CD no. 1, with the Aria and Variations 1 through 15 taking 40 minutes and 12 seconds; CD no. 2 beginning with the French Ouverture Variation 16 and ending with the Aria da capo runs 42 minutes; 14 seconds for the work’s conclusion.

Quite apart from repeats and deliberation, Nyirö’s ideas via embellishments are extreme and immediately evident. His account of the Aria is so profusely ornamented that this listener was momentarily at a loss for a few seconds to recognize the basic melody amidst the labyrinth of encrustations. One famous pianist, Wilhelm Kempff, made a recording of the Goldberg for D.G. and unconventionally opted to reduce and strip the tema to its bare skeletal bones (banishing even the minimal decorations that Bach’s original included in his notations). NyirÖ, one might say, is the anti-Kempff!

As the recreation unfolds, Nyirö gradually makes us aware of several important qualities: first, his extreme rigor and clarity of contrapuntal texture. In this respect, his interpretation even exceeds this aspect of Glenn Gould’s 1981 second recording (the first—from 1955—couldn’t be more different, with its remarkably fast tempos and the omission of many, if not all, repeats). Also, in similarity with a well known tradition favored by the conductor Otto Klemperer (of linking some variations together in a single mathematical metronomic pulse), Variation 18, for instance, is admittedly brisker than usual, but the next variation follows at exactly the same half speed tempo. The aforementioned rigor is expressed in severely accented (even martellato) rhythms. NyirÖ is remarkably potent in his handling of the French Ouverture Variation No. 16’s first introductory half, although I was admittedly perplexed by his extremely deliberate treatment of the ensuing second half (which I feel is too static, albeit vital and rhythmically steady).

In describing Glenn Gould’s basic style (not only in Bach), I once wrote about his combining “swooning sensuality with ecclesiastic rigor.” Some of this description might likewise apply to Nyirö’s Goldberg, but the rigor is more evident than the sensuality (though I find some of the pianist’s lavish rubatos “swooning” but never “sensual.”) It will, I admit, take numerous rehearings of this recording to accustom me to certain iconoclastic details, but at the moment, only three or four variations made me take umbrage: Variation 25, which Landowska poetically dubbed as “the Black Pearl”, seems to me more akin to a “Schwartze Maria”: rather tediously fragmented and funereal, and lacking requisite flow and lyricism. Variation 28, with its written- out trills (which may sometimes seem to offer a foretaste of the finale of Beethoven’s Waldstein Sonata) is resolutely nailed to the mast. I found Variation 29 aggressively (even assaultively) splashy, and No. 30 could benefit from a touch of requisite levity and humor.

But, ultimately, one is forced to make an attempt to meet Mr.Nyirö on his own terms, pay respect to some technically wonderful pianism, and bow to his deeply motivated, honest experience and his musical thinking. I urge everyone to acknowledge Nyirö’s supreme talent and be tolerant of what may at first seem like off-putting eccentricity.

The recorded sound, incidentally, is vividly realistic.

by Harris Goldsmith for New York Concert Review; New York, NY