The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony
David Bernard, conductor
Drew Petersen, piano
All Saints Church, New York, NY
December 6, 2009

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony

In a program called “Cinematic Genius”, the conductor David Bernard explored concert pieces that were later incorporated into film. Johann Strauss’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” seems far-fetched for a film about outer space, but Stanley Kubrick pulled off wonders with it in “2001, A Space Odyssey”  when he used dreamier Strauss moments to represent timelessness in space. Bernard left excerpts of the film run on screen during a complete performance of the Strauss, and it didn’t always mesh in mood–exciting dance music as a backdrop for a person walking down a spaceship corridor, for example–but you’ve got to give Bernard credit for a charming, well-prepared performance of this concert staple. I also applaud him for choosing a stylistically well- balanced program, one that presented music from three different centuries.

Drew Petersen, who performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K.466, is a 16-year-old student at the Manhattan school of Music Pre-College division. He has considerable technique—his notes were in place, the cadenza playing was imaginative, and he has done a lot of wonderful charitable work for communities who need young artists like him. Unfortunately, he had to perform on a small Kawai piano, and there was little resonance and warmth of sound. Regarding a cinematic decision, I didn’t understand the need to roll the entire closing credits of the film “Amadeus” to the concerto’s slow movement. It’s a lovely choice for the movie, but here it was a distraction.

The performance of Shostakovich’s challenging Fifth Symphony was very impressive.

Bernard has chosen players wisely; the orchestra seems to have affection for each other, and their enthusiasm for the music was undeniable. The mysterious third movement of the Fifth was incorporated into a scene of the Harrison Ford film “Patriot Games,” and it was interesting to see when it was used. Unless Mr. Bernard chooses music that was written specifically for film, I do think that excerpts of concert works used in film should be heard with the movie only before performing the work as a whole. This way, you educate the audience about a film director or film composer’s approach to a classic score and also preserve the intention of the composer. In any case, David Bernard and the orchestra should be very proud of what they’ve accomplished; I look forward to hearing them again.

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

Piano Concertos with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra

Piano Concertos with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra
Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Symphony Space, New York, NY
December 1, 2009

The young presenting organization, New York Concert Artists and Associates (est. 2008), continued its work in an ambitious evening that included the Brahms Piano Trio in C Major, Op. 87, Mozart’s Piano Concerto in B-flat Major, K. 595, and Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto.

The Brahms Trio, though a seeming anomaly in a program billed as Piano Concertos, held its own quite well, almost outweighing the concerti in range and texture.  Pianist Yoojin Oh joined forces with Olivier Fluchaire, violin, and Peter Sanders, cello, in a performance of exceptional blending and dovetailing. Well polished (except for one or two rough moments, such as the second movement double-stops), the interpretation was striking for its unity and will undoubtedly gain more breathing room with further performing. The trio section of the Scherzo was a high point, finding the three musicians at their most impassioned.

In the Mozart Concerto, the excellent soloist was Jihye Synn, a DMA candidate at Rutgers (with degrees also from the Manhattan School of Music). Her playing was characterized by clear, fluid runs, and carefully shaped melodies. She collaborated well with the conductor, David Leibowitz, maintaining intense focus despite some patchy playing in the strings. Occasionally she seemed to shrink excessively from the crests and forte moments, but her delicacy was admirable. Her embellishment of the second movement lines helped sustain them without being obtrusive, and the final Allegro saw an extemporized (or unintended?) addition to Mozart’s own cadenza.

Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto, with Gyehwa Kim as the accomplished soloist, concluded the program. Ms. Kim is a commendable pianist with credentials to support that fact, including degrees from Peabody and the University of Montreal (DMA), and, as one might expect, she showed a good technique, memory, and general grasp; for unknown reasons, however, there seemed not to be quite the meeting of minds that there needs to be in such a substantial and magnificent work. Soloist and orchestra interacted almost incidentally at times, with some glibness and scrambles ensuing.

All in all, though, one has to doff one’s hat to such a program, outside the bailiwick of the more prominent halls.

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

Michail Lifits, piano

Michail Lifits, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
November 23, 2009

Pianist Mikhail Lifits is on quite a winning streak. At his recent solo recital as First Prize winner of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, his impressive biography did not even list his top prize in the Busoni Competition, which he had won too recently to list!

Hearing his Schumann Arabesque, Op. 18, one could easily imagine how Mr. Lifits charmed several juries in one season: he has strong musical imagination, highly personal phrasing and dynamics, and none of the noisy hokum that abounds in contests. That said, it should be interesting to see how he develops and controls (or doesn’t) some rather eccentric tendencies apparent throughout the evening. Rubato was stretched at points to excess, and phrases were frequently what one might call “front-loaded” with lines starting richly and fading to perilously fine threads (occasionally disappearing or needing to be revived, as with a string player running out of bow). While the latter characteristic enhanced moments of the Arabesque, it can seem formulaic if one is not careful. In any case, there was in each work a compelling individuality that kept one listening intently, and Schumann’s Fantasy Op. 17 was given an especially sensitive and poetic reading, closing the first half quite well.

Four “Moments Musicaux” Op. 16, by Rachmaninoff opened the second half with brilliance and a wonderful flexibility in shifts of mood. Occasional reverse dynamics baffled here, as elsewhere, but the overall performance was potent.

The Suite for Piano by Daron Hagen was brought to life by more of this pianist’s expert changes of mood, from the jazzy and conversational to the haunting and lyrical. The work itself (a commissioned piece at the Van Cliburn Competition, given its NY premiere here) came as an effective buffer between two Russian giants, particularly before Prokofiev’s Seventh Sonata, which concluded the program. Lifits lit into the Prokofiev with no holds barred and some stunningly powerful contrasts.

An encore of Chopin’s posthumous Nocturne in C-sharp minor (of debatable provenance) closed the evening, offering more of this pianist’s sensitive inflections. The magical close left one looking forward to much more.

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

Yoko Suzuki, piano

Yoko Suzuki, piano
Frank and Camille’s Piano Salon, New York, NY
November 20, 2009

Appearing in the United States for the first time, pianist Yoko Suzuki played an excellent recital of Spanish music. Tokyo-born, Ms. Suzuki received her Masters degree at the Marshall Academy in Barcelona (where she currently resides) and has performed regularly in both Europe and Japan. She lists among her teachers the recently deceased Alicia de Larrocha.

Opening with an emotive Evocacion from Iberia Book I by Albeniz, Ms. Suzuki showed remarkable suppleness of phrasing, though occasionally her tempo felt a bit slow and lacking in the dreamy flow that one admired in her teacher’s playing. El Puerto, which followed, was spirited and polished. Next came a work of the underrated Mompou, his Canción y danza No. 6. Ms. Suzuki brought out the poignant harmonies just right, conveying a strong identification with this style.

The Maiden and the Nightingale (from Goyescas) and Allegro Concierto, both by Granados, followed. In each case the Lisztian element was dominant, the trills and passagework perhaps intensified by the bright Yamaha and live room.

After a brief intermission, Ms. Suzuki was joined by Yukiko Tanaka (primo) in four-hand pieces, starting with three of Mompou’s playful Comptines. Also for four hands (Ms. Suzuki now Primo) were Montsalvatge’s Tres Divertimentos, again lighter fare. Josep Garcia Gago, a relatively novel name here in the U.S., was the composer of the next solo, Triptico Romantica, which was anything but novel in the styles of its three movements, Schumanniana, Berceuse, and Impaciencia, the latter played with wonderful restless surges.

Ms. Suzuki concluded her recital with De Falla’s Fantasia Baetica; while lilting in the lyrical spots and well mastered in the demanding passages, it was not quite as fiery as this reviewer would like.

The first encore, the Ritual Fire Dance from El Amor Brujo, was effective, especially with Suzuki’s introduction, using music from the preceding “A Media Noche.”  Danza del Molinero from The Three-Cornered Hat of Falla closed the fine recital. Incidentally several of the works on this program can be heard on her 2007 recording entitled “Spanish Piano” and released on the Columna Musica label.

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

Orlay Alonso, piano

Orlay Alonso, piano
The Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York, NY
November 8, 2009

In an exciting and varied program, Orlay Alonso captivated his audience with a solo recital that showed his communicative gifts, both in his personable style in addressing the audience and his projective performances. It was a joy to be in the audience.

Satie’s Sports et Divertissements (for Piano and Narrator) opened, with Mr. Alonso’s wife capably narrating. Satie’s twenty short movements suggest a delightfully random series of images and emotions, including mock solemnity, flirtation, confetti, a tennis match, water, hunting, tangos, golf, and more; the text-painting ranges from the obvious to the tenuous, but in Mr. Alonso’s projective, quasi- choreographic presentation, the listener’s imagination was always stimulated. Bravo!

On a more serious note Ravel’s Sonatine followed. Sensitively phrased, with some especially beautiful left hand voicing, the work showed the pianist to be capable of fine gradations and subtleties. Tonally the piece benefited from some of the space’s ample reverberation, though occasionally one wanted more of the sparkling top notes in the finale (and the piano sound did seem generally stronger in the bass).

With hardly a two-minute “intermission” Mr. Alonso returned to give Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 110 an excellent performance. He played with considerable intelligence and the intense feeling that the piece inspires (and requires!). One wished for drier acoustics for this work, but the pianist adapted; in only a few spots did one think that a bit less pedal might have helped.

Book I of Iberia by Albeniz brought the afternoon to a successful close. Clearly, this pianist has a strong feeling for these works, Evocacion, El Puerto, and El Corpus en Sevilla, and he shared it well.

Mr. Alonso announced at the recital that his new teacher was present, Juana Zayas; having had an already impressive array of teachers, from Lillian Kallir and Claude Frank to fellow Cuban-American Horacio Gutierrez, Mr. Alonso’s wealth of gifts seems destined simply to increase.

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

Aglaia Koras, piano

Aglaia Koras, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
November 5, 2009

Pianist Aglaia Koras suffered through a car accident on her way to her concert on November 5th, so it wouldn’t be fair to go into detail about technicality, memory or specifics of her program. It must be said, however, that her sold-out, full-house crowd was happy to hear her, and I felt that she gave some of the most thoughtful, touching playing of Beethoven and Chopin I have heard her play. She was the come-back kid, and she should be proud to have had the courage to put on a program that many others would have canceled.  

This is her fifth consecutive season sponsored by Mid-America Productions. On March 1st, 2010, Ms. Koras will perform an All-Chopin 200th Birthday Tribute recital at Weill Recital Hall.

Ms. Koras loves Chopin, and it shows; she received a top prize in the International Chopin Young Pianists Competition, and in recent seasons, she was invited to perform an All-Chopin recital in Mexico City.  

Ms. Koras has been a frequent performer at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, but she has also performed in a special program for the United States Ambassadors in Washington, DC; in recitals at the Kennedy Center; in programs in Spain, Greece, and Brazil; on the Smithsonian website; and in concerts sponsored by the Curtis Alumni and Leschetizky Associations.

As a prize-winner, she also won the International American Music Scholarship Association Piano Competition; the International Concert Artists Guild Competition’s “Fine Artistry and Musical Excellence Award”; and first prize at the National Young Musicians Foundation and Koszciusko Foundation Competitions, among others.

Resilience and courage were the words of the day, and her show-must-go-on-mentality was very much appreciated by all in attendance. Her tradition of Chopin also goes on at Weill Hall on March 1st, and I look forward to it.  

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

La Follia Barocca

La Follia Barocca
St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York, NY
November 4, 2009

Without a doubt, La Follia Barocca is one of the finest Baroque ensembles to ever play in New York. Boundless energy, first-rate precision and an authentic sound are just some of the trademarks of this conductorless orchestra. The leader, Enrico Cassaza, plays with a virtuoso technique and was marvelous in Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E Minor “Il Favorito”, playing all the difficult high notes with assured brilliance. The ensemble shows that it is capable of handling the treacherous virtuosity of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, for example, yet they are also clearly able to play with subtlety of vibrato, bow speed and dynamics. And they were always together.

The cello soloist, Marcello Scandelli, performed Fiorenza’s Cello Concerto in D Major with the kind of passion typical of the Romantic Era, plus a rich tone, big vibrato and heavy use of portamento. He also brought intensity to the dynamics. His playing of the cadenza even included more common modernistic touches such as over-the-bridge playing (sul ponticello), which produced a slightly rough sound. Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso No. 12 in D minor: Variations on La Follia was played with elegance and intensity. The ensemble playing was highly coordinated.  

The orchestra stood throughout the program, looking—as well as sounding—like soloists. The acoustics of St. Bartholomew’s Church are perfect for a group of strings: it can produce a full-bodied sound with warm resonance, yet clarity for harmony and rhythm. And with its look of European antiquity, the space has the perfect atmosphere for the Baroque.

La Follia Barocca was created by a group of talented musicians from Milan with extensive experience in the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries. And the series Midtown Concerts is a community outreach program of ARTEK (The Art of The Early Keyboard, Inc.). Free concerts are given each Wednesday at 1:15 by professional early music ensembles and distinguished soloists. I very much hope La Follia Barocca returns to this series and to New York in general. This is the quintessential early-music orchestra: authenticity plus electricity.

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

Rira Lim, pianist

Rira Lim, piano
Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, New York
October 25, 2009

Born in South Korea, Rira Lim began playing the piano at age four, and at age 14 made her orchestral debut in her native Gwangju. After graduating from Yonsei University in Seoul, she continued her studies at the University of Texas, earning Master and Doctor degrees. She has performed in solo and chamber music in Asia and Europe, and won prizes in several international competitions.

For this recital. Ms. Lim chose an ambitious, unusual program. Even the apparently conventional opening selection was presented in an unfamiliar form: three Scarlatti Sonatas in a “transcription” for piano by Granados, with octaves, thirds, sixths, and “modern” harmonies added to make them more effective and appealing to pianists. More Granados than Scarlatti, they immediately heralded Ms. Lim’s virtuosity and wide dynamic range. Her tone was flawed only by some harshness at full volume, and a tendency to underplay her left hand; she seemed more comfortable with big chords than singing legato lines.

Barber called his Nocturne “Homage to John Fields,” but, as if reflected in a distorting mirror, its romanticism is obscured by atonal and chromatic dissonances. In Barber’s last piano piece, Ballade, written for the Van Cliburn Competition, Ms. Lim moved easily between the different moods, tempos and dynamics.

Malipiero’s four Preludi autumnali, written in 1914, are impressionistic pieces tinged with the somberness of the onset of war. The first two are all florid embellishment, the third is mournful, the fourth is sardonic and agitated. Ms. Lim brought out all these contrasting characteristics admirably.

The program’s piéce de resistance was Liszt’s Sonata, one of the repertoire’s most formidable works. In four continuous movements, it demands not only utmost virtuosity, but utmost physical and mental endurance. The slender young pianist negotiated its crashing chords, fortissimo double octave passages, cascading runs and arpeggios with untiring energy, and still had enough strength left to reward a standing ovation with a hefty encore by William Bolcom.

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

Proteus Ensemble and Hai-Ting Chinn, mezzo-soprano

Proteus Ensemble and Hai-Ting Chinn, mezzo-soprano
Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY
October 25, 2009

This was my first visit to Le Poisson Rouge, a multimedia art cabaret which has become the hip and trendy place to hear classical music in New York. The audience sat at tables and could eat and drink before, during and after the performance. Fortunately one heard very little table noise, and the wait-staff was quite discrete. I might add that the mac and cheese was delicious.

Soon after the piped-in-classical-background-music stopped, the five members of the Proteus Ensemble entered and flutist Jennifer Grim played “Syrinx,” Debussy’s work for solo flute. This segued into a performance of pianist James Johnston’s fine arrangement of Debussy’s “Prélude à l’apres-midi d’un faune.” Both pieces were beautifully done, and while pride of place goes to the flutist in both of these works, I was very impressed by the perfect intonation and beautiful balance one heard in the octave doublings played by Ms. Grim, clarinetist Gilad Harel, violinist Yuko Naito, and cellist Alberto Parrini. But, as we were not given programs, no one in the audience was informed as to what was being played or by whom.

Next, appearing hip and trendy in high boots and a mini-dress, mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn performed Poulenc’s song cycle “La courte paille.” These seven songs, settings of nonsense verses for children, were initially written for the soprano Denise Duval to sing to her son. For me, a little French whimsy goes a long way. But the audience delighted in Ms. Chinn expertly poised performance, for which James Johnston provided the sensitive accompaniment. Computer keystrokes by Ms. Chinn activated text translations which were projected on a screen behind the players.

Alban Berg’s “Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano” followed. Here one experienced some of this evening most memorable playing. The almost inaudible pianissimo phrases spun out by Mr. Harel were ravishingly beautiful, perfectly shaped and controlled.

Then came the evening’s major work, Arnold Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire.” The Proteus Ensemble’s makeup exactly matches the instrumentation of this 1912 expressionistic work. They performed the complex score masterfully, playing with such ease and assurance that it belied the fact that this was atonal Schoenberg, not Mozart. The same could be said for Ms. Chinn’s performance of the Sprechstimme (speech-voice) narration. There are many ways to perform “Pierrot’s” Sprechstimme, some more sung, some more spoken. Ms. Chinn “more sung” rendition was quite convincing.

Immediately after the performers left the stage, the piped-in-classical-background-music began again.

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

Mareda Gaither-Graves, soprano / Warren George Wilson, piano

Mareda Gaither-Graves, soprano / Warren George Wilson, piano
Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY
October 24, 2009
 

An adoring audience braved a very heavy rain to attend this concert by soprano Mareda Gaither-Graves. They were amply rewarded. The recital began with a thrilling performance of Beethoven’s concert aria “Ah! perfido.” This is a very demanding work, one in which the soloist is asked to exhibit many aspects of the singers art. And Ms. Gaither-Graves was more than up to the task. She is secure in all part of her range and her voice is well supported at all dynamic levels, from floating pianissimos to spine-tingling fortissimos.

The Beethoven was followed by three songs, one each by William Grant Still, Howard Swanson and Margaret Bonds. Ms. Gaither-Graves performed these works with deep feeling and perfect diction. The set was entitled “People of Color Speak,” and, in the written program, the audience was told that the songs were “to be sung without pause.” And no applause interrupted the set. But since “to be sung without pause” never appeared again, an unintended consequence was that the audience felt free to applaud after every subsequent song. This applause, although deserved and heartfelt, interrupted the flow of the concert.

The rest of the first half was devoted to German Lieder, three by Joseph Marx and three by Richard Strauss.  Again we heard beautiful sounds, clear diction and total commitment to expressing the meaning of the poetry. Memorable moments during the Marx set were the ringing high notes during “Hat dich die Liebe berührt,” and the beautiful soft singing in “Selige Nacht.” Warren George Wilson was a fine accompanist, but he sometimes played a bit too loudly. His page turner, Mrs. Marjorie Landsmark-DeLewis, was graciously acknowledged on the program – a first in my many years of concert-going.

The works on the second half, although sung as well as what was performed before intermission, were just not as interesting musically. And all of the four songs by Ernest Chausson were alike in mood and tempo. Yet Ms. Gaither-Graves’ beautiful phrasing at the end of the second song, “Le Colibri” (The Humming-Bird), was for me one of the evening’s high points. The slow tempi continued during the first three of the four songs by the Russian composer Yuri Falik (b.1936.) But then a fast song, “A Ringing Day,” brought the concert to a rousing conclusion,

After prolonged standing ovations, Ms. Gaither-Graves presented two encores, Miguel Sandoval’s “Lament (Vocalise)” and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Life and Death.”

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