Review from BBC Music Magazine:
Beethoven
Complete Piano Sonatas
Daniel Barenboim (piano); plus Lang Lang, Alessio Bax, David Kadouch, Saleem Abboud Ashkar, Shai Wosner and Jonathan Biss
Label: EMI
Cat No: 368 9939 (NTSC system; LPCM stereo; 16:9 picture format)
Run Time: (7 discs)
Performance: ****
Sound: *****
At the end of this six DVD marathon, lasting about 17 hours, there is no question about one thing: Daniel Barenboim is a great teacher. The last two DVDs, of master-classes that he gave in Chicago in 2005, demonstrate that to magnificent effect. In them he has six highly gifted pianists, including Lang Lang, already famous, and Jonathan Biss, well on the way, and listens intently as each of them plays a movement of one of the sonatas. Few listeners will have many complaints about these performances, but Barenboim, in a remarkable display of encouragement combined with critique, gently takes them apart and, playing passages himself on a second piano, gradually convinces the pianists of the necessity of a whole range of adjustments, technical and interpretative. He doesn’t try to get them to imitate him, but to realise more fully the conception of the piece which he intuits that they have. It is a masterclass above all in teaching, and also a rebuke to easy listening; he really persuades the viewer as well as the player that every note counts, and the balance of every note in a chord, and so on. These long, exhausting sessions – slightly less than an hour per student – set a standard in concentration and seriousness.The first four discs, filmed in Berlin’s Staatsoper, has Barenboim performing the complete sonatas. He is not one of those pianists, such as Richter, Arrau, Kempff, Gould, whose recitals are added to by being watched. Largely expressionless, and with short podgy fingers, he is better heard than seen. Even then, I found that what he said about the sonatas was more illuminating, more moving, than his performances of them, which seem, often, too much to be further lessons. Spontaneity, which he rightly insists is crucial, after all the thinking has been done, is often lacking. Even in the early and most straightforward ones he seems to be intent on drawing our attention to this detail or that. And in the most difficult sonatas, such as the Hammerklavier, Op. 106, he takes some surprisingly leisurely tempos which suggest not only that he wants us to hear everything but that the horrible technical demands of the works are now slightly beyond his reach. There is more to be learnt here than enjoyed. Michael Tanner
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Mahler Symphonies: Bernstein on DGG-DVD
Here's the review from BBC music magazine:
Mahler
Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 6; Symphony No. 7; Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 9; Symphony No. 10 ; Das Lied von der ErdeSoloists & Choirs; LSO, Israel PO, Vienna Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
Label: DG Cat No: 073 4088 (NTSC system; dts 5.1; 4:3 picture) Reissue (1972-77)
Run Time: (9 discs)
Performance:*****
Sound: ****
The music-making on these DVDs is timeless, of a passion and a precision that are unique and unsurpassable. Yet the visuals, captured in vigilant detail by Humphrey Burton, come very much from an era when, from the orchestra’s point of view, showing your feelings was anathema (and many of these players had seen where excess displays of emotion might lead). As a telling rehearsal of the Fifth Symphony reveals, Bernstein’s extreme expressionism, a mirror of Mahler’s own, met with some scepticism from a dour, nearly-all-male Vienna Philharmonic; yet in performance, the frightening intensity etched into the conductor’s sweat-drenched face finds its way into the sound and style of these unsmiling players. Bernstein’s approach, never loosely self-indulgent, is unpredictable: the Fourth Symphony is as fast and light as the Third is slow and heavy. For Bernstein, the more energetic the tragedy, the more he relishes it: broad smiles abound as he conducts with his shoulders in the lightning marches of the Sixth or as he bounces in the grim waltz at the centre of the Seventh – perhaps the most electrifying performance of all, and certainly the one in which Viennese warmth brings the biggest gains, winning over both Bernstein’s New York recordings on CD. Outstripping all else in lacerating expression, though, is the finale of the Ninth, where the VPO visits Berlin and a young, if sporadic, audience, replaces the fossilised crowds of Vienna’s Musikvereinsaal. The harsher sound of the Israel Philharmonic gives us a tough Lied von der Erde lit by the incandescent emotion of Christa Ludwig. Janet Baker’s very different poise in the Resurrection Symphony communicates religious awe in Ely Cathedral, with the LSO burning for Bernstein and camerawork soaring heavenwards to the octagon. Not everything is perfect: dodgy Vienna brass intonation sours the Fifth’s finale and the Eighth features a disastrous mezzo among an otherwise world-class solo line-up (Unitel’s Salzburg alternative is preferable). But Bernstein’s disciplined genius makes everything, whether or not you agree with it, compelling viewing, and his talks – including a brilliant impromptu session on Das Lied von der Erde, fags in hand – are equally mesmerising.
David Nice
Mahler
Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3; Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 5; Symphony No. 6; Symphony No. 7; Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 9; Symphony No. 10 ; Das Lied von der ErdeSoloists & Choirs; LSO, Israel PO, Vienna Philharmonic/Leonard Bernstein
Label: DG Cat No: 073 4088 (NTSC system; dts 5.1; 4:3 picture) Reissue (1972-77)
Run Time: (9 discs)
Performance:*****
Sound: ****
The music-making on these DVDs is timeless, of a passion and a precision that are unique and unsurpassable. Yet the visuals, captured in vigilant detail by Humphrey Burton, come very much from an era when, from the orchestra’s point of view, showing your feelings was anathema (and many of these players had seen where excess displays of emotion might lead). As a telling rehearsal of the Fifth Symphony reveals, Bernstein’s extreme expressionism, a mirror of Mahler’s own, met with some scepticism from a dour, nearly-all-male Vienna Philharmonic; yet in performance, the frightening intensity etched into the conductor’s sweat-drenched face finds its way into the sound and style of these unsmiling players. Bernstein’s approach, never loosely self-indulgent, is unpredictable: the Fourth Symphony is as fast and light as the Third is slow and heavy. For Bernstein, the more energetic the tragedy, the more he relishes it: broad smiles abound as he conducts with his shoulders in the lightning marches of the Sixth or as he bounces in the grim waltz at the centre of the Seventh – perhaps the most electrifying performance of all, and certainly the one in which Viennese warmth brings the biggest gains, winning over both Bernstein’s New York recordings on CD. Outstripping all else in lacerating expression, though, is the finale of the Ninth, where the VPO visits Berlin and a young, if sporadic, audience, replaces the fossilised crowds of Vienna’s Musikvereinsaal. The harsher sound of the Israel Philharmonic gives us a tough Lied von der Erde lit by the incandescent emotion of Christa Ludwig. Janet Baker’s very different poise in the Resurrection Symphony communicates religious awe in Ely Cathedral, with the LSO burning for Bernstein and camerawork soaring heavenwards to the octagon. Not everything is perfect: dodgy Vienna brass intonation sours the Fifth’s finale and the Eighth features a disastrous mezzo among an otherwise world-class solo line-up (Unitel’s Salzburg alternative is preferable). But Bernstein’s disciplined genius makes everything, whether or not you agree with it, compelling viewing, and his talks – including a brilliant impromptu session on Das Lied von der Erde, fags in hand – are equally mesmerising.
David Nice
Mahler Symphony No.1
I missed the recent performance of CSO's Mahler 1st, under Bernard Haitink. However, I heard a lot about it through Chicago Mahlerites, which inspired me and so, I embarked on another round of Mahler listening endeaver.
I started with Haitnk's M1 with BPO in 1990s. This is now available on DVD.
I started with Haitnk's M1 with BPO in 1990s. This is now available on DVD.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Mendelssohn Violin Concerto
Few weeks ago I heard Vivian Hagner playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in e, with NYPO under Maazel. She picked a very slow tempo. Before that I had heard Milstein's, Kreisler's, and Chun's interpretations, who, especially for the firmst movement, had picked a faster tempo. This concerto has a lot of lyricism in it, and I believe, with a faster tempo, most of that lyric richness can be neglected.
After searching I found a recording by Hagner on Amazon. It was not available in music stores in town. So I tried whatever was avaliable, and found the closest at Barnes and Noble: Anne-Sofie Mutter with Karajan and BPO in 1980s. Very nice and polished performance, great articulation, and of course slower tempi. The first movement in Mutter/Karjan version is 14:00. I did another search and other versions by Zuckerman, Milstein, Hope, Hahn, Jansen, Salerno-Sonnefeld, Perlman, Gromioux were faster than Mutter and Hagner. I still like the slower tempo much better! I had the same feeling, when for the first time I heard Schumann's piano concerto live with Radu Lupu playing with the CSO under Daniel Barenboim. He chose to play the first movement with an extremely slower tempo, and it sounded as poetic as Schumann should sound.
After searching I found a recording by Hagner on Amazon. It was not available in music stores in town. So I tried whatever was avaliable, and found the closest at Barnes and Noble: Anne-Sofie Mutter with Karajan and BPO in 1980s. Very nice and polished performance, great articulation, and of course slower tempi. The first movement in Mutter/Karjan version is 14:00. I did another search and other versions by Zuckerman, Milstein, Hope, Hahn, Jansen, Salerno-Sonnefeld, Perlman, Gromioux were faster than Mutter and Hagner. I still like the slower tempo much better! I had the same feeling, when for the first time I heard Schumann's piano concerto live with Radu Lupu playing with the CSO under Daniel Barenboim. He chose to play the first movement with an extremely slower tempo, and it sounded as poetic as Schumann should sound.
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