- Location
- London
The old one is gone, so I guess I will start a new one.
Three piano recitals, one opera, five composers all start with B
2023/5/18
Hélène Grimaud
Barbican
Beethoven sonata no.30 op 109
Brahms three intermezzi op 107
Brahms Fantasies op 106
Bach/Busoni Chaconne
Grimaud is famous for her power and solid technique; in a sense like her teacher, M Argerich, but of course they are different. I got quite interested in her work after listening to her Brahms piano concertos; I think she captured good balance between sensitivity and structure of these two rather large works. With this in mind, I found her recital has very similar character; great technique which allows her to push the limit of speed and sound; rather romantic interpretation on tone and phrasing.
I think it worked very well for Brahms, I like them quite a lot. For Beethoven, surely there are many different ways to play Beethoven; her one was not so much a classical approach. If she has pushed even more, I would think it's bad taste; thankfully she was not that yet, although I was a bit unsure why the variation 3 of 3rd movement was so fast in speed comparatively. The variation 6 and the finale were beautifully done. The Chaconne was just grand and rich; very romantic.
2023/5/20 and 22
Andras Schiff
Wigmore Hall
Bach and Beethoven's works on grand piano and fortepiano
If Grimaud's romantic touch left a tiny bit of heavy taste in Bach/Beethoven lovers' mouth, Schiff's two days concerts would clean it very well. He dished a programme scheme that possibly only London can palate: Wigmore Hall posted two months ago that the music will only be announced on the day on stage; it would be mainly Bach and Beethoven, and it would be with grand piano and fortepiano both; and two days programmes would not be identical.
Guess what, both concerts sold out. And a Bach/Beethoven lover like me made sure both tickets were secured. How was I not disappointed.
In the first concert, he just sit down and play C major prelude/fuge of Well-Tempered Book 1. People know this piece well, well enough to find that something slightly different in the fuge. Schiff then took out the manuscript of Bach to explain, how himself (and everyone else) was wrong for decades, as all the publishers missed a dot which Bach put on the score. This small change made the fuge sounds much lighter and less solemn. Whether he is correct or not, I am not a musicologist I cannot comment, but I do admire that fact that in this stage of his career he still studies originals religiously.
That was just a starting statement; he then compared Bach and Beethoven's works in the same key.
F sharp major is a key that Mozart never wrote on, possibly due to it's annoying score looking (too many #). Bach of course wrote on it in his Well-tempered, and Beethoven's personal favourite sonata, No 24 (Fur Teresa), is on this key. I really quite like this sonata, I think it's a pure delight, a bit like symphony no. 8. I agree with Schiff that it's a bit overlooked, and I am glad to be able to listen to it in a concert. The next comparison is on D minor, here we have Bach fantasie and fuge and Beethoven's Tempest. Really exciting stuffs.
The second half is on fortepiano; Schiff first played another less performed Beethoven work; his last piano complete work, 6 Bagatelles op 126. It's very late Beethoven, therefore very interesting; humour, lyric, vigorous, simple yet effective. I think fortepiano possibly made it even more interesting. And then, guess which piece I listened again? Piano sonata no.30 op 109! Even he would have used normal Stainway, it would be totally different from Grimaud's playing, let alone it's on fortepiano. I think Schiff gave much clearer structural insight of this great work, though Grimaud was spotless on technique and more powerful.
The second concert, last eve, started with first piece of The Musical Offering. After that, Schiff explained that how his teacher adviced him not to look down upon inventions, even they were written for children: "if you become a pianist one day, you will come back to this". And then he sit down to play the whole 15 inventions.
Personally, Bach inventions are the only "serious work" I played on piano. I studied piano in childhood for short time, never wanted to practice, hated piano classes. And then I got into music listening in teenage, I wanted to try again; unfortunately my fingers were a bit hard then. I told the teacher (actually my younger brother's teacher) that please don't give me Czerny, I will most possibly not practice at all. So I got inventions. They are actually not that easy, but managable, until I moved to the UK and totally abandon it again. I probably can't play it anymore, but listening to it brought back so much joy.
On top of this surprise, his next piece is Waldstein! How could I have any complain at this point.
And then, something possibly can only happen in London, he said he will play Waldstein again, on fortepiano! So we listened to it a second time on a different instrument. For me, it's a great concert lay out; I am not sure how others think but that's not very important. I enjoyed it a lot, intellectually and emotionally. Just like his Bach Well-Tempered concerts (of two books) in late night Proms, these two concerts would be my unforgettable concert experience.
2023/5/19
Berg Wozzeck
Royal Opera house
Another B. It's my first time seeing Wozzeck in opera house. I quite like the production; it's still a bit homoerotic (the same director who did Billy Budd in ROH) but not overly done. The singers are also in top notch. The music was conducted (by Papano) in an approachable way. I went with a guy who knows this piece quite well, he didn't like this "easy going" approach. He said many details in the orchestration were either ignored or missing. I don't know this piece inside out but I recall I had same feeling after listening to Papano's Tristan und Isolde. I did have complain about that Tristan, but I don't have complain on this one, obviously because I just didn't know Berg enough. While I assume musicians in Wiener Staasoper's pit might do it differently, just like musicans in Bayreuth's pit would play Tristan differently.
Luckily, I will see it again in several weeks, I might have more thoughts then.
Three piano recitals, one opera, five composers all start with B
2023/5/18
Hélène Grimaud
Barbican
Beethoven sonata no.30 op 109
Brahms three intermezzi op 107
Brahms Fantasies op 106
Bach/Busoni Chaconne
Grimaud is famous for her power and solid technique; in a sense like her teacher, M Argerich, but of course they are different. I got quite interested in her work after listening to her Brahms piano concertos; I think she captured good balance between sensitivity and structure of these two rather large works. With this in mind, I found her recital has very similar character; great technique which allows her to push the limit of speed and sound; rather romantic interpretation on tone and phrasing.
I think it worked very well for Brahms, I like them quite a lot. For Beethoven, surely there are many different ways to play Beethoven; her one was not so much a classical approach. If she has pushed even more, I would think it's bad taste; thankfully she was not that yet, although I was a bit unsure why the variation 3 of 3rd movement was so fast in speed comparatively. The variation 6 and the finale were beautifully done. The Chaconne was just grand and rich; very romantic.
2023/5/20 and 22
Andras Schiff
Wigmore Hall
Bach and Beethoven's works on grand piano and fortepiano
If Grimaud's romantic touch left a tiny bit of heavy taste in Bach/Beethoven lovers' mouth, Schiff's two days concerts would clean it very well. He dished a programme scheme that possibly only London can palate: Wigmore Hall posted two months ago that the music will only be announced on the day on stage; it would be mainly Bach and Beethoven, and it would be with grand piano and fortepiano both; and two days programmes would not be identical.
Guess what, both concerts sold out. And a Bach/Beethoven lover like me made sure both tickets were secured. How was I not disappointed.
In the first concert, he just sit down and play C major prelude/fuge of Well-Tempered Book 1. People know this piece well, well enough to find that something slightly different in the fuge. Schiff then took out the manuscript of Bach to explain, how himself (and everyone else) was wrong for decades, as all the publishers missed a dot which Bach put on the score. This small change made the fuge sounds much lighter and less solemn. Whether he is correct or not, I am not a musicologist I cannot comment, but I do admire that fact that in this stage of his career he still studies originals religiously.
That was just a starting statement; he then compared Bach and Beethoven's works in the same key.
F sharp major is a key that Mozart never wrote on, possibly due to it's annoying score looking (too many #). Bach of course wrote on it in his Well-tempered, and Beethoven's personal favourite sonata, No 24 (Fur Teresa), is on this key. I really quite like this sonata, I think it's a pure delight, a bit like symphony no. 8. I agree with Schiff that it's a bit overlooked, and I am glad to be able to listen to it in a concert. The next comparison is on D minor, here we have Bach fantasie and fuge and Beethoven's Tempest. Really exciting stuffs.
The second half is on fortepiano; Schiff first played another less performed Beethoven work; his last piano complete work, 6 Bagatelles op 126. It's very late Beethoven, therefore very interesting; humour, lyric, vigorous, simple yet effective. I think fortepiano possibly made it even more interesting. And then, guess which piece I listened again? Piano sonata no.30 op 109! Even he would have used normal Stainway, it would be totally different from Grimaud's playing, let alone it's on fortepiano. I think Schiff gave much clearer structural insight of this great work, though Grimaud was spotless on technique and more powerful.
The second concert, last eve, started with first piece of The Musical Offering. After that, Schiff explained that how his teacher adviced him not to look down upon inventions, even they were written for children: "if you become a pianist one day, you will come back to this". And then he sit down to play the whole 15 inventions.
Personally, Bach inventions are the only "serious work" I played on piano. I studied piano in childhood for short time, never wanted to practice, hated piano classes. And then I got into music listening in teenage, I wanted to try again; unfortunately my fingers were a bit hard then. I told the teacher (actually my younger brother's teacher) that please don't give me Czerny, I will most possibly not practice at all. So I got inventions. They are actually not that easy, but managable, until I moved to the UK and totally abandon it again. I probably can't play it anymore, but listening to it brought back so much joy.
On top of this surprise, his next piece is Waldstein! How could I have any complain at this point.
And then, something possibly can only happen in London, he said he will play Waldstein again, on fortepiano! So we listened to it a second time on a different instrument. For me, it's a great concert lay out; I am not sure how others think but that's not very important. I enjoyed it a lot, intellectually and emotionally. Just like his Bach Well-Tempered concerts (of two books) in late night Proms, these two concerts would be my unforgettable concert experience.
2023/5/19
Berg Wozzeck
Royal Opera house
Another B. It's my first time seeing Wozzeck in opera house. I quite like the production; it's still a bit homoerotic (the same director who did Billy Budd in ROH) but not overly done. The singers are also in top notch. The music was conducted (by Papano) in an approachable way. I went with a guy who knows this piece quite well, he didn't like this "easy going" approach. He said many details in the orchestration were either ignored or missing. I don't know this piece inside out but I recall I had same feeling after listening to Papano's Tristan und Isolde. I did have complain about that Tristan, but I don't have complain on this one, obviously because I just didn't know Berg enough. While I assume musicians in Wiener Staasoper's pit might do it differently, just like musicans in Bayreuth's pit would play Tristan differently.
Luckily, I will see it again in several weeks, I might have more thoughts then.
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