Concert Review: Benjamin Grosvenor Recital

Concert Review: Benjamin Grosvenor Recital

November 17, CH
Benjamin Grosvenor Recital
Mendelssohn-Chopin-Ravel-Liszt


I first came to know Benjamin Grosvenor through a library CD (Decca) of Saint Saens, Gershwin and Ravel. While I marveled at the playing I wasn't brought quite into the music. I must say hearing him live was much more of an exciting event, and no matter how good the recording was, it did not really faithfully portray his pristine sound, particularly in the treble; nor did it truthfully reflect his spontaneity.

One month ago, much of this program was played in Carnegie Hall, and the NY Times critic called him "Boy-Lord" of the Piano (here)!

One word about the program. It was very intelligently planned, with many interlocking elements. The two halves were symmetrical, each beginning with a master's tribute to a moyen age; then moving on to two closely related composers, linked by music inspired by the water.

Two of Mendelsohn's Preludes and Fugues (Op 35) opened the program. These are almost never heard, and they proved stimulating. As played, as much as the Preludes were chiseled jewels (you'd not expect less of this composer), the Fugues were more solemn edifices (though I personally am not fond of fugues).

Chopin's Bacarolle was not quite the romantic thing some conjured. The waters seemed to be under a well-lit sky. Personally I prefer Chopin's miniatures, and I loved the Two Mazurkas (Op 63/2 and 30/4), well sprung and poetic. But most impressive was the Andante Spianato et Grand Polonaise Brilliante. The lovingly molded Andante did not prepare me for the very personal "Polonaise" that followed, which unlike the title was not conceived in a grand manner (as most play it); instead it was by turns coquettish, whimsical, even jazzy or jaunty! This pianist is his own man.

Second half started with Ravel's strangely beautiful Le Tombeau de Couperin, for me a piece that has tripped many a pianist (including many so-called Ravel "specialists"). Grosvenor brought a very original and fresh perspective to the work. A friend remarked that he played the Toccata like Prokofiev, which is as it should be.

Liszt's Venezia e Napoli concluded the program brilliantly. While the Gondoliera and Canzone were meticulously textured, the Tarantella showcased the pianists awesome bass power and concentration.

Grosvenor's playing does not lack at all in light and shade, but misty and mysterious it never was. Here is a young man reveling in his own power, yet a master at tone-painting and not afraid to bend a few things along the way. Perhaps some may miss some depth, but his showmanship more than makes up for it. His Chopin is completely different from that of Nelson Freire (see review below), yet I am glad I have heard it. A man to watch.

Concert Review: HK Sinfonietta - Penderecki

Oct 24, 2015, CH
HK Sinfonietta - Penderecki
Penderecki - Shostakovich

Penderecki is for some reason well connected with HK (and elsewhere in Asia) and makes not infrequent appearances, usually well received.

The composer's Violin Concerto No. 2 is a rarity even on records. Mutter, who first played and recorded it, commented on its elegiac tone and "a sense of burial", which I found elusive in this performance, well played by concertmaster James Cuddeford, an excellent violinist.

Penderecki is a very good conductor too. I remember a perfectly paced performance of Prokofiev's Classical Symphony many years ago. This time, he delivered a lucid account of  Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15. Although short on mystery and drama, the piece was tightly argued and well played, though more characterful playing from the soloists would have contributed more (like the magnificent performance of Shenzhen Symphony under 張國勇I heard five years ago).

Concert Review - Nelson Freire Recital

Concert Review - Nelson Freire Recital

Sept 8, 2015, CCCH
Nelson Freire Recital
Mozart-Beethoven-Prokofiev-Granados-Chopin

Although I had known Nelson Freire from his early Columbia recordings (now on Sony), somehow he slipped off my radar until a few years ago, when his Decca recordings, many available from the library, started to catch my attention again. All of them revealed greatness: rock-solid technique, golden tone and interpretive integrity. My considerable expectation for this concert was amply fulfilled.

Freire sat very still, almost frozen, for the entire concert. No theatrical movements, no agitated nor agonizing looks, yet what incredible sound came out of the piano! Sound that enriches, comforts, soothes and heals. A characteristic of Freire is that he never artificially highlights any melody or moment; everything is in its place, part of a balanced whole.

Mozart's Sonata No. 11, K331, received an unusually operatic performance, appropriately so as it stems from the same time as the Abduction of the Seraglio.  One could mistake a few coquettish moments for Scarlatti. This is certainly not a performance where one keeps looking forward to the ending, the Turkish Rondo; instead one revels in every moment, in all its splendor.

Beethoven's Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 was perfectly judged. Many pianists produce/adopt a rather lean and barren tone in trying to convey the rarefied atmosphere. Not so Freire, whose tone remained bronzed and burnished throughout in a performance of great concentration and power.

Excerpts from Prokofiev's Visions Fugitives and Granados' The Maiden and The Nightingale (from Goyescas) were atmospherically played, perfect appetizers for the Chopin to come.

In my concert going experience, the popular Bacarolle is not an easy piece to carry off. Freire is among the few who managed to do so, by keeping a steady pulse and exemplary balance. The same can be said about the elusive Mazurkas; Freire offered two (Op. 17/4; Op. 56/2), both beautifully captured as few can (another master is Fou Ts'ong). The Ballade No. 4 was steady and strong, though here I'd prefer a little more fire.

But the encores of transcriptions proved even more revelatory. After its soft opening, the Bach/Siloti Prelude in G minor rang out in awesome organ-like sonority - what majesty! Then came a richly toned Bach/Hess Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. At the end of it, tears came to my eyes. Thank you, Nelson Freire, for a most healing moment.

Concert Review: Andris Nelsons and Yannick Nezet-Sequin

Note: I forgot about writing about these, so these are just very brief comments.

pics from NYT.

April 16, 2015, Carnegie Hall
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons/Christian Tetzlaff
Shostakovich/Beethoven

I was very eager to hear Nelsons. My expectations were only partially fulfilled. Shostakovich's Pasacaglia from Act II of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk was a crisp opener. The BSO sounded very much better than heard many years ago. I particularly loved the very refined woodwinds. The Symphony No. 10 was very well played and theatrical, but missed greatness as it did not show much angst. Beethoven's Violin Concerto was very well played by Tetzlaff, and ensemble was tight.

NYT review


May 14, 2015, Carnegie Hall
Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nezet-Sequin/Emanuel Ax
Muhly/Beethoven/Rachmaninov


Again, Nezet-Sequin left me just a little short of enthusiastic. Nico Muhly's Mixed Messages was an entertaining opener. Beethoven Piano Concert No. 3 was capably played by Ax and well partnered by the orchestra. I went to hear the Rachmaninov Symphony No. 3, one of my favorite works. It was a good performance but missed greatness (think recordings by Boult and Ashkenazy), lacking wistfulness and grandeur by turn.


NYT review

Concert Review: Dresden Staatskapelle-Thielemann

Concert Review: Dresden Staatskapelle-Thielemann

Feb 27, CCCH

Dresden Staatskapelle-Thielemann

Strauss-Bruckner

I don't usually attend the HK Arts Festival concerts: there are too many people there who go for the wrong reasons; these people never attend non-glamorous events, like HKPO concerts; these people are there to be seen, not there for the music. I am sure our besieged chief executive Leung knows nothing about Bruckner (he disappeared after the first half)! The events also attract name-brand lovers, who otherwise do not care about the music scene.

I made an exception this year, not for the big names of Dresden/Thielemann, but for the Bruckner Ninth, a sacred piece of music to me.

Almost two years ago, in NYC I heard the same team in an outstanding Bruckner's Eighth (reported briefly here), but this outing proved just a little less satisfactory. In a way it went the same way as Yannick Nezet-Sequin's performance with the Philadelphia I heard in NYC a year later (reported here), tightly argued in the first two movements but lacking in coherence and spiritual journey in the penultimate third movement, surely one of the most mysterious in the classical cannon.

As mentioned in a NYT link I provided previously, the orchestra's greatest strength is its totality. The brass and woodwinds don't really stand out, but they play all of one piece. The ensemble-ship is enticing. The strings are magnificent, playing with chamber-like co-ordination and precision in Strauss' Metamorphosen. In Bruckner's Ninth, the brass dominate. In the first movement, Thielemann holds them in reserve at first, but lets them loose a bit later to good effect. His dynamic gradations are unusually smooth and powerful, sometimes a little reminisecent of Celibidache and others, sometimes just a little too consciously grand. The scherzo is well characterized. But imho the third movement falls apart a bit. There is a glacial feeling, of orchestral energy winding down. The piercing dissonance and struggle that should be there are not well conveyed. The dissolution should be in the music, not in the orchestra. In a word, for this listener, a bit of spirituality is lacking. As is appropriate for this program, no encore was offered.

A sour note. After the Strauss, some idiot (an elderly person) clapped way before the ending, but what followed after the applause was far worse, indeed pandemonium. I was sitting right beneath the organ, and all of a sudden this tall, gaunt elderly person behind me started a cacophonous diatribe against the offender (in both Cantonese and English), demanding his removal for insulting the music. Right away he was echoed by another person further up front. It was the most confrontational I have even witnessed in a concert hall, anywhere. But that is only half the story.

During the intermission, this self-righteous person behind me, and his younger female companion, circled the hall hunting for the offender. He finally got him cornered and in ferociously demanded the ushers remove him (they did not). He was still piping angry when the second half was about to commence. I heard them converse in Japanese and turned to say to them: "the other person is an idiot, but your anger is preventing you and us from enjoying the concert ..." Then he went on swearing, and I heard "fucking chink"! Imagine! Ten years ago, I'd have gotten into a fight with him, but with due respect to the performance soon to begin, I did not. I just said to them, "look, this "fucking chink" thing doesn't belong here!. Just enjoy the music!". The companion was obviously embarrassed and asked him to tone down the "nationalist" (her word) stuff.

Imagine, to ensure a good spiritual journey with Bruckner, one is willing to curse, persecute and blow hot and cold. Bruckner would not understand, but Hitler and the many Bruckner lovers in the Third Reich, would. This Japanese I encountered is the lowest of the low. That this person is obviously a educated long-time HK resident makes it more sad.

Concert Review: HKPO - Das Rheingold

Best surprise of the show was the wonderful singing of Korean bass Kwangchul Youn.

Concert Review: HKPO - Das Rheingold

January 22, 2015, CCCH
HKPO-Jaap and soloists
Wagner Das Rheingold

Note (24/01/16) Naxos has issued a recording of the concerts, to generally favorable reviews. Personally, I am surprised that Goerne's Wotan received much praise. I think multi-miking helped him seem bigger and more authoritative. In concert he was not. More on this in my review of 2016's Die Walkure.

First thing first, the biggest name disappoints. The Wotan of Matthias Goerne was an outright failure. He had never sung Wotan before, and obviously he was feeling out the role far away from Europe. The singing was generic, inadequately shaded, and simply did not have the depth and breath the role required. Even his physical presence seemed rather uncomfortable.

The biggest surprise came from the Giants. While Stephen Milling (Fafner) was indeed imposing in stature, in tandem Korean Kwanchul Youn (Fasolt) was almost comically dwarfed (this would never work on the opera stage). The former sang in a well-characterized manner, but it was the singing of the latter that was the biggest surprise - big, full-throated and resonant. Simply fantastic.

The central characters of Alberich (Peter Sidhom) and Loge (Kim Begley) were well sung and portrayed, the former especially so for good acting (whatever could be done on stage). Among the rest, David Cagelosi portrayed a suitably pathetic Mime. Oleksandr Pushniak (Donner) and Charles Reid (Froh) were competent.

Among the ladies, Michelle DeYoung (Fricka) and Deborah Humble (Erda) were very good. The Freia of Anna Samuil was a shrieking hysteric. Japanese Eri Nakamura was competent as Woglinde, but Aurhelia Varak (Wellgunde) and Hermine Haslebock (Flosshilde) were much less satisfactory.

Jaap van Zweden conducted in his customary, rather brute, style, so textures were generally clean, but atmosphere was lacking. As usual, the HKPO strings were tidy and dry, failing to portray anything like the Rhein. Woodwinds also paled next to the generally very good playing of the huge, much augmented brass section.

Concert Review: HKPO - Bezhod Abduraimov - Thomas Dausgaard

Concert Review: HKPO - Bezhod Abduraimov - Thomas Dausgaard

Jan 9, 2015, CCCH
HKPO - Bezhod Abduraimov - Thomas Dausgaard
Mendelssohn - Rachmaninov - Elgar


I came to know this latest wunderkind through the public library, which has his excellent first Decca CD release.


For an opener, lanky Dane conductor Thomas Dausgaard delivered a lean and mean Hebrides overture.


The Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 was almost anti-romantic, but the tight partnership was enticing. Bezhod Abduraimov produced the most beautiful tone and did not just hammer it out, instead filling many passages with refreshing poetry. One of my friends who went the following night said he played just too beautifully, but I desist. The encore made me want to hear his recital. Come back soon!

Elgar's Enigma Variations has never been a personal favorite. On this occasion, it was played well. Nimrod lacked a little atmosphere. But Dausgaard played a trick by playing the original ending first (no wonder it sounded odd), and then he spoke to the audience and played the revised ending  (upon urging by the publisher). Well, the publisher was right! :-)