Piano Potpourri, No. 4 (CD reviews)

By Karl W. Nehring

Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, op. 5; 7 Fantasien, op. 116. Adam Laloum, piano. Harmonia Mundi HMM 902666. 

French pianist Adam Laloum (b.1987) brings us works from the early and late periods of Brahms’s writings for the keyboard. The composer produced his Piano Sonata No. 3 when he was only 20 years old. The liner notes marvel of the young Brahms that “even if his constricted, lower-middle-class family environment was not as miserable as frequently related, it remains incomprehensible how an eighteen-year-old buried entirely in his romantic dream world who had no contact at all to this ‘musical world,’ could invent at the kitchen table in his home, piano music that would astound Europe. And how it became known to the public is no less miraculous. As a nobody, he embarked in the spring of 1853 upon a journey that was supposed to be hardly more than a little concert tour, and ended it as an acclaimed ‘genius’ with the first printed works in his luggage. On this trip, which rather unexpectedly carried him to its turning point, the encounter with the Schumann family, the twenty-year-old Brahms wrote his Third Piano Sonata, which was to be his premature parting from this genre. This aspect, too, is mysterious.”

The sonata is a grand composition in five movements, spanning a total of nearly 40 minutes, with all the musical depth and complexity of a symphony. Speaking of symphonies, the attentive listener will hear occasional echoes of Beethoven’s Fifth as the sonata unfolds, that da-da-da-dum showing up every once in a while, almost spectrally in the opening movement, more forcefully in the fourth. This is truly a grand and glorious work, and Laloum plays it with both power and subtlety. Strangely and sadly enough, given the power and deep beauty of this grand sonata, it proved to be Brahms’s final composition in this genre.

However, Brahms did not abandon composing for the piano altogether; rather, he went on to compose other works for the keyboard, just no more sonatas. He completed his 7 Fantasien in 1892, nearly 40 years after composing his final sonata. They are much smaller in scale, the longest coming in at 4:34, the shortest at a mere 2:23. Four of the seven selections are intermezzi, which are especially lyrical, reflective, and calmingly beautiful (Bill Heck offers some insights about intermezzi in his review of a Brahms piano recording devoted to the genre: https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2021/04/brahms-intermezzi-cd-review.html); the other three are cappriccios, which are more, well, capricious. In both genres, Laloum;’ expressive playing is well-framed by the recorded sound, which is clear and full-bodied. All in all, this is a truly rewarding release that would serve as a fine introduction to the piano music of the amazing Johannes Brahms both the younger and the elder.

Vers Le Silence. Chopin: Polonaise in C minor, Op 40 No. 2; Bolcom: Twelve New Etudes for Piano, Book I - No. 1. Fast, furious | No. 2. Récitatif | No. 3. Mirrors; Chopin: Mazurka in C Major, Op. 68 No. 1; Mazurka in G minor, Op. 67 No. 2; Mazurka in A minor, “Emile Gaillard”; Bolcom: Twelve New Etudes for Piano Book II - No. 4. Scène d’opéra | No. 5. Butterflies, hummingbirds | Nocturne; Chopin: Waltz in B minor, Op. 69 No. 2; Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 42; Bolcom: Twelve New Etudes for Piano, Book III - No. 7. Premonitions | No. 8. Rag infernal (Syncopes apocalyptiques) | No. 9. Invention; Chopin: Polonaise in A-flat Major, Op. 53; Bolcom: Twelve New Etudes for Piano, Book IV - No. 10. Vers le silence | No. 11. Hi-jinks | No. 12. Hymne à l’amour; Chopin: Mazurka in F minor, Op. 68 No. 4. Ran Dank, piano. AVIE Records AV2475. 

With this release we have releases by composers that most classical music fans would not be inclined to think of together, if for no other reason that they are far separated in time, but also because one is quite famous, especially for his piano music, while the other is, although certainly not obscure, far from widely known. As the Israeli-born (now residing in the United States) pianist Ran Dank (b. 1982) puts it, “At first glance, the musical worlds of Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849 and William Bolcom (b. 1938) seem disparate. The former, the national composer of Poland, who spent the lion’s share of his adult life in exile in the country of France, is one of classical music's most well-known and often-played composers, His writing style has become synonymous with pianistic elan and panache, with lush melodic lines in the bel canto style and brilliant bravura passage-work – all ensconced in sumptuous, romantic harmonies. The latter, a Seattle-born American composer, has become one of contemporary music’s most defining voices through boldness of invention and a nonpareil synthesis of musical languages and idioms that encompass the range of 20th-century music. As pianist-composers, they both share a perfect understanding of the human hand and the ability to use the piano to its full extent. They also possess an extraordinary ear for sounds and a keen sense of structure. All of these commonalities begin to unveil themselves when listening to these works side by side.”

As you can see from the track listing, Dank has chosen to intersperse selections of various types from Chopin’s catalog, including two Polonaises, four Mazurkas, and two Waltzes, amongst Bolcom’s 12 New Etudes for Piano. Bolcom began working on the Etudes in 1977, but put them aside when pianist Paul Jacobs, to whom they had been dedicated, passed away in 1983. However, Bolcom was persuaded to complete the work by pianists John Musto (b. 1954) and Marc-Andre Hamelin (b. 1961), so Bolcom set back to work and completed the set in 1986, expanding the dedication to include all three pianists. Although Dank opens and closes his program with Chopin, and devotes considerably more space in his liner note essay discussing the Chopin pieces he has chosen to include, he also writes, “At the core of this recording lie the Twelve New Etudes… The etudes as a whole exhibit all the traits of Bolcom’s writing: wonderfully eclectic, effortlessly moving between one musical idiom and another with seemingly endless ingenuity. The complete set won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and is one of the great etude sets in the pianistic repertoire… I would like to close with a few personal notes. With this debut recording, I have chosen to concentrate on two composers who have shaped my trajectory as a pianist and musician. The music of Chopin was, quite literally, the reason I began playing the piano. The waltzes of Chopin were the first musical pieces I remember hearing, and it was a recording of them that had me mesmerized by the age of 3. As a child of two Polish parents, the music of Chopin played a huge part in my upbringing, and every note of it resonates with me on an extremely personal level. Bolcom’s music was a much later discovery, but one that was equally valuable. Indeed, after having learned this set of etudes, I was so fascinated by it that I decided to write my doctoral dissertation on it. I have spent countless hours both playing, studying, and analyzing this text, and I hope to be able to impart some of my musical insights to the listener.”

It seems clear, then, that the primary purpose of the album is to present the Bolcom set, with the Chopin pieces being added for two main reasons: as a musical complement to the Bolcom based on Dank’s deep regard for both composers and to make the album easier to market and sell. Some might find the latter reason less than noble – either on my part for suggesting it or on the part of the producers for implementing it, if that is indeed the case. In any event, whatever the motivation, the end result is an entertaining album that succeeds in exposing music lovers to some music that they might otherwise might not ever have auditioned. The Bolcom Etudes are not going to be to everyone’s taste, but what music truly is? However, they are colorful, brief, spirited, imaginative, and varied. I will admit that they put me off a bit at first, but the more I listened, the more I came to enjoy them, and the more I came to appreciate Bolcom’s fascination with them. From the first of the dozen, titled “Fast, Furious,” which is just that, a shot of caffeinated keyboard adrenaline, we then go to “Recitatif,” a welcome island of calm. Another highlight is “Scene d’opera,” like some fantastic opera scene recalled in a dream. And so the Etudes continue, imaginative pianistic sketches, capturing moods and mental images, ending with the peaceful, reflective, perhaps resigned “”Hymne a l’amour” that completes the set. Dank then follows with a gentle performance of Chopin’s Mazurka in F Minor, op. 64, ending the album in a similar tone but offering a glimpse of hope, some light shining through the cracks. The engineering is by veteran engineer Judith Sherman, so the sound is first-rate, as you might expect. An unusual but rewarding release – try it, you might like it.

Nik Bärtsch: Entendre. Modul 58_12; Modul 55; Modul 26; Modul 13; Modul 5; Dejã-vu,Vienna. Nik Bartsch, piano. ECM 2703. 

Swiss pianist Nik Bartsch (b. 1971) has created an album of solo piano music that defies easy categorization. Although Bartach has led jazz groups that play music of a similar overall feel, the music on Entendre is not jazz; although it tends toward having a rhythmic pulse and a sense of repetitive buildup, it is not merely minimalism; and although it is in a sense composed and has titles (some of which have been played performed previously by his jazz groups), it is music that is not fully composed nor is it fully improvised. The music just seems to unfold as Bartsch plays patterns and then plays with those patterns, keeping a steady pulse but shifting accents, chords, riffs, finding “freedom in the groove” as he taps into the potential energy of the keyboard (and occasionally behind the keyboard) and channels it into kinetic energy that seems to chant and dance as it ebbs and flows. This is energetic music with an underlying sense of calm, music that can either stimulate or soothe, depending on the mood the listener brings to it. Something like a mash up of Philip Glass with Keith Jarretts Koln Concert, if that makes any sense to anyone besides me. Great driving music!

KWN