October 2019 Classical Reviews

Phil‟s Classical Reviews Atlanta Audio Club October, 2019 Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 Mahler: Symphony No. 1 – Osmo Mozart: Piano Concertos 17, 24 Manfred Honeck, Pittsburgh Vänskä, Minnesota Orchestra Orli Shaham, pianist Symphony Orchestra (Bis Records) David Robertson, St. Louis SO (Reference Recordings) (Canary Classics) Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Orchestra continue their voyage of I‟ve always wondered what it was under the incisive and decisive discovery of Gustav Mahler with about Mozart‟s mature concertos for leadership of music director Manfred Symphony No. 1 in D Major (1888). In piano that made them so uniquely Honeck, gives one of its very best many ways, it remains his most wonderful and beautiful. Was it their performances to date in a stunning- popular symphony for its abundant transparency, with absolutely no sounding and beautifully nuanced lyricism, but there are thorns as well clutter or excess? Or was it the way account of Anton Bruckner‟s Ninth as flowers, and Vänskä‟s carefully the beauty and emotion in his music Symphony. Captured in SACD 5.0 crafted account brings these out, too. (which have a way of ultimately being and CD Stereo, it is likely to occupy a one and the same) come across proud place on your CD shelf for It begins, unusually for a classical immediately to the listener? Mozart years to come. symphony, with a slow movement, himself was accustomed to talk about Langsam schleppend – immer sehr his new style of composition as “a As you may possibly know, the Ninth gemächlich (slow and somnolent, happy medium between what is too Symphony is often described as always very leisurely). It is an utterly easy and too difficult” for performers “unfinished,” and for sure Bruckner charming picture of a world slowly to play or audiences to comprehend. fully orchestrated only 172 measures coming to life in the early light of But surely the magic of these works of the fourth movement, not nearly dawn. Mahler even includes a direct must consist of more than just that? enough for a satisfying conclusion. quotation of the melody from his Nearing the end of his life in 1896, he Wayfarer song “Ging heut Morgen Well, it does. And we get a lot of authorized the insertion of his choral übers Feld" (I walked this morning clues from a three-way conversation Te Deum (1884) for a finale, an through the field), reinforcing the idea in the booklet annotation involving option that would not have been of pristine innocence. Even here, he pianist Orli Shaham, conductor David satisfactory from either a musical or a is preparing the way for further Robertson, and Mozart scholar Elaine theological point of view. For the organic development by the inclusion Sisman. First and foremost, there is Ninth Symphony is not just about of the interval of a fourth, which is the way in which Mozart thought glorifying God (Te Deum laudamus). found in many guises, rustic, dramatically and theatrically, as if It concerns man‟s redemption from enigmatic, sad, or triumphant, and in opera were his native language. It is sin and the peace that results from every movement. Here it is even revealed in part in the way a theme salvation. Of this, more later…. heard in the imitation cuckoo-calls, sounds different when played by a raised from the interval of a third that different instrument, or on a different When you look at the score of the we hear in nature but still exuding starting note, or with a note changed Ninth Symphony, you discover a their usual woodsy charm. up or down, or embellished with a trill. bewildering number of themes, with Not only do these changes help move accelerandos, diminuendos, sudden It is something of a rude shock when things along, but they affect the way outbursts from the instruments of the the Scherzo breaks in Kräftig bewegt we feel about the theme. orchestra, and long, impressively upon this idyllic scene, but it too is structured build-ups to the various distinctly rural in feeling. It is in the The two concertos heard on this climaxes. All these features in the tempo of an Austrian folk dance, the album are, in Orli‟s words, “the ones score, and more, give rise to highly Ländler, with the rhythm of a gently with variations,” that is they are the compelling moments, building to a swaying Waltz in the Trio section. only two that conclude with strict cumulative effect that even the most This robust but somehow nostalgic variations on a single theme, which is naïve first-time listener can‟t help but movement is followed after a general played at the beginning of the final experience. And needless to say, pause by a decidedly strange, even movement and then changed with there are an immense number of slightly grotesque, slow movement each repetition. And to show how cueings for the conductor to give the that was initially inspired by a popular much a composer can get out of an orchestra. To help us appreciate how illustration, well-known to all Austrian idea, he was also pushing the Bruckner puts it all together, Honeck children, of the funeral procession of envelope of what pianists could do includes a detailed analysis, by bar a huntsman, his coffin borne in a technically. Besides the trills and number and track time, of the torch-lit procession by the very forest other embellishments, which were significant moments in the score. animals he was accustomed to hunt. common practice in the 18th Century, It is truly a world turned upside-down! there are the matter of accidentals. Honeck also gives us occasional Orli describes these as “[indications] insights as to how he prefers to take The tempo moves slowly and in a score where the composer is certain passages. “I ask for clear lugubriously over repeated fourths in departing from what you might call phrasing from the violins and violas, the tympani. The melody, reminiscent standard harmonic operating while also immersing in a special of the nursery song “Frere Jacques,” procedure.” Because they mark vibrato sound,” he says of a quiet known in German speaking countries changes from an established pattern, section following the crescendo at as “Bruder Martin,” gradually morphs they require “a good deal more 16:16 in the first movement. Of the into an Hassidic dance with sounds of mental efffort and alacrity of the disposition of the instruments in the cymbals and exaggerated glissando fingers to pull off.” Scherzo, characterized by shadowy leaps adding to the fun. The “Frere dances, spooky and threatening Jacques” theme elides into a soothing What Orli Shaham says about the scurryings, a childlike lamentation in melody borrowed from another requirements Mozart makes of the the oboe, melancholy singing in the Wayfarer song, “Die zwei blauen pianist, she more than makes good in strings, and lively flute passages, he Augen” (the two blue eyes) in which her performances, which are ably remarks “I aim to balance the layers the persona in the song finds rest and seconded by the St. Louis Symphony of voices so as to allow these comfort from the sadness of life and under Robetson‟s direction. For its moments to come through.” loss in the shade of a linden tree. sheer poetic lyricism, the interplay between soloist and orchestra has The most significant movement is the Then, the finale breaks in without a long made Concerto No. 17 in G third, which Bruckner marks “Sehr pause, building up to a maelstrom of Major, K453 an audience favorite. Its langsam, feierlich” (very slow and feverish activity. Booklet annotator rhapsodic slow movement, a really solemn). There are more incidents Jeremy Barham rightly terms this wonderful Andante, is particularly here than we might expect of an energy-driven movement “a hot- notable for its subtle interplay, Adagio, which is usually simpler and blooded cocktail of Lisztian and veering into high drama, among more easily flowing. In his analysis, Grand Operatic gestures,” “as if the piano, strings and woodwinds. Honeck reminds us that Bruckner, by very gates of hell have been opened.” nature a simple, trusting man, was a Even as superb a technician of the Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K491, is devout Catholic all his life and was podium as Osmo Vänskä has his distinguished by the grandeur of its accustomed to include the Agnus Dei hands full anticipating and cueing the conception as well as by the fact that (Lamb of God) in his daily devotions. bewildering number of incidents in the it is one of only two Mozart piano Honeck perceptively focuses on the first half of this 21-minute explosion concertos in a minor key (the other is key words Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), marked Stürmisch bewegt (stormily No. 20 in D Minor, K466). That fact peccata (sins), miserere (have moved – and how!) About 11:35 into has much to do with the prevailing mercy), and pacem (peace) as this finale, we are given a surprise mood of the slow movement, a guides to understanding Bruckner‟s just when it appears the movement somber Larghetto. The echoes of thematic scheme for developing and and the symphony itself have ended operatic dialogue and aria that we resolving the various conflicts in this quietly. There is a pause for breath encounter in the beautifully sad aria- movement. It‟s all there for the ear to (luftpause) and then the music like section the soloist plays following hear, including themes that follow the resumes, building to an even more the first-movement cadenza are natural cadence of the words.

Load more