Reviews
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American Record Guide independent critics reviewing classical recordings and music in concert September-October 2012
BLUMENFELD: Piano Pieces Jouni Somero FC 9706—69 minutes For people familiar with the music of Felix Blumenfeld, there should be no qualms about acquiring this recording. All of the selections save one are new to CD, and the performances are beautifully realized with careful attention to phrasing and dynamics. Blumenfeld (1863-1931) was born in Russia and studied composition under Rimsky-Korsakoff. As a piano teacher he counted among his students Simon Barere, Vladimir Horowitz, and Maria Yudina. His music is romantic, technically challenging, and Russian to the core. Only the Etude de Concert, Op. 24, is duplicated on another disc, so this recording is mandatory for expanding your Blumenfeld collection. As a study in contrast it is enlightening to compare this with the performance by Daniel Blumenthal on Marco Polo. Somero is the more powerful player, though Blumenthal achieves impressive results with his refined, more poetic playing. It would be hard to choose between them. The Suite Polonaise has four dance movements and must be a delight to play as well as to hear. It is unpretentious and has the wonderful melodic and harmonic twists of the late Russian romantics. It also owes a certain debt to Chopin. With its ten brief movements, the Moments Lyriques strike a more serious tone, with melody slightly more elusive than the Suite and a definite sadness defining most of the pieces. Nicolas Medtner comes to mind most often in listening to it. Two Nocturnes, Souvenir Douloureux, and the other pieces are all worth getting to know. The short Danse, Op. 53:1 that concludes the program reaches into new harmonic territory reflective of Scriabin or Catoire. In all of this, Finnish-born (1963) Jouni Somero shows complete mastery and the highest interpretive skills. None of the music save the Suite can be considered to belong to the salon. All of it is serious and requires great subtlety and a willingness to probe the depths. Somero studied in Cologne and Switzerland with Georgy Cziffra and Michael Ponti. In 1987 he was awarded a diploma at the International Music Competition in Rio de Janeiro. He is well represented on records. Notes are decent, if brief, and the recording is very good. Chalk this up as another recent discovery of some importance. BECKER
American Record Guide independent critics reviewing classical recordings and music in concert September-October 2012
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Pieces, opp 5, 7, 8, 40 Mikhail Pletnev Regis 1354—64 minutes Sonata in G; Children’s Album; Aveau Passionne; Impromptu; Valse-Scherzo Jouni Somero, p FC 9728—77 minutes The Pletnev is a reissue from Melodiya (from 1986 and 1988). This may be its first appearance in this country. Had I heard it back then, I would have praised it for its elegance, style, and spirit. Listening to it now gives me great pleasure and joy at having discovered the many beauties of performances totally in sympathy with the music. Were I required to recommend a single disc of the composer’s piano music, this would be the one. While all of the selections belong to the realm of salon music, they are melodic and charming. The slower pieces also have a wistful sadness and bleed a bit from the heart of old Russia. The remaining three opus numbers are additional gems to remind us what we are missing since Pletnev has not recorded the composer’s complete piano works. Although we have a nicely performed complete set with Victoria Postnikova and the start of a set with Oxana Yablonskaya, neither is quite in the same league as Pletnev. Even if you have the Postnikova, you may want to consider this as a supplement. The uncredited notes are good, and the recording is excellent. With Somero we have the start of yet another set of the complete piano music. Although this is marked as Volume 2, I have not seen Volume 1; and if you look carefully enough, the present volume is also marked Volume 3, apparently of a series called “Russian Project”. Forget this, and forget the strange spellings on this Finnish label’s website. Somero is one heck of a pianist and I am pleased to make his acquaintance twice this month (see Blumenfeld review). The Grand Sonata in G is a monumental work lasting over half an hour. It has many recordings—even one by Pletnev on Melodiya with pretty nearly this same coupling. A check of the Regis website shows that it is available once again. It could be worth some serious consideration. Somero meanwhile, aided by Guides.qxd 7/30/2012 12:15 PM Page 185 186 September/October 2012 some fabulous sound, offers a powerfully penetrating performance, as gutsy as one could wish in this super-charged music. Some might quibble with his demonic, driven approach, though the music is designed to take no captors and to live constantly on the brink. Postnikova, on the other hand, takes several minutes longer and makes a heavier, more weighty experience of the music. Her lyrical contrasts are more deeply felt, but we have less of an exciting ride, particularly in the Finale. She is no lightweight in the technical department, though anyone playing this music must be able to toss off difficulties with ease. Sviatoslav Richter polishes off the Sonata in slightly over 30 minutes, yet there is never any feeling of undue haste. I am inclined to give him the nod for overall excellence; very few pianists could duplicate his achievement. With everything perfectly in place, and his expressiveness reaching the heart and soul of this music, all one can do is sit back and marvel. Yablonskaya takes an altogether different view of this music. Her performance is all delicacy and avoidance of fire and brimstone. If I find it at odds with the nature of the music, she certainly tries to make a valid case for it. Don’t expect it to set you afire. The pleasant little pieces that make up the Children’s Album find strong advocacy in the hands of both Somero and Postnikova. Tchaikovsky’s answer to Kinderszenen was even dedicated to Schumann. The remaining three pieces in Somero’s selection are without opus numbers and date from 1889. They are most pleasant to listen to. Somero’s notes are extremely brief, but to the point. BECKER American Record Guide independent critics reviewing classical recordings and music in concert May-Juli 2014 GADE: Piano Sonata; Aquarelles; |
American Record Guide independent critics reviewing classical recordings and music in concert September-October 2012
BORTKIEWICZ: Piano Works Volume 3: The Little Wanderer; 6 Preludes, op 13; Marionettes; Sonata 1 Volume 5: 4 Pieces, op 10; 3 Pieces, op 24; 12 New Etudes, op 29 Jouni Somero, p 3: FC 9723—68 minutes 5: FC 9736—72 minutes Sergei Bortkiewicz (1877-1952) was born in the Ukraine, educated in St Petersburg and Leipzig, and died an Austrian citizen in Vienna. While his life began only four years later and lasted nine years longer than Rachmaninoff’s the two Russians can easily be viewed as exact contemporaries. There is no evidence that they ever met or performed each other’s music. While Rachmaninoff’s life story is fairly well known, leaving Russia for good in 1917 during the Revolution and eventually becoming an American citizen, Bortkiewicz found himself caught up in the horrors of the Russian Revolution and both World Wars. He moved often and was financially dependent on the generosity of friends and benefactors. Even though he became an Austrian citizen in 1925, he was viewed as a Russian by the Nazi regime and his works were banned in Germany. The wealth that Rachmaninoff earned as a concert pianist, conductor, and composer the last 25 years of his life were completely unknown to Bortkiewicz. I find it therefore somewhat incongruous that Bortkiewicz’s music, while similar stylistically to Rachmaninoff’s, is more positive and bright than the pervasive melancholy we associate with Rachmaninoff. Bortkiewicz’s musical style is heavily influenced by Chopin, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Liadov. There are also similarities with Rachmaninoff and even early Scriabin. 38 of his 70 opus numbers are for solo piano (a number are 10 or more short pieces), two more are for piano duet, plus three piano concertos, a number of songs, and a good quantity of chamber music with piano. He was quite a fine concert pianist; and, except for a few sets of pieces specifically designed for amateur pianists, his music is very challenging. Of the music on these two discs, I found the sonata and the etudes the most compelling, with performances to match. These are big virtuoso pieces, the sonata similar to the first sonatas of Rachmaninoff and Scriabin, except this is in a major key. Bortkiewicz packed the etudes with all the romantic emotion and technical demands that you are familiar with if you know Chopin’s. Both The Little Wanderer and Marionettes are sets of teaching pieces in a wide variety of musical styles, and could easily introduce young musicians to a wide range of music. Somero imbues each with the requisite panache, and they hold your interest over many hearings. The other sets of pieces range from short two-or-three minute pieces like the Six Preludes to more substantial six-minute plus pieces with Chopin-inspired titles like Ballade, Nocturne, and Impromptu. Jouni Somero (b. 1963) is a very busy Finnish pianist with over 2500 concerts and 80 recordings to his credit. He has recorded four volumes of Rachmaninoff, five volumes of Finnish piano music, as well as eight volumes of Bortkiewicz. His booklet notes are very good (and well translated from the original Finnish). He has all the necessary technical equipment and sensitivity, coupled with a clear affinity for late romantic piano music. These are very enjoyable recordings. HARRINGTON
American Record Guide independent critics reviewing classical recordings and music in concert July-August 2012
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Pieces 1 Jouni Somero FC 9720—76 minutes Tchaikovsky’s piano music is not as well This is the most attractive one I have heard so far. SULLIVAN
Dazzling and Muscular Performances of Godard’s By Hexameron on February 1, 2016 (Amazon) Benjamin Godard (1849-1895) was much like Saint-Saens: a cosmopolitan Frenchman not at all seduced by Wagner and instead influenced by Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Liszt. He was manifestly inspired by these composers when writing for the piano. Many of his pieces meet the exigencies of the amateur salon market, while others require the virtuosity of a concert pianist. The Grand Piano label is surveying Godard’s piano music with pianist Eliane Reyes, but she is outclassed by Jouni Somero, who has the muscle and spirited élan to bring out the best in these works. The “Valse Chromatique’ is a tour-de-force, one of Godard’s most garishly acrobatic examples of bravura pianism. It is bustling with ostentatious flourishes, glissandi, splashy octaves, and Alkan-like chromatic scalar figures going up and down. Somero plays the hell out of it, achieving more bombast than the piece probably requires, and the ensuring fireworks are riveting. By contrast the “Promenade en mer” is a gentle salon piece evoking a boat scene, which has a major tempestuous climax. Compared with Reyes, Somero is the better showman and performer. He exhibits tremendous brio and plays with colossal strength and Romantic abandon in the crescendos, whereas Reyes is restrained and keeps her dynamics low. She approaches this piece as if it’s a delicate French nocturne, while Somero tackles it with Lisztian flair. A similar disparity between performers is on display in the Sonata Fantastique, perhaps Godard’s most significant piano work. Each movement is of a programmatic nature. “The Spirits of the Forest” features a rapid patter of tremolos and a repeated bass note figure depicting forest creatures. Godard employs the flamboyant attitude and pianistic devices of Liszt, and Somero’s heavier hand enlivens the work. “Goblins” is all bouncy and comical with a light elfin texture. “The Fairy of Love” is a Schumannesque song without words. In Somero’s hands, its passionate climax becomes a monumental grandiose outpouring; absolutely breath-taking and heartfelt. Reyes is cold and anemic by comparison. “The Spirits of the Sea” is akin to Chopin’s fastest and most turbulent of pieces with its breakneck speed and whirlwinds of arpeggios, all of which Somero plays confidently faster than Reyes. Godard’s Piano Sonata No. 2 is cut from the same cloth as the first. It begins with an “Allegro” of Russian character, utilizing a staccato rendering of the “Dies Irae” motif in its first theme. Virtuosic flourishes and passagework are abundant. Once again, Somero demonstrates more fire and brio than Reyes. The “Adagio” feints the listener with a lyrical respite, but things are not as relaxing as a typical slow movement. Sudden rumblings of turbulence and a rousing dramatic central section keep things exciting. Somero gives it all he’s got, imbuing every moment of passion with more intensity than Reyes. He produces massive sonorities in a stentorian fashion, which Reyes seems uninterested in exploiting. Bottom line: If you’re going to sample Godard’s piano music, this is the disc to get. Fans of virtuosic Romantic pianism should enjoy the sonatas. For those tempted by the ongoing survey by Grand Piano, my opinion is that Eliane Reyes is not temperamentally suited to this repertoire. Somero clearly enjoys performing this kind of music, injecting an appreciable degree of feeling and dynamic power into the sonatas. |