Instrumental
CD and Other Review

Review: Chopin: The Nocturnes (Nancy Tsou)

While not demanding technically, Chopin’s Nocturnes contain pianistic pitfalls. Some artists over-prettify them – easy to do when the melodic line is highly decorated – and they can seem fragile and precious. Australian-based pianist Nancy Tsou avoids these traps by taking most at a reasonably fast pace. The popular Op. 9 No 2 in E Flat provides a good example: it is lyrical and flowing, not (as it can be) interminable. In terms of dynamic shading and rubato, Tsou’s playing reveals a genuine personal connection to the composer’s spirit. The quasi-improvisational feeling and quiet inwardness are beautifully captured. Yet Chopin’s nocturnal world was not all contemplation and nightingales. In later pieces he brought much personal angst to the form. I feel Tsou understates the drama of the C Minor Nocturne, Op. 48 No 1 and elsewhere, possibly so as not to overinflate the music. Her dynamic range never ventures above mf, a marked contrast from Maurizio Pollini (DG, 2005). Some find Pollini too determinedly unsentimental, but I respond to the backbone he finds.  Tsou’s incomplete but representative selection gives us just 13 of the Nocturnes. Her instrument is closely but beautifully recorded, aptly placing the listener in the front row…

February 10, 2017
Instrumental
CD and Other Review

Review: Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas (Fazil Say)

Turkish pianist Fazıl Say is known for his virtuosic readings of core classical repertoire. He is also a composer and, in a tradition that has a long history in Western Classical music, incorporating folk influences from his native Turkey. Notoriously, Say was sentenced to a ten-month jail term in 2013 for making allegedly blasphemous comments on Twitter, a charge that was overturned by the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals in 2015. Today, we find him signed to Warner Classics and turning his attention to the complete piano sonatas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with stunning results. The 18 sonatas and Fantasia in C Minor are grouped on six discs according to key, and were recorded in 2014 in the Great Hall of the Mozarteum Salzburg. For Say, Sonata No 14 in C Minor is the most momentous and a significant influence on Beethoven and Schubert. His playing is utterly assured, precise and crisp, with any potential for brittle timbre alleviated by the recording’s roomy warmth. Mozart’s music “requires us to assimilate it with our own bodies and beings… to live it and breathe it,” according to Say, who was striving for “a certain naturalness” throughout, and his detailed notes on each…

February 10, 2017
Instrumental
CD and Other Review

Review: Bach: Goldberg Variations (Angela Hewitt)

Angela Hewitt wouldn’t be the first Canadian pianist to record Bach’s Goldberg Variations twice and, like Glenn Gould’s second performance, Hewitt takes longer over her remake. Her first, recorded in 1999, had critics throwing superlatives around like confetti: “If you only buy one Bach album in this anniversary year, let it be this one. A desert-island disc!” said the man in London’s Sunday Times. But my tropical island might not seem the perfect paradise if Hewitt’s was the only set of Goldbergs on offer. In a world where John Butt exists and Mahan Esfahani has just recorded an exceptionally nuanced performance on harpsichord, complete with an appropriately juicy tuning temperament, it feels like Hewitt is trying to catch an argument that has long since moved on. Of course, it’s that very dependability that will endear this disc to many and, on its own terms, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Hewitt’s performance. Eyebrows might be raised when she ignores some repeats during the opening Aria – her first version was branded with the strapline “Includes all repeats!” – but otherwise her immaculate voice-leading, rapid-fire articulation and slipstream rhythmic momentum keep the flame burning. Hewitt’s Fazioli is lighter-on-its-feet than the Steinway…

January 18, 2017