Early, Classical and Beyond

Scarlatti - 18 Sonatas

Joseph Petric

Astrila AST232652-1 (www.josephpetric.com)

The keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti have long been a challenge and a treat for accordionists. Though difficult to execute, the fluidity of melody, contrapuntal intricacies, and rhythmic stability translate well to the instrument. Toronto virtuoso and international accordion star Joseph Petric shines in the 18 Sonatas featured here. Although many will be unknown to the general public, a number are familiar to me (and likely other accordionists) from student days.

Instead of the term “transcription” (which is frequently used in classical music), Petric uses “adaptation” in his liner notes to explain his musical approach and interpretation. His choices of somewhat narrower range of dynamics, and slower tempos succeed as the gifted performer has contemplated each musical nuance with care – Sonata K 209 in A Major is especially beautiful in its lyricism and motion.

Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas were written for an instrument that creates sound by plucking a string. Sound is created in an accordion by moving the bellows, forcing air to vibrate a reed. Occasionally a less than optimal tonal quality surfaces here – this may be a bellowing issue or just an adaptation factor – but this is overshadowed by Petric’s brilliant playing in the florid sections. Stylistically however, I longed for a more solid rhythmic sense which would provide a boundary within which to further explore his unique ideas.

Joseph Petric makes it sound so easy but believe me its not! His very individual take in “18 Sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti” will have accordionists and non-accordionists alike listening, contemplating and enjoying for a long time.

Tiina Kiik

Stamitz - Flute Concertos

Robert Aitken; St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra; Donatas Katkus

Naxos 8.570150

These four (C major, G major and two in D major), of Johann Stamitz’s fourteen concertos for flute and orchestra, were probably composed in the 1750s for the flute virtuoso Johann Wendling. They demand reconsideration of the standard music school wisdom on the “rococo” period as a kind of transitional netherworld where composers produced inane music, which inexplicably laid the ground work for Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. These concertos are poised and mature. The writing for the flute is superb, equally expressive in the virtuosic outer movements and in the slow middle movements. The orchestral writing is equally impressive; and the pair of horns in both D major concertos (not just the second as the notes suggest) are masterfully employed. The middle movement of the C major concerto, with its stern repetitive Beethovenian dotted rhythmic motif, is poignantly tragic; and the virtuosity required throughout of both the soloist and of the orchestra, far from being exhibitionism, is central to the meaning of this music.

Robert Aitken is exemplary, his sound robust, even in the most extreme register transitions, and at times tender; his articulation sets the standard. The orchestra is virile in the tutti passages and engagingly rhythmic when accompanying the flute. The cadenzas, composed by Aitken, are stylistically consistent and contain some lovely touches, like the orchestra joining the flute in the trill at the conclusion of the cadenza in the slow movement of the first D major concerto.

Allan Pulker

Concert note: Robert Aitken is featured in Alice Ping Yee Ho’s Dance Concerto for solo flute, strings and percussion with Chinese dancer William Lau and the New Music Concerts Ensemble at Betty Oliphant Theatre on February 14.

Schubert - Moments musicaux; Impromtus

David Fray

Virgin Classics 694489 0

In his short career, the young French pianist David Fray has gained a reputation for eccentricity, mostly due to his intense stage presence and singular vision. Inevitably, Glenn Gould comes to mind. In fact, Bruno Monsaingeon, who made a series of important films on Gould, has produced a documentary on Fray, called “J.S. Bach – Sing, Swing and Think”. Fray scored his first international success in Canada, at the 2004 Montreal International Music Competition, and recorded his very first disc, which included Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasie, on the Canadian ATMA label.

In this recording of Schubert’s six Moments musicaux, the first set of Impromptus, and the rarely heard Allegretto in C minor, Fray tends to favour subtle dynamics and restrained tempos. He can certainly be dramatic. But instead of creating sharp contrasts and sudden climaxes, he builds up tiers of sound. This is particularly effective in extended passages like the shimmering triplet runs in the first part of the Impromptu No. 2 in E flat Major and with motifs like the heart-wrenching inner-voice dissonances in the second part. He treats even the most fleeting lines like cantabile melodies, shaping them with an imaginative variety of colours, textures and harmonic details.

In his program notes Fray calls Schubert ‘a close friend’. In his playing Fray shows Schubert to be the most generous and humane friend possible. I find myself returning to this exquisite disc frequently, and feeling richly rewarded with each listening.

Pamela Margles

Chopin Recital

Janina Fialkowska

ATMA ACD2 2597

Polish sausage is loved for its deep flavours that linger long after the blush of its immediate gratification to the palette. Our reluctance, however, to use food as a frequent metaphor for art means that the only place you’ll ever see Chopin likened to Kolbassa is… well, right here.

Janina Fialkowska is a Canadian pianistic stalwart – more amazing still because of her recovery from a 2002 cancer surgery that threatened her career. Her performance of the Chopin standards in this recording is remarkably strong. Her masculine keyboard energy is undiminished and her feminine subtleties as seductive as ever. This Yin and Yang are so beautifully balanced in her interpretations that one quickly forgets the performer while being drawn deeply into the swirling emotions that make Chopin’s music unique.

Stepping out of the way of the music is something Fialkowska does with clever and manipulative grace. One easily takes the bait offered by her technical perfection and is drawn toward the fiery melancholy of Chopin’s world.

Most unusual in these performances is the jarring pull-apart of the three-four rhythm in the C sharp minor Waltz (Op. 64 No.2) and the D Major Mazurka (Op. 33 No.2). The irregularity of the left hand “oom-pa-pa” is taken to its absolute limit without ever compromising the pulse of the music. This is a high risk interpretation but carried off convincingly because Fialkowska’s Polish roots run deep and true – and her musicianship is impeccable.

The audio balance of this recording leaves just the perfect amount of room space around the piano. And although the Steinway Fialkowska uses sounds a bit brighter and harder in the mid range than we generally hear from these instruments, this disc should definitely be a part of your Chopin collection.

Alex Baran

Salzburg

Martha Argerich; Nelson Freire

Deutsche Grammophon 477 8570

Back in the days before TV, radio and stereo recordings, inconceivable to the younger generation but really not that long ago, the only way to hear an orchestral piece was at a concert hall. For that reason composers reduced scores to single or two piano arrangements in order to be performed in the home. The other reason for 2 piano versions was so aspiring pianists could practise piano concertos with the 2nd piano, the orchestra, played by the teacher.

Argerich, the firebrand Argentinean virtuoso, now in her 70’s and still full of her powers, and Brazilian Nelson Freire who is a bit younger and was a child prodigy (who I saw playing as a teenager the Liszt Concerto under Rudolf Kempe), here combine forces at the Grosses Festspielhaus of Salzburg. These two have been playing together for years and have a wonderful compatibility and chemistry.

A carefully selected program from the classic to early and post Romantic and modern pieces gives a good cross section of what can be achieved in this instrumental mode. Brahms’ Haydn Variations where the composer is in one of his sunniest moods and at his most inventive, is particularly suited to this version as it reveals the many structural intricacies that tend to be underplayed in the orchestra. It is a lovingly caressed and detailed performance. With the Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, a piece written by a piano virtuoso, the players have a chance to show deliberate bravura eliciting a strong audience reaction. Their perennial showstopper, Ravel’s La Valse, conjures up many shades of mood and orchestral colour from the charm of a Strauss waltz to the menacing undertones of war. It ends in a gigantic explosion of sound followed by a gigantic explosion of applause.

Janos Gardonyi