Haydn, Mozart. And the Eighteenth Century

As I have remarked previously, there is something eternally appealing about much of the music written during the 18^th century in Europe. I sit here surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of CDs, yet almost all my listening at the moment is to music of the 18^th century (Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart). By pure chance, I took down an old CD recorded by Vilde Frang and Michail Lifits (London, December 2013, off-air) in Mozart K 376, K 379 and K 481. Lovely playing by two young people (Frang was 27 at the time) and really superb music, especially 379 and 481.

This listening supplemented my on-going daily bread: the six Haydn Op 76 string quartets, and the three Op 71 quartets, played by the Takacs Quartet. Warm, affectionate playing far removed from “period instrument” playing. In these somewhat troubled times, Haydn and Mozart, supplemented with Bach and Handel from time to time, are really all one needs.

Ning Feng in Paganini

Paganini's first violin concerto is a virtuoso work, but with many lovely themes and many highly lyrical moments. For anyone who loves violin playing, it's a must (when played by a truly expert violinist). My three-star list (out of the 45 recordings I possess) comprises: Leonid Kogan, Francesca Dego, Philippe Hirschhorn, Viktoria Mullova, Michael Rabin, Nemanja Radulovic, Akiko Suwanai (Moscow, July 1990). Kogan, Mullova and Rabin are very full-blooded Russian performances, very macho. Rabin loses points for a too-close recording, and for savage cuts in both the first and final movements (though not as savage as the versions by Kreisler or Wilhelmj both of whom re-orchestrated the orchestral parts and amputated the second and third movements of the concerto). Radulovic has a bit too much Radulovic and not enough Paganini, for my taste.

The latest CD to arrive on my player is one by Ning Feng, with the Asturian Symphony Orchestra. Very well recorded (listened through headphones, since the violinist often plays pianissimo and is not recorded prominently). The Asturian orchestra sounds as if the players are thoroughly enjoying themselves, playing with the kind of gusto of an Italian opera orchestra and brass band that Paganini was obviously expecting. Ning Feng's contribution is remarkable, and he gets my three stars. He is a true virtuoso, but also a highly elegant virtuoso -- much as Paganini may have been (Niccolò was neither German, nor Russian, nor even Israeli). At the end of his traversal of Paganini's concerto, I wanted to cheer. Ning Feng's performance on this CD is now my “if you only have one version” choice.

Ning Feng started in my estimation a couple of years ago as “a good virtuoso violinist”. His recording of the Bach unaccompanied sonatas and partitas then had him soaring high in my estimation, and with this Paganini recording, he soars even higher. One day he may even beat his fellow Chinese violinist, Tianwa Yang, in Sarasate's music. With his elegant and intelligent playing, Feng may well go on to superb Mozart and Beethoven (he lives in Berlin, so is obviously in a good position to also imbibe the German musical tradition).

Julius Röntgen

In my recent round-up of sonatas for violin and piano that are all too rarely heard, I forgot about Julius Röntgen (1855-1932). Born a German, died a Dutchman, Röntgen wrote and wrote and wrote – over 600 compositions. I know of him mainly through his works for violin and piano, being the proud owner of two CDs devoted to his various violin and piano works. One CD features the violinist Christoph Schickedanz. The other Atsuko Sahara. Both offer Röntgen's attractive E major sonata opus 40. Sahara gets the better recording and pianist (John Lenehan). Röntgen was one of the few composers at the end of the 19^th century and beginning of the 20^th who could write memorable themes. I am very fond of my two Röntgen CDs of violin and piano music.

Medtner, Catoire - and David Oistrakh

Concert programmes by violinists and pianists have become pretty stereotyped, with the same old two dozen or so sonatas being paraded, particularly Beethoven's “Spring” sonata, the Ravel sonata, the César Franck, the Brahms sonatas .... and a small score of other warhorses. Less frequently heard are the admirable violin and piano sonatas by George Enescu, Guillaume Lekeu, Leos Janacek; and the third sonata of Nikolai Medtner who was born in Moscow in 1880 and died in London in 1951. I first met Medtner's genial sonata in a 1996 recording by Vadim Repin, and I went on to collect four other performances of the work. This time round I re-sampled it played by David Oistrakh, with Alexander Goldenweiser playing the piano part.

I have never been too enthusiastic about Oistrakh as a violinist. He had a fantastic technique, but his warm, rich, Russian sound always sounded somewhat foreign to me in the German and, particularly, French repertoire. However, his sound and approach take to Russian music like a duck to water and I greatly enjoyed his playing of the Medtner. The two-CD set is completed with Oistrakh and Goldenweiser tackling sonatas and a couple of short pieces by another Russian, Georgy Catoire who was born in Moscow in 1861 and died there in 1926 and, again, Oistrakh sounds quite at home in the melancholy sonorities of Catoire's music. My CD set also includes an excellent performance of Catoire's trio in F minor, recorded in 1949 by Goldenweiser with Kogan and Rostropovich, another thoroughly Russian occasion and another opportunity to sample Kogan and Rostropovich playing together.

Yuja

I have a great admiration for the Chinese pianist Yuja Wang. She combines an extraordinary piano technique with a variety of touch and expression, playing the music from inside, as it were, and responding to the mood of every bar and phrase. A pianist to whom I can listen even when I am not too keen on the music she is playing.

Her latest CD features her usual repertoire preferences: Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Ligeti and Prokofiev. To these favourites her programmes also frequently embrace Liszt, Scarlatti and Ravel. Rachmaninov, Scarlatti and Ravel wrote my kind of music. Does anyone other than pianists really like the music of Alexander Scriabin? It usually belongs to a musical class that I deem “I ain't going nowhere”. The first movement of Prokofiev's piano sonata no.8 on this CD belongs to the same somewhat shapeless form, though things pick up in the second and third movements. Yuja's pianism is extraordinary here. Scriabin's 10^th sonata wanders on, but only for just under twelve minutes; I know that however many times I listen to it, it will always be totally unfamiliar. The three very short Ligeti pieces on the disc are attractive, and show off Yuja's technique. The four Rachmaninov pieces are familiar territory for me, and the pianist.

Yuja Wang in her chosen repertoire is a real phenomenon; a virtuoso pianist plus. I have no idea as to whether she plays Bach, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert, but it would be interesting to hear her take on a work such as Bach's Goldberg Variations (just as Beatrice Rana impressed me greatly in the same work). In the meantime: Viva Yuja !

As an addendum: why is the CD called "THE Berlin Recital"? Had she never played there before, and never will again? If not, it should be "A Berlin Recital". And do we really need eight photos of Yuja (though, of course, none of Rachmaninov or Prokofiev).  DG ain't what it used to be.