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Auf Flügeln Des Gesanges (On
Wings of Song) Felix MENDELSSOHN-BARTHOLDY (1809-1847) Auf Flügeln des Gesanges (arr. Franz Liszt) [3:17] Variations sérieuses, Op. 54 [10:37] Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856) Fantasie, Op. 17 (28:32): (I. Durchaus
phantastisch und leidenschaftlich vorzutragen [11:53];
II. Mäßig [7:37]; III. Langsam getragen [9:01]) Franz LISZT (1811-1886) Die Loreley (arr. Franz Liszt) (6:47) Gustav MAHLER (1860-1911) Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (trans. Claudius Tanski)
(17:52): (I. Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht [4:24];
II. Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld [4:43]; III. Ich
hab’ ein glühend Messer [3:38]; IV. Die zwei blauen
Augen [5:05])
Claudius Tanski
(piano)
rec. 29 June–1 July 2007. DDD. MUSIKPRODUKTION DABRINGHAUS
UND GRIMM MDG9121489-6 [67:42]
Claudius Tanski
gives us a very listenable recital of romantic piano music
here, with several conceptual thoughts welding the pieces
together. One overarching theme is the idea of song. The
disc takes its title, On Wings of Song, from a Mendelssohn
song arranged for solo piano by Franz Liszt. It combines
the grace of melody with an ecstatic sense of transcendence,
elements which Tanski provides, while reserving his fireworks
for later in the program. The recorded sound is quite ideal
for this work, if arguably a little too rich for some of
the wilder moments to come in later pieces. The MDG program
booklet gives lots of detail about the recording, down to
the piano tuner, yet neglects to mention exactly where it
was recorded. Whether it is the overtone richness of Tanski’s
1901 Steinway or the nature of the recording hall, or some
combination of the two, I don’t know, but the seductive richness
of sound here can turn muddy in fast and furious passages.
The first such
passages appear in Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses,
which start plainly enough, but put some romantic ideas through
some rigorously classical and even neo-baroque workouts.
Tanski’s technique is impressive as he propels forward with
great flair and daring, pushing it to the edge without ever
toppling over into lumpy or uneven phrasing. But for all
its flair, those passages have a bit of a tendency to blur
and clump, even in the multichannel SACD layer of this hybrid
disc. But the sound is lovely, the antique Steinway combining
the traditional creaminess of Steinway tone with something
airy, more akin to a Baldwin, though not so starchy as a
Bösendorfer. The high-resolution recording picks up on the
ringing of overtones, including the subtle way they begin
to pull out of tune, which suggests that the piano tuner
credited in the booklet may have had his hands full with
this old but lovely instrument. Many listeners won’t be able
to hear that, anyway, as it is roughly the aural equivalent
of all the subtle flavors of wine, which any oenophile can
tell you takes years to develop. Suffice it to say that only
the fussiest of listeners will be bothered by intonation
problems here; I’ve heard worse intonation on pianos used
in recordings by Evgeny Kissin and Zoltan Kocsis, among others.
Schumann’s Fantasie,
Op. 17 relates to this program both in singing spirit and
in the literal fact that it was dedicated by Schumann to
Liszt. Tanski’s Fantasie works beautifully as anchor
of the overall program here, even if it won’t supplant long-time
legendary recordings such as the fresh and ardent singing
of Murray Perahia (CBS, later Sony) nor the icy fire of Maurizio
Pollini (Deutsche Grammophon). Perhaps a few comparisons
with some other enterprising, lesser-known recordings might
prove instructive.
Tanski is propulsive
in the opening torrents of Schumann’s Fantasie. Indeed,
torrents is the only apt way to describe Tanski’s effusion,
similar in swirling pace to the old-fashioned romantic flair
of Earl Wild’s 1990 recording (Ivory Classics 71001), but
with a more demonic edge. The downside of this is that the
rich reverberation of Tanski’s venue, along with the overtone-laden
voice of his 1901 Steinway makes this torrent somewhat muddy.
For a less hectic approach, one might turn to Alicia de Larrocha
(RCA 09026-68657-2, now OOP), though she can seem a trifle
earthbound in the first movement. Burkard Schliessmann’s
1999 recording (Bayer BR 100 293 CD) combines a judicious
amount of flair with real passion, without ever losing the
through line of the movement, possibly Schumann’s greatest
extended structure. Schliessmann balances that structure
with great skill, drawing attention in his own program notes
to Schumann’s prominent use of “the Tristan chord” in
the first movement, quite a few years before Wagner supposedly
discovered it.
In the second
movement march, Tanski is engagingly lively, without going
as far towards perkiness as Wild. Again de Larrocha and Schliessmann
are a touch more measured here, keeping their piano sound
from turning hectic as the music exults, with Schliessmann
pointing up the eccentric element more than de Larrocha.
In the final movement of the Fantasie, Tanski and
Wild part ways, with Tanski going for a possibly too easily
flowing 9:00 timing, while Wild broadens it out to nearly
two minutes slower. This is the movement where de Larrocha
is at her finest, bringing a singing line to the music like
few others. Schliessmann unfolds at a similar tempo to de
Larrocha, with sufficient singing, though he perhaps spends
more effort tending to the interplay of counterpoint between
the interwoven melody and accompaniment. If that yields a
somewhat richer complexity of emotion, it doesn’t supplant
the irresistible singing of de Larrocha’s vision.
Next we hear
from Liszt himself, via his own solo piano arrangement of
his song Die Loreley. The work builds to a fearsome
peak, and Tanski pushes it, hanging onto a massive thunderhead
of piano sound with the sustain pedal before releasing it
into silence. The cursed love of the Lorelei goes hand in
hand with the Schumann, written as that composer despaired
of ever getting to marry his beloved Clara Wieck, and with
the Mahler transcription, inspired by an unsuccessful love
affair.
The Mahler songs,
originally for voice and orchestra, are more successful in
this form than I thought they’d be. Tanski has transcribed
them here for solo piano, and he does a remarkable job covering
all the notes, which are by no means idiomatically pianistic,
as Mahler was very successful at thinking orchestrally. Interestingly,
Tanski makes no attempt to reinvent them pianistically by
adding any figurations to slower or sustained notes, nor
does he speed through any of the sparser sections. Indeed,
if anything, his version is broader than a typical orchestral
performance. That allows him to cover all the notes, though
a little more propulsion wouldn’t have been amiss in places,
such as the second song, “Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld,” which
comes across here in an unusually autumnal manner. The least
effective part of these transcriptions is the unavoidable
use of tremolo notes to approximate drum rolls and tremolo
strings. Tremolo on the piano just doesn’t sound very good,
and there’s no getting around that. But the good thing is
that these transcriptions give a chance to clearly hear the
harmonic bones of complex passages, which tend to get lost
in orchestral performances. For instance, the climax of the
third song, “Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer,” is revealed here
to be a harmonic chain that builds up until collapsing under
its own weight. In addition to his own enjoyment of Mahler,
Tanski cites the old, much debated intertwining of Jewish
and German culture as a reason for drawing this music into
this particular program. Indeed, that angle is intriguing,
for not only does Mahler represent that process, he is quite
inescapably a cultural descendant of Schumann, Mendelssohn
and Liszt, ones who aren’t acknowledged as frequently in
Mahler’s backgrounds as Mozart, Beethoven and Bach. Smart
programming, indeed.
The regular CD
layer of this hybrid disc has quite nice sound, and the SACD
multichannel layer provides a lot of hall sound to go with
it. Altogether, it makes for a very listenable program that
illustrates a number of interesting ideas. As always, MDG
recommends a 2 + 2 + 2 layout of surround sound speakers,
as opposed to the more standard 5 + 1 arrangement. It would
be interesting to hear the disc in their suggested layout,
which they say further enhances the sense of vertical space,
as that indeed might correct the slight tendency toward muddiness
in loud, fast passages. But, then again, I’m not going to
rearrange my speakers every time I put an MDG disc on the
player.
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