RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915)
Piano Sonata No 3 in F sharp minor, Op. 23 (1898) [18:31]
Trois morceaux, Op. 2 (1889): No. 1 in C sharp minor: Étude
[2:50]
Prélude et nocturne pour la main gauche seule, Op. 9 (1894):
No 1 in C sharp minor: Prélude [2:44]
Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881)
Pictures from an Exhibition
(1874) [31:47]
Night on a Bare Mountain (1867) (arr. for piano by Konstantin Chernov
and Alessio Bax) [10:21]
Alessio Bax (piano)
rec. January 2015, Snape Maltings, Suffolk, UK
Reviewed as a 24/96 download from Hyperion
Pdf booklet included
SIGNUM RECORDS SIGCD426 [66:13]
It’s good to see the Bari-born pianist Alessio Bax
prefacing his Pictures with a smattering of Scriabin, especially
in this anniversary year. He’s made a number of well-regarded recordings
to date, among them Baroque
Reflections, Beethoven
sonatas and a disc of piano
duets with his wife Lucille Chung. He seems to gravitate towards two venues
– Snape Maltings in Suffolk and the Wyastone Concert Hall in Monmouth
– both of which are good for solo recitals. Purely in terms of sound
Signum are up against the likes of Hyperion and BIS, whose recent piano recordings
are among the finest in the catalogue.
As per usual I played this new release from beginning to end before sitting
down to listen again and make notes. Unusually, though, I found myself transfixed
by these very individual performances. At first I thought them a little idiosyncratic,
but subsequent auditions changed all that. Scriabin’s third sonata –
Drammatico, Allegretto, Andante and Presto
con fuoco – is a complex and finely calibrated piece that really
demands a heightened sense of colour and a corresponding feel for musical
shape. Bax certainly has those attributes; more important, he has the knack
of making one hear the music anew.
What I thought was eccentricity on Bax’s part is in fact the very opposite;
one has only to think of Horowitz to be reminded how the piece can be rendered
second to showmanship. What we get here is a thoughtful, beautifully chiselled
performance; Bax is dramatic too, especially in the Allegretto, but
even then he retains proportion without sacrificing power. Goodness, this
is ear-tweaking stuff; it’s chockful of insight and possessed of that
rare thing, an absorbing sense of intimacy, of being in the presence of something
quite magical. Also, Mike Hatch and Chris Kalcov’s spacious and truthful
recording serves the music well.
Bax is easeful and open-hearted in the first of Scriabin’s Op. 2 Morceaux,
whose lyrical impulse belies its designation as an étude. This pianist’s
control of touch and dynamics takes one's breath away; as for the left-handed
Prélude it's a keyboard miracle that's apt to have the same effect.
I really do hope that Signum can persuade Bax to record more Scriabin, for
his oneness with this eccentric – and much-maligned – composer
is evident in every bar. Surely even the nay-sayers will be won over by these
remarkable, redefining performances. They certainly deserve to be ranked alongside
Garrick Ohlsson's equally impressive traversal of the Poèmes
(review).
That same liberating intellect is brought to bear on Mussorgsky’s Pictures.
The opening Promenade is uncluttered by needless nuance and there’s
a clarity to Bax’s playing that augurs well for what’s to come.
Happily, such plainness doesn’t preclude the possibility of contrast
or character, and that’s an achievement in itself. Similarly The
Old Castle loses nothing of its forbidding presence even when it's essayed
with such elegance. As for Tuileries the squabbling children are
drawn with a bright precision that also brims with energy.
At every turn one senses an elevated sensibility at work, one that’s
alive to every detail of this lovely score. For instance I simply can’t
recall a better Bydlo, its lumbering progress charted in playing
of ideal shape and weight. Even the various Promenades are imaginatively
done. The Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks and The Marketplace
at Limoges are as deft as one could wish and Goldenberg and Schmuyle
are strongly contrasted. Catacombae and Cum mortuis major
in dark sonorities, which Bax delivers with his customary blend of thought
and thrill. Not only that, he startles with the amount of detail he unearths
in in Mussorgsky's gentler passages.
Bax’s forensic abilities are especially evident in Baba Yaga,
whose taut rhythms conceal music of real imagination and interest. The
Great Gate of Kiev, so thrilling in its various orchestral guises, is
even more so when played by pianists of this calibre. All too often this grand
finale is overwhelming in the wrong sense, but here Bax manages to balance
majesty with scrupulous musicianship. Also, he harnesses the piano's percussive
power - its strike and shimmer - more effectively than most; indeed, I've
rarely have I heard those bells toll so tellingly, or those final chords ring
out with such exultation.
The encore as it were is Mussorgsky’s darkly fantastical Night on
a Bare Mountain, arranged for piano by Konstantin Chernov and Bax himself.
You’d think it impossible to top that performance of Pictures,
but the abundance of detail and suppleness of rhythm here only deepened my
admiration for this fine pianist. It’s a performance of such insight
and artistry, the likes of which one seldom hears in this age of rampant self
promotion. As always Bax illuminates and intensifies, and that makes for an
unusually radiant and affecting close. Then again everything about this recital
surprises and delights.
All-conquering performances in fabulous sound; quite possibly my Recording
of the Year.
Dan Morgan
twitter.com/mahlerei
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