Piano Phantoms
see end of review for track listing
Michael Lewin (piano)
rec. Sono Luminus, Boyce, Virginia 19-21 July 2012
SONO LUMINUS DSL-92168 [65:56]
The ‘preface’ to this fascinating CD
sets out the territory - ‘Amidst the endless glories and treasures
of the piano repertoire, there is some music that leads a more shrouded
and spectral existence - aural figures of the otherworld.’ The
music presented on this disc is a ‘journey into the musical imagination
of 18 composers featuring pieces that were all inspired by phantoms,
goblins, ghosts and spirits.’
I have long been of the opinion that concert pianists ought to give
more time and thought to pieces of music that are outwith the standard
repertoire. This is especially so when the music is written by composers
who are less-well known to the average piano music enthusiast. Additionally,
I believe that there is an important place for pieces that are not virtuosic
or particularly demanding on the pianist’s technical skill, but
are nevertheless attractive and interesting works in their own right.
The present disc includes eighteen pieces of music that are either unknown
or are the preserve of enthusiasts, specialists or those committed to
the obscure. A few of the composers are familiar, but most appear to
haunt the fringes of the repertoire. All of them are surprisingly good
pieces of music: all of them are suitably scary.
A good place to begin an exploration of this disc is with ‘The
Goblins’ Wedding Procession at Vossevangen’ by Edvard Grieg.
This rarely heard piece from the even rarer set of ‘17 Norwegian
Dances’ is a revelation. I guess that for every thousand listeners
who have heard ‘Wedding Day at Troldhaugen’ only one or
two will know the present nuptial piece. It is based on old folk-songs,
but is given a late-romantic turn of pianism. There is even a ‘bluesy’
feel to this tune.
Walter Niemann is a German composer who has so far eluded me. Seemingly
he wrote a wealth of music for the piano. ‘The Ghosts: Night on
the Fleet’ is an impressionistic piece that was first published
in the Hamburg Suite. It is an impressively well-constructed
work.
I was bowled over by Carl Tausig’s ‘The Ghost Ship’
which originally saw light of day as an orchestral tone poem. This is
a complex, pianistically involved piece that tests the player’s
technique. It is hardly surprising that Tausig is regarded by many as
Franz Liszt’s greatest pupil: alas he died tragically young. Another
virtuosic piece is by the Russian Sergei Lyapunov, ‘Round of Phantoms’.
Once again Liszt would appear to be the technical model. The work is
part of the composer’s Etude’s which Michael Lewin suggests
are one of the most significant set of studies ever written. It is no
surprise to read that the music anticipated Ravel’s ‘Scarbo’.
Another Russian has contributed a wayward piece called ‘Wood Goblin’.
This is one of Nikolai Medtner’s Fairy Tales, Op.34 written in
1916. The story of this particular chap is given in the liner-notes
and bears perusal.
The ‘Goblin’s Dance’ by Dvořák is a little
less hectic that some of the other manifestations in this collection.
There is a good balance between the extrovert and the reflective. Maybe
this goblin has a heart of gold - some of the time.
There are a few treats for the British music enthusiast with works by
Eugene Goossens, John Vallier, Harry Farjeon (born Hohokus, New Jersey)
and Edgar Bainton. The low registers of Goossens’ ‘A Ghost
Story’ from his ‘popular’ suite Kaleidoscope
lead to an impressive climax only for the ‘ghost’ to slip
back into the ‘underworld.’ Vallier’s ‘The Ghosts
of Restormel’ is slightly brighter, with an eclectic mix of trumpet
calls, Scottish folk-tunes and eerie chords: it is a fine impression
of a haunted Cornish castle. I am an advocate of the piano music of
Harry Farjeon. Many of his miniatures are in the gift of amateurs. He
also contributed a fine Piano Sonata and there are tantalisingly impressive
reports of his Piano Concerto. The present piece, ‘Some Goblins
and Gnomes and Things’ comes from his charmingly titled The
Three Cornered Kingdom Suite. Edgar Bainton’s rollicking ‘Goblin
Dance’ is a rare indulgence. It is derived from a suite called
From Faery (1912). The liner-notes are correct in suggesting
that this goblin is ‘active and mischievous’.
American composers are well-represented too. The composer/pianist Julie
Rivé-King’s outgoing ‘March of the Goblins’
was composed in 1879 and is characterised by musical wit and light-heartedness.
It is one of those tunes that appears well-known to the listener, but
one that they cannot quite place. Another good example is by the ‘first
African-American woman to be recognized as a serious composer’
Florence Price. The short, quicksilver ‘The Goblin and the Mosquito’
is an impressive study in glissandi and fractured melodies. William
Bolcom has contributed a ‘Graceful Ghost Rag’ which is the
first of three numbers in a little suite. It is good example of ragtime,
but unlike Scott Joplin tends to disintegrate slightly. It is a million
miles away from his more cerebral and ‘spiky’ music. The
‘American Indianist’ Carlos Troyer has contributed a lively
‘Ghost Dance of Zunis’. This music is meant to reflect rituals
and traditions of the Zuni tribe in New Mexico. Whatever the intellectual
foundation of this music, it is an aggressive, almost Bartókian
romp.
The short ‘Night Music of the Mountain Goblin’ by the Finnish
composer Heino Kaski is more of a ‘scamper’ than anything
diabolic. Ferdinand Hiller’s ‘Dance of the Phantoms’
is more of an etude that a tone poem. Good virtuosic stuff.
I enjoyed the short ‘Spirit Dance’ by Franz Schubert, represented
by that prolific but now largely forgotten pianist Stephen Heller. The
original was a song to a text by Freidrich von Matthison. Lewin suggests
that the words are like a cross between Edgar Allan Poe and a modern-day
horror movie. The ‘Spirit Dance’ is characterised by sudden
mood changes.
The final (and longest) piece is the ‘Ghost Variations’
by Robert Schumann. It is a little known piece in spite of it being
the composer’s last completed piano work written at a time when
he was about to be admitted to the asylum at Bonn-Endenich. The Variations
were based on visions of things hideous and wonderful that the composer
was experiencing. The ‘theme’ is particularly beautiful
and surely owes little to demons. The mood of each succeeding variation
is that of an introverted spirituality rather than anything ghoulish
or sinister. It is as if the composer knew that he had reached the end
of his life. This is a beautiful and affecting work that demands to
be better known in the recital rooms.
Michael Lewin is an American pianist who has made a huge reputation
for himself. He has a ‘commanding’ repertoire of some 40
piano concertos from pot-boilers such as George Gershwin’s Rhapsody
in Blue through Rach. 1 and 2 to Loeffler’s stunning Pagan
Poem and David Kocsis’ Piano Concerto: For the New Millennium
(1999) which was written for the pianist. Lewin has made a considerable
contribution to recorded music. There are wide ranging editions of music
by Charles Tomlinson Griffes and Scarlatti on Naxos, interesting recitals
of Gottschalk and William Bolcom on Centaur and CDs of Russian music
and Franz Liszt.
This is a beautifully contrived CD. The notes are excellent, giving
as much information about these invariably attractive pieces and their
not-so-well-known composers. I was impressed by the vibrant sound quality.
Michael Lewin’s playing is flawless. There is no sense of condescension
apparent in any of these pieces - even those that the ‘high-brow’
may regard as less-than-worthy of a concert pianist. Each number is
given a concentrated, well wrought performance that reveals the composer’s
picturesque, creepy and at times macabre musical imagery.
This is a fabulous - in more ways than one - new release from Sono Luminus
that explores a wide range of musical achievement from a number of talented
composers. It is a CD that will be of interest to all those who are
young at heart and who relate to goblins, ghouls and things of the night.
This disc is a delight for anyone who has enjoyed Saint-Saens’
Danse Macabre and has wondered if there is any more ‘scary’
music in the repertoire.
John France
Track listing
Walter NIEMANN (1876-1953)
Ghosts: Night on the
Fleet [3:47]
Sergei LYAPUNOV (1859-1924)
Round of Phantoms
[3:23]
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
The Goblins’ Wedding Procession
at Vossevangen [2:36]
Carl TAUSIG (1841-1871)
The Ghost Ship, Op.
1b [9:09]
Nikolai MEDTNER (1880-1951)
Wood Goblin [3:38]
Antonin DVO Ř ÁK (1841-1904)
Goblins’ Dance [3:23]
Eugène GOOSSENS (1893-1962)
A Ghost
Story [1:59]
Carlos TROYER (1837-1920)
Ghost Dance of
the Zunis [5:39]
Heino KASKI (1885-1957)
Night Music of the Mountain
Goblin [1:36]
John VALLIER (1920-1991)
The Ghosts of Restormel
[2:24]
William BOLCOM (b.1938)
Graceful Ghost Rag
[4:06]
Harry FARJEON (1878-1948)
Some Goblins and Gnomes and Things
[1:47]
Florence PRICE (1887-1953)
The Goblin and the Mosquito
[0.59]
Edgar BAINTON (1880-1956)
Goblin Dance [1:11]
Ferdinand HILLER (1811-1885)
The Dance of the Phantoms
[2:38]
Julie RIVÉ-KING (1855-1937)
March of the Goblins
[2:48]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828)/Stephen HELLER (1813-1888)
Spirit
Dance [2:33]
Robert SCHUMANN (1810-1856)
Ghost Variations [12:42]
