Let's start by applauding the pianist Simon Smith and Delphian for
striking out in unexpected directions. They could have belaboured us with
yet another Chopin or Brahms or Beethoven collection of music for piano solo
- often great music and great music-making but changes need to be rung and
new lands explored. The ‘greats’ are the convention and those
who do not tackle them will surely be criticised in some unimaginative
quarters. However the release lists are rife with such discs or blends of
music by eighteenth and nineteenth century luminaries. Such discs struggle
to make themselves remembered. Not so this 2-CD slimline set; at least not
for me.
Delphian have already done great work in unexpected directions with
the piano music of
Leighton and
Stevenson. That said, I had half expected a
collection of this standing to come from Grand Piano, perhaps along the
lines of their Silvestrov (Grand Piano GP639) and
Babajanian discs.
The complete piano music of Russian exile Alfred Schnittke takes us
in some pretty provocative directions. Much the same applies to his
symphonies which can be conveniently explored on
BIS-CD-1767/68
and in the part-series from Polyansky on Chandos.
CD 1 groups the three piano sonatas and the Variations. Piano Sonata
No. 1 is from as recently as 1987 - that betrays my age - and was written
for Nimbus luminary Vladimir Feltsman. It makes free with crystalline,
sharp-edged and granitic dissonance. Its ways are statuesque, declamatory
and rhetorical. The music explores musical notations representing the names
of the pianist and the composer.
Sonata No. 2 was written for the composer's wife, Irina. This is in
three movements rather than the four of its predecessor. Its ways are less
protesting than those of No. 1 from three years earlier. The music is still
dissonant but gentler and more inclined to poetry. There is just a touch of
what
can sometimes sound like rabble-rousing in the First.
A flightily crashing finale returns us to the railroad rhythms and
occasional fury of the First Sonata although it ends quietly. That quiet is
troubled and almost threatening.
The four-movement Sonata No. 3 (1992) was premiered by Boris Berman
in 1996. Here Schnittke at first takes a noticeably gentler lane in what was
to be his last solo piano work. The
Dies irae hangs in the wings of
the sepulchral first movement. The music harks back to the First and Second
sonatas in the second movement. This, with its eddies and whirls of fury,
contrasts with a third movement that returns to the hypnotic downbeat of the
first. The final
Allegro's mosaic of fragments of gloomy
introspection and flurries of motoric toccata-like activity brings this
enigmatic work to a close.
The Variations are a student work dating from 1955. This could hardly
be more different from its disc-mates. The language is romantic and
closely related to that of Rachmaninov without quite the pensive and
inwardly-coiled tendencies of that composer. This is very different
from the Schnittke sonatas. This is romantic music with a fresh accent
quite distant from the dissonant experimentation and more that was alive
in the 1950s among young composers outside the Soviet Bloc. This would
make as much of a useful quiz-poser as the early affectionate Chopin-facsimile
works of
Valentin
Silvestrov. I am sure that it will please those who enjoy their
Medtner,
Bortkiewicz and
Dobrowen. The theme, eight variations and coda are not separately
tracked. The whole thing is done and dusted in just over eleven minutes.
The fact that Schnittke abandoned this style is testimony to how the
young man took Luigi Nono's advice to heart. In 1963 the Italian composer
visited Moscow during one of the Soviet Union’s several artistic
thaws and enthused the young Schnittke with exhortations to embrace
the avant-garde.
The second disc groups many smaller works. The
Prelude and
Fugue is statuesque, steady and determined - doom-laden even. It tracks
the extremes of volume with some very quiet pages. Neither Delphian nor
Smith short-change Schnittke or the listener. Despite expectations inflamed
by the title this work is not in the least academic. Instead it unleashes
patterned runs, grotesquerie, incident-rich pages and free-wheeling fantasy.
The pecked-out figure at the close is taken from Schnittke’s 1962
opera
The Eleventh Commandment. The
Improvisation and Fugue is
also from the first half of the 1960s and is also serial. It communicates
with steady-eyed clarity. Some sections have a jazzy character. I wonder if
Schnittke knew Kapustin. As an aside I rather hope that Delphian and Smith
might record all the Kapustin piano concertos: much needed. The
Variations on a Chord entail seven short variations across seven
minutes. It’s again touched with angular dissonance skilfully and
thoughtfully applied.
The (8) Little Piano Pieces of 1971 were for Schnittke’s son,
Andrey. They have jejune titles and the music is 98% innocence with the
shortfall made up with just a shading of the composer’s unsettling
turbulence. Each piece is between 0.29 and 3.13 duration. Then follows
Homage to Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich
(1979). This is for three players at one piano. In his helpful liner-note
Smith identifies the quotations from each composer’s works. All three
are identifiable from what we hear, even if these elements are shards in a
fractured kaleidoscope. The completely characteristic
Five Aphorisms
(1990) are each separately banded. The work is dedicated to Ukrainian
pianist, Alexander Slobodyanik and the poet, Joseph Brodsky. At the New York
premiere Brodsky read his poems between the each of the Aphorisms. The
granitic and often sepulchral third and fifth Aphorisms are particularly
striking. Sonatina for piano (four hands) (1994) is affectionate Mozartean
and Schubertian indulgence with a slightly peppery edge. Richard Beauchamp
who joins Smith here is Smith’s teacher and this Delphian double is
dedicated to Beauchamp. We end with Schnittke’s cadenzas to Mozart's
Piano Concertos K39 (2), K467 (2), K491 and K503 (1975-90). They are all
separately tracked. Here Schnittke stays delightfully within the style of
the main work in each case. Here is a 20
th century composer
presenting himself as a faithful servant of Mozart and not pushing himself
forward. Everything seems of a piece with Mozart: affection meets skill.
If after this admirable set you need to slake your thirst with more
Schnittke for piano then there is more in the shape of piano concertos and
chamber music. Try Ewa Kupiec and Maria Lettberg for the
three concertos and also on Capriccio a
selection of the chamber music (N 67 083).
Smith has, in addition, recorded for Delphian the complete piano
music of James Macmillan with the piano sonata by Stuart MacRae (DCD34009).
There have also been discs of Thomas Wilson (DCD34079) and Haflidi
Hallgrimsson (DCD34051).
Smith is clearly a force to be reckoned with. We will hear more of
him, I hope.
Rob Barnett
