Review of Mordecai Shehori - Vol 3 Celebrated New York Concerts
ben...@yahoo.ie
"Don't miss a chance to hear Shehori, one of the unsung giants of our
time." - Jonathan Woolf
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2008/June08/shehori3_CD133.htm
The third volume of Mordecai Shehori’s ongoing New York recital series
is now with us. The recitals range from 1979 to 1987. Most were
recorded at the usual venue, the Merkin Concert Hall, but three things
were taped at the 92nd Street Y.
Shehori’s Chopin is usually special. His B minor Scherzo is full of
fancy and colour, long on contrasts, full of delicacy and gravity and
palpable depth of feeling. There’s no artifice in this reading and
there are no extraneous gestures and rhetorical effects; it’s entirely
musical, musicianship devoted entirely to the service of the text,
none of which excludes a most terrific and brilliant conclusion. The
vein of rich poetry, of which Shehori is a master, can be felt in his
Berceuse in D flat major. Once again he ensures that architectural
concerns are uppermost, and that the music flows within the parameters
he has established. It’s a reading of the utmost beauty of tone.
There is a sequence of Schubert-Liszt transcriptions. Some of these
have been associated on disc, at various times, with titans such as
Petri and Horowitz amongst many others. Gretchen am Spinrade was
certainly a Petri speciality and he played it with a strong series of
dynamics and an almost vertical sense in terms of voicings. Shehori is
richer and warmer, more chordally resonant, and spins out the song
with enveloping sensitivity. Erlkönig finds Shehori on superb form –
virtuosic and atmospheric. Soirées de Vienne is another piece that
Petri recorded – but then so did Horowitz, Rosenthal and de Greef (in
a truncated version). Shehori plays quite pungently here – and this is
the one occasion where I think the recording level is against him; it
imparts a touch of hardness to his tone that one doesn’t notice in his
other performances. Of course there are the more refined and delicate
moments where one can appreciate his tone in a more natural way though
no one has quite matched Rosenthal’s grandeur and capricious rubati
here.
Shehori’s own Bach arrangement from the familiar Keyboard Concerto is
solemn, slow with a chorale texture – and with great gravity implicit
in those bass extensions. The brace of Liszt pieces contains an
excellent Consolation No.3. Shehori plays it at a Horowitz tempo but
doesn’t of course seek to replicate Horowitz’s very personal rubatos.
The Mephisto Waltz No.1 is a cracking display of virtuosity, control
and eloquence and it leads onto the disc’s finale, Rosenthal’s
Carnaval de Vienne, a Straussian confection which Shehori plays with
remarkable virtuosity and admirable command – though maybe the
composer teased out a greater sense of playfulness in his more
technically fallible 1935 recording.
Once again the Shehori recitals prove a seedbed of poetry and digital
control. He balances both these facets with accustomed eloquence,
allowing the music to speak with naturalness, shorn of interventions,
crudities and gaucherie. If you’re lucky enough to see him advertised
in concert, don’t miss the chance to hear Shehori, one of the unsung
giants of our time.
[by Jonathan Woolf]
Track listing -
Mordecai Shehori: The Celebrated New York Concerts - Volume 3
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Keyboard Concerto in F minor BWV1056 – Largo arranged by Mordecai
Shehori [3:56]
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1828)
Piano Sonata in F Major Op.54 (1804) [11:26]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Berceuse in D flat major Op.57 (1843) [5:24]
Polonaise in E flat minor Op.40 No.1 (1838) [7:25]
Scherzo No.1 in B minor Op.20 (1831) [8:49]
Franz SCHUBERT (1798-1828) – Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Gretchen am Spinrade D118 (1814) – S558 (c.1837-38) [3:41]
Erlkönig D328 (1815) – S557a (c.1837) [5:11]
Soirées de Vienne-Valse Caprice No.6 S427 (1852) [6:46]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Consolation No.3 in D flat major S172 (1849-50) [3:59]
Mephisto Waltz No.1 after Lenau’s Faust S514 (1859-60) [11:15]
Moriz ROSENTHAL (1862-1946)
Carnaval de Vienne – Humoresque after themes by Johann Strauss [8:39]
Mordecai Shehori (piano)
rec. live, Merkin Concert Hall, May 1987 (Bach, Chopin Berceuse and
Scherzo, Schubert-Liszt Gretchen and Soirées, Liszt Consolation and
Mephisto Waltz); April 1983 (Beethoven); at the 92nd Street Y May 1979
(Rosenthal) and January 1982 (Chopin Polonaise and Erlkönig)
CEMBAL D’AMOUR CD133 [76:21]
*** The CD is available from here -
-->>> For free listen of the Chopin Scherzo No 1 from this CD, click
on the "Mordecai Shehori" tab at the cembal d'amour website then
scroll down to the samples for Celebrated New York Concerts Volume 3
(located at bottom of page)
Matthew B. Tepper
but I wanted to note that Cembal d'Amour (which I think is his enterprise) is
one of the lesser-known jewels of historical labels. That is, based on the
Barere and Heifetz CDs I have heard so far.
--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!
My personal home page -- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/index.html
My main music page --- http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/berlioz.html
To write to me, do for my address what Androcles did for the lion
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employers
jrs...@aol.com
> I haven't (yet) had the opportunity to hear Mr. Shehori's own performances,
> but I wanted to note that Cembal d'Amour (which I think is his enterprise) is
> one of the lesser-known jewels of historical labels. That is, based on the
> Barere and Heifetz CDs I have heard so far.
Agreed (on the basis of different discs). And what I've heard from
others is that Shehori's playing is indeed special.
--Jeff
Rugby
> Agreed (on the basis of different discs). And what I've heard from
> others is that Shehori's playing is indeed special.
>
I have only his Rameau cd, which I mentioned here earlier, and find
to be wonderful playing, although TD says Tharaud the last word in
Rameau these days.
Cembal does appear to be Shehori's own enterprise; more power to him !
Rugby
ben...@yahoo.ie
Youtube.
It's a complete performance of the Liszt Legend No 1 (St Francis of
Assisi Preaching to the Birds):-
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bcNDZttAByU
I guess the critics are starting to realize something as I came across
another great review of his CD ("Volume 3 - Celebrated New York
Concerts") in the July 2008 edition of International Piano Magazine.
I typed it up and am posting it here as it's short and sweet -
*** Review of Mordecai Shehori - Celebrated New York Concerts Volume 3
[Cembal d'amour CD133]
July 2008, International Piano Magazine
Even in such distinguished company, this recital from Mordecai
Shehori, recorded at various concerts during the 1970s and 80s in New
York, is just that extra bit special. Here is a musician to his
fingertips, capable of making even the wrist-crippling Rosenthal
Carnaval de Vienne sound like one of the most treasurable masterpieces
in the repertoire. But what makes this recital really stand out is the
skin-rippling sensitivity of such keyboard gems as the Chopin Berceuse
and the slow movement from Bach's F Minor Keyboard Concerto. It's the
kind of playing that has one thinking, "That's exactly how I would
play it if only I could!" Essential listening.
- Julian Haylock
ben...@yahoo.ie
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ElJHGff1Do8
This is a collage of 7 interpretations of the Schumann/Liszt Widmung -
Evgeny Kissin (1983 concert), Arthur Moreira Lima, Mordecai Shehori
(1995), Earl Wild, Jon Nakamatsu, Shura Cherkassky (1978 concert), etc.