Collard - Bay Area, October 26

[Steve Emerson]

Apologies for this largely OT post, but I think some might be interested.

Among the least publicized Bay Area concert series is the annual Dewing
Recital at Mills College in Oakland. (I say this myself, it isn't a
quote -- the director believes that those interested find out anyway,
which I dispute....)

So Friday, October 26, 8:00 pm, it's Jean-Philippe Collard in Debussy
and Chopin Preludes. The campus is such that you can't fail to find it.

Other below-the-radar recitals of recent years have been by Anne
Queffelec, Rzewski (Mendelssohn Songs without Words, in toto), Angela
Hewitt, and Werner Bartschi.

While we're at it, the somewhat obscure San Jose Chamber Music Society
has its strongest lineup in some time:

Sat. October 13, 2012
TRIO SOLISTI (Beethoven, Chausson, Dvorak)

Mon. November 5, 2012
PRAZAK QUARTET (Haydn, Smetana, Dvorak)

Sun. December 2, 2012
FLANDERS RECORDER QUARTET

Fri. February 22, 2013
AURYN QUARTET - BEETHOVEN CYCLE CONCERT 1

Sat. February 23, 2013
AURYN QUARTET - BEETHOVEN CYCLE CONCERT 2
(they're supposed to continue and complete
the cycle over the following two years)

Sun. April 14, 2013
GWENDOLYN MOK & FRIENDS (Brahms piano and horn trios)

SE.

[Dufus]

>On Aug 21, 6:21 pm, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:

Pianophiles would not want to miss Collard or Queffelec !

Dufus

[Gerard]

Dufus <steve...@gmail.com> typed:

Of course not. That's what they are pianophiles for.

[mandryka]

What was Rzewski's Mendelssohn like?

[Steve Emerson]

In article
<6389754c-36ee-406c...@e29g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,

mandryka <howie...@btinternet.com> wrote:

> On Aug 22, 12:21 am, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:

> > Other below-the-radar [Mills] recitals of recent years have been by Anne

> > Queffelec, Rzewski (Mendelssohn Songs without Words, in toto), Angela
> > Hewitt, and Werner Bartschi.

> What was Rzewski's Mendelssohn like?

Fast and intelligent. If you start here and proceed down to post 46 --

http://tinyurl.com/budl2j9

there's some stuff that I wrote about it.

SE.

[mandryka]

On Aug 22, 6:54 pm, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:
> In article
> <6389754c-36ee-406c-9432-041bb4096...@e29g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,

>
>  mandryka <howie.st...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> > On Aug 22, 12:21 am, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:
> > > Other below-the-radar [Mills] recitals of recent years have been by Anne
> > > Queffelec, Rzewski (Mendelssohn Songs without Words, in toto), Angela
> > > Hewitt, and Werner Bartschi.
> > What was Rzewski's Mendelssohn like?
>
> Fast and intelligent. If you start here and proceed down to post 46 --
>
> http://tinyurl.com/budl2j9
>
> there's some stuff that I wrote about it.
>
> SE.

Wow, that is so cool. I'm really jealous you were there, why do good
things like that only happen in Northern California? He never comes
to the UK. You have to get me a recording of that concert.

I'd like to listen to the Mendelssohn again but after reading that
post I don't think I dare -- I only have Gieseking I think, in records
with good sound. It was fine but hardly a single unified
systematically constructed secular oratorio for piano,

Did Grinberg record them? Or Vedernikov? I think that Richter did a
few of them.

[Steve Emerson]

In article
<8f490093-243a-44d9...@o19g2000vbo.googlegroups.com>,

mandryka <howie...@btinternet.com> wrote:

> On Aug 22, 6:54�pm, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:
> > In article
> > <6389754c-36ee-406c-9432-041bb4096...@e29g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
> >
> > �mandryka <howie.st...@btinternet.com> wrote:
> > > On Aug 22, 12:21�am, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:
> > > > Other below-the-radar [Mills] recitals of recent years have been by Anne
> > > > Queffelec, Rzewski (Mendelssohn Songs without Words, in toto), Angela
> > > > Hewitt, and Werner Bartschi.
> > > What was Rzewski's Mendelssohn like?
> >
> > Fast and intelligent. If you start here and proceed down to post 46 --
> >
> > http://tinyurl.com/budl2j9
> >
> > there's some stuff that I wrote about it.
> >
> > SE.
>
> Wow, that is so cool. I'm really jealous you were there, why do good
> things like that only happen in Northern California? He never comes
> to the UK. You have to get me a recording of that concert.

Wish I had one. Would be very surprised if a microphone had been
present. Maybe he did the cycle elsewhere and it was broadcast. Maybe.

> I'd like to listen to the Mendelssohn again but after reading that
> post I don't think I dare -- I only have Gieseking I think, in records
> with good sound. It was fine but hardly a single unified
> systematically constructed secular oratorio for piano,
>
> Did Grinberg record them? Or Vedernikov? I think that Richter did a
> few of them.

If Vedernikov did them, I have no recollection of it. There is a
complete cycle that I can recommend pretty strongly, by the Israeli
pianist Daniel Gortler. It's on the Jersualem Music Center label:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=213164

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AZLNA0/

Couple of reviews quoted at Arkiv.

Gortler plays them with a lush tone (very nicely recorded) and with
commendable variety of tempo and interpretation. The man has become
extremely intimate with these scores.

Not at all like Rzewski, or what Grinberg might do. More like -- Lupu,
perhaps. And way, way ahead of Perahia and Barenboim.

SE.

[td]

Have you heard either Katz or Korstick?

TD

[mandryka]

On Aug 23, 2:26 am, Steve Emerson <eme...@n-n-nospamsonic.net> wrote:
> In article
> <8f490093-243a-44d9-887b-fe99cf2a2...@o19g2000vbo.googlegroups.com>,

I had a vague recollection that Grinberg had recorded some of them.
Well it turns out that she recorded 16 of them, In good sound. I
played them last night.

She's inspired, on fire, not a bit of schmaltz. Years ago I met a
Russian music lover who knew Grinberg and mentioned that he thought
that her Mendelssohn was one of her finest things. He was right.

I also listened to half a dozen which Richter plays in a wonderful
concert in the Hungary box, and a really internalised and rapt one
that Gilels played as an encore on a DVD. All great music making, so
I'm feeling very positive about Mendelssohn right now.

The two that Tom mentioned, Katz and Korstick, are both on spotify, as
is Gortler, so I can listen to some of each when I get home tonight.

[Steve Emerson]

In article <1edde35d-b160-44ae...@googlegroups.com>,
td <tomde...@mac.com> wrote:

> Have you heard either Katz or Korstick? ['s Mendelssohn Songs
> without Words]

Neither. Have you heard them, and should I?

Schiff's set of 22 (?) is also uknown to me.

BTW, re: Gortler, he plays a lot more romantically than I'd remembered.
Emphasis via rubato/hesitation, and frequently varying dynamics. All of
it works, I think. Probably not for all tastes.

thx,
SE.

[mandryka]

Just sampling randomly I concluded that Gortler wasn't for me
probably. Korstick sounded very interesting though. I didn't try any
of Katz.

[Precious Roy]

Since this started off being an off-topic but welcome (to me) mention of Jean-Philippe Collard's recital at Mills College, I just thought I'd post about it.

I'm not qualified to judge the pianism in detail. Enough for me that it was a chance to hear top-flight playing for $15, and nearby. In fact it was enough to watch his hands. To me, it was dazzling playing. I admired the execution but was not swept away by the music, for the most part. That may have been my mood.

He spoke not a word, just observed his audience with the sort of Gallic detachment that a favorably disposed observer would call "aristocratic" and an unfavorably disposed one "smug."

The Debussy Preludes were played as a series of distinct pieces, the Chopin preludes as movements in one continuous work.

[Dufus]

>On Oct 28, 3:03 pm, Precious Roy <preciousr...@gmail.com> wrote:

> The Debussy Preludes were played as a series of distinct pieces, the Chopin preludes as movements in one continuous work.
>

What is the considered wisdom what Chopin intended ?

Dufus

[precio...@gmail.com]

>
> What is the considered wisdom what Chopin intended ?
>
> Dufus

I couldn't tell you. But I am still trying to figure something out. I didn't hear the "Raindrop" prelude, No. 15 in D flat. I'm trying to figure out if I fell asleep, or if Collard omitted it. The program listed all 24 Preludes. I either had a mental lapse, or ... ?

[Dufus]

>On Oct 29, 7:34 pm, preciousr...@gmail.com wrote:

> I couldn't tell you. But I am still trying to figure something out. I didn't hear the "Raindrop" prelude, No. 15 in D flat. I'm trying to figure out if I fell asleep, or if Collard omitted it. The program listed >all 24 Preludes. I either had a mental lapse, or ... ?

Collard did ? He's 64.

[Steve Emerson]

In article <2313d2fd-9d69-4933...@googlegroups.com>,

He played it. However, he himself did have a lapse in the following
prelude, #16 (the only one I noticed); got himself on track quickly but
meanwhile made what was, though short-lived, a mess.

Did the Yamaha (which I think belongs to Mills, and I think has been
used in numerous recitals there including Anne Queffelec's) -- sound
different to you in the Chopin than in the Debussy? The technician spent
the entire intermission working on it. I wondered if Collard wanted a
different sound in the Debussy vs. the Chopin. The sound seemed muddy in
the former, very clear in the latter. I was in the third or fourth row.

As to the question whether Collard seemed aristocratic or smug -- I
didn't think he was smug at all. He appeared perfectly affable, clearly
genuinely pleased by the applause and enjoyment of the audience.
Although I saw that he was disturbed about the lapse.

Very pleasant evening. His Debussy Preludes Book 1 really took off his
with his Vent de l'ouest, an especially stormy rendition.

SE.

[precio...@gmail.com]

>
>
>
> He played it.

That's very disturbing. It's the only one of the Preludes I know well, and I was expressly expecting to hear it. How I missed this 5 minutes long piece of foreboding & thundering music is baffling to me. Did you hear anyone snoring in the seventh row?

[Dufus]

>On Nov 1, 5:27 pm, preciousr...@gmail.com wrote:
> > He played it.
>
> That's very disturbing. It's the only one of the Preludes I know well, and I was expressly expecting to hear it. How I missed this 5 minutes long piece of foreboding & thundering music is baffling to >me. Did you hear anyone snoring in the seventh row?

It's good to know not eveyone moved out of The Haight in the 70's.
Peace,brother !

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Dufus <steve...@gmail.com> appears to have caused the following letters
to be typed in
news:aab85196-2a28-4077...@c17g2000yqe.googlegroups.com:

I lived in the Central Sunset through much of the '70s.

--
Matthew B. Tepper: WWW, science fiction, classical music, ducks!!
Read about "Proty" here: http://home.earthlink.net/~oy/proty.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.