Mannes Faculty Recital: Hugo Goldenzweig

Yesterday evening, I returned to Mannes for the first time this year to hear a faculty recital by Argentinian born pianist Hugo Goldenzweig.  It was an unusual program that featured a combination of wildly different types of music.  Unfortunately, though the temperature outside was well below freezing, there was no heating provided in the concert hall at Mannes, a circumstance that made it difficult for the shivering audience to concentrate on the performance.

The program began with three pieces by Domenico Scarlatti - the Sonata in E, L. 21, K. 162; the Sonata in E, L. 63, K. 163; and the Toccata in D minor.  Then came Haydn's four movement Divertimento in G, Hob. XVI/8 (1766).  These early light classical pieces, originally written for harpsichord, worked well with Mr. Goldenzweig's careful formal style.

Following the Haydn came the Sonata No. 3 in F (1946) by Dmitri Kabalevsky.  This was an interesting choice.  I can't ever remember having heard before any of this composer's piano pieces in performance and had really known of him only from The Comedians.  The sonata, if not inspired, was still well thought out and pleasant to hear.  It had a distinctly Russian tone to it that I enjoyed.

After intermission, Mr. Goldenzweig performed eight Études by Frédéric Chopin - the E, Op. 10, No. 3; the G-flat, Op. 10, No. 5; the C minor, Op. 10, No. 12; the No. 1 in F minor (Trois Nouvelle Etudes); the F minor, Op. 25, No. 2; the E minor, Op. 25, No. 5; the C-sharp minor, Op. 25, No. 7; and the A minor, Op. 25, No. 11.  These were obviously Mr. Goldenzweig's forte.  According to his biography, his doctoral dissertation was a performance guide for the Chopin Études.

The evening ended with a novel arrangement by William Schimmel entitled A Schubert/Liszt Lovetale in which Mr. Goldenzweig was joined by Mr. Schimmel himself playing accordion.  In the program notes, Mr. Schimmel described the piece as follows:

"A Schubert/Liszt Lovetale is an assemblage of Liszt's Mephisto Waltz and Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy.  Here, the accordion joins the piano creating a sense of orchestration in the manner of Liszt's own orchestrations of the Wanderer Fantasy as well of his Mephisto Waltz... The fusion of the two pieces sets up a travel through time, a quantum leap from Schubert to Liszt, allowing improvisation to flow out of the requirements of the original structured works as well as their style."

It was an interesting concept, but one which in the end worked better in theory than in actual performance.