Friday, December 12, 2014

Carnegie Hall: Yuja Wang Performs Schubert, Liszt, Scriabin and Balakirev

Yesterday evening, Yuja Wang performed a program that included Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert lieder, a sonata by Schubert himself, various pieces by Scriabin, and a famous work by the Russian composer Mily Balakirev.  This was actually a revised program.  The pianist had originally been scheduled to perform works by Mompou, Granados, Albéniz, a different set of pieces by Scriabin and a different sonata by Schubert.  In early November, I received a letter from Carnegie Hall setting forth the new program.  The only holdover from the first repertoire was Scriabin's "Black Mass" sonata.  No reason was given for the change.

The program opened with Liszt's transcriptions of several well known lieder by Schubert -"Liebesbotschaft" and "Aufenthalt" from Schwanengesang, D. 957 / S. 560 and "Der Müller und der Bach" from Die schöne Müllerin, D. 795 / S. 565.  While it's unlikely the two ever met (even though the famous pianist was in Vienna in the early 1820's as a student of Carl Czerny), Liszt had incredible respect for Schubert's genius, even going so far as to refer to the latter as the “beloved hero of the heaven of my youth.” What is most noteworthy about Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's songs - and he completed 56 in all - is the fidelity with which he treated these lieder; he rarely took with them the liberties he so often resorted to in his paraphrases of operatic works.  Among Liszt's earliest attempts were those taken from Schwanengesang ("Swan Song") completed in 1838 when the pianist returned to Vienna to give a series of ten charity concerts to benefit flood victims.  In fact, more than half of Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert date from this period.  Interestingly, it was at this same time that Liszt performed the original lieder themselves as accompanist to Benedict Randhartinger, a tenor who had once been a friend of Schubert and who had given many performances of these works in the years following the composer's death.  The piano parts which Schubert wrote to accompany his songs were much more complex than was usually the case and displayed frequent interaction with the vocal part.  The unusual depth shown in the piano part would have made the process of transcription much easier for Liszt than would otherwise have been the case.  The transcriptions taken from Die schöne Müllerin ("The Miller's Blonde Daughter") were later works completed in 1848.

The Liszt transcriptions were followed by Schubert's Piano Sonata in A Major, D. 959 (1828).  It is one of music's tragic ironies that so many of the composer's finest works should have been completed in the few months before his death.  One senses that Schubert knew his end was at hand and desperately sought to finish the legacy he would leave behind.  In doing so, he showed conclusively how much more he might have accomplished had he lived longer.  Certainly the three piano sonatas he completed during this time were among the greatest of his masterpieces and staples of the piano repertoire.  There are so many correspondences among these three four-movement pieces that they can be viewed in a sense as variations on a single work.  It is only by listening to all three that one can fully appreciate the extent of Schubert's genius in composing them.  The A major is also notable for its use in the finale of the same structure Beethoven had previously employed in the finale of his own Sonata in G major.  It was this "borrowing" that for many years led critics to hold Schubert's sonatas in low esteem as poor imitations of Beethoven's accomplishments in the same genre.

After intermission, the program took on a Russian flavor as Yang performed several works by Scriabin - Prelude for the Left Hand, Op. 9, No. 1, Prelude in F-sharp Minor, Op. 11, No. 8, Fantasy in B Minor, Op. 28, Prelude in B-flat Minor, Op. 37, No. 1, Two Poems, Op. 63, and Piano Sonata No. 9, Op. 68, "Black Mass."  Scriabin is one of the most fascinating composers to have emerged in Russia near the beginning of the twentieth century.  Much like the music he wrote, he was completely idiosyncratic and sometimes displayed a mystical bent  This inclination is especially apparent in his later "Third Period" works such as the Two Poems and the Sonata No. 9 that are nearly atonal in their structure.

The program concluded with Balakirev's Islamey (1869).  Balakirev is today best remembered for his membership in "The Five," a group of composers whose goal was to introduce a spirit of nationalism into Russian music.  As successor to Glinka, he was at the very center of musical life in Russia and later became a close friend of Tchaikovsky.  Not many of Balakirev's works are performed today.  The persistence of Islamey in the repertoire is paradoxically due to its very difficulty.  It has become a recital showpiece for virtusosi to show off their skills.  Unlike most of Balakirev's music, it was composed quickly in only one month after Balakirev had made a journey to the Caucasus in search of folk music he thought could appropriately be employed in his promotion of Russian nationalism.  As such, the work has a thoroughly exotic "oriental" character unlike anything that can be found in West European music.

As for Yuja Wang's performance, it was definitely thoughtful and accomplished.  Once she finally took the stage, she displayed throughout the recital a deep understanding of the works she was playing.  At the same time, however, and through no fault of her own, she did not quite live up to all the hype surrounding her appearance.  She was simply a very competent pianist performing great works of music.  That should really be good enough for anyone.

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