Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)

DECCA 478 5334

reviewed by Neville Cohn

If you are one of the very few piano enthusiasts not yet familiar with the name Benjamin Grosvenor, I do urge you strongly to rush out to the nearest record shop and, without delay, purchase a copy of his Dances compilation on the DECCA label. Better still, purchase two copies (one for yourself and another for a friend who will be deeply in your debt for such a magnificent present) – and then disconnect the phone, don’t pay any attention to knocking on the front door or the peas boiling over on the stove – and allow this wonderful musicmaking to take over your soul.

All this is a rather wordy was of saying that this recording is one of the most satisfying and sheerly beautiful piano performances I’ve heard in a long time. And the fact that the pianist is still in his twenties is astounding because the playing is informed by a maturity and depth of expression that is quite at variance with his youth. The courante from Bach’s Partita No 4 in D is so deliciously buoyant that I wanted to get up and dance to it.

Grosvenor’s Bach is bewitchingly beautiful; its superb grasp of style and faultless evocation of mood are profoundly satisfying. The minuet is sheer delight with exquisite rhythmic and tonal nuances, a little miracle of clarity – and the gigue is beyond criticism.

In Chopin’s Andante spianato, we listen to effortlessly rippling semiquavers above which is a finely etched melody line. The Grande Polonaise Brillante is just that – grand and brilliant. The same could be said of Chopin’s Polonaise opus 44, the playing oscillating between rugged, stentorian power and quiet murmurings that caress the ear.

Here, and throughout a gruelling musical journey, faultless taste is constantly in evidence demonstrating musical insights quite out of proportion to Grosvenor’s youth. It’s as if this pianist came into the world already finely formed as pianist extraordinaire. But there is also much about Grosvenor’s musicianship which suggests he is the beneficiary of guidance at the highest level.

There are three mazurkas by Scriabin, that in C sharp minor winningly capricious

And a waltz in A flat is bittersweet; the composer directs it be played carezzando and, indeed, this is tone that caresses the ear.

Of a bracket of eight miniature waltzes by Granados, it is the fifth, informed by a delightful Viennese lilt – and the nostalgia-drenched sixth – which are as near to perfection as one could hope.

There is yet more dazzling pianism in Schulz-Evler’s ferociously taxing “Arabesques on Johann Strauss’ By the Beautiful Blue Danube”. Again and again, while listening to this, I was reminded of the virtuosity of that handful of ultra-virtuosi who bestrode the music world in the early years of recording – Godowsky, de Pachmann (in his occasional moments of musical sanity) and the young Horowitz. Listen to Grosvenor in a Blue Danube gorgeously expressive of an echt-Wien quality, in turn shimmering with silvery toned, gossamer-light prestidigitation and dazzling with a diamond-bright quality, all courtesy of the touch of a master playing with insights far in advance of his years.

There’s a delicious musical bonbon: Morton Gould’s Boogie-Woogie Etude. Has this miniature ever had a more virtuosic interpreter? It’s a stunning little number.

Kyle Bielfield (tenor)/ Lachlan Glen (piano)

DECC A 481 1163

TPT: 71’ 54”

reviewed by Neville Cohn

This is one of the most satisfying CD debuts I can recall in years.

I had not known of Kyle Bielfield’s work as tenor until I listened to this compilation. I’d come

home late at night after a very long day when I found the CD in my mailbox. I thought I’d listen to

a couple of tracks before turning in for a much needed rest. But having a sleep was put on hold for

more than an hour because this was musicmaking far too persuasive to leave over for the morning.

I savoured each minute of this splendid musicmaking.

Kyle Bielfield sings the words as if they really mean something rather than just as a medium for

producing a pleasing sound; he’s a storyteller who draws the listener into the idiosyncratic world

of each song. But there’s more – far more – to these recordings than even this. Australian

accompanist Lachlan Glen reaches for the stars in each miniature, doing wonders in assisting the

singer to establish the unique essence of each art song. These recordings are a model of integrated

musicianship at a very high level.

In a broad sense, American art songs – North American relations to German lieder and the French

chanson – have yet to establish themselves firmly in an international; sense. And what Bielfield

and Glen are doing so persuasively through recordings such as this is to bring American art song to

a wider constituency – and not before time. Michael Samis’ contributions on cello are masterly.

There are established favourites – Copland’s setting of Simple Gifts, Amy Beach’s Autumn Song,

Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer. But there are also vocal miniatures that deserve to be far, far

better known than they, in fact, are. There are no fewer than three settings of Stopping by Woods

on a Snowy Evening by Samuel Barber, John Duke and Ned Rorem respectively. And with

performances of such insight and skill, there’s every reason to believe these will be taken up by an

international constituency.

Many of these songs were a revelation for me – and in the most positive sense. I hope they are for

you, too.

K365 in E flat & K242 in F

Silver-Garburg Piano Duo/Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra

ABC Classics  481 0245 (K365) / 481 0244 (K242)

reviewed by Neville Cohn

While the international concert circuit is clogged with innumerable solo pianists, fine piano duos of high ability are much less frequently encountered.

Rawicz and Landauer were arguably the most famous of all piano duos of the 20^th century. Living and working in Vienna in the 1930s, they were fortunate enough to find refuge in the UK where they were initially interned on the Isle of Man. Their records sold in the millions.

Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir, husband and wife duo, were for decades Israel’s most celebrated piano duo. Now, that crown has passed to a younger husband-and-wife team Sivan Silver and Gil Garburg, both of whom are sabras. They studied primarily with Ari Vardi at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. They are now based in Berlin from where they maintain a busy international career. They also teach at the Hanover Musikhochschule.

Recently, they gave acclaimed concerts in Tasmania and along Australian’s east coast. Incidentally, the Silver-Garburg duo should not be confused with the Viney-Grinberg duo which is based in Queensland.

Although Perth audiences have yet to have the pleasure of hearing the Silver-Garburg duo ‘live’, we can, in the meantime, listen to the pair in superlative performances on the ABC Classics label of two Mozart concertos, both recorded with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Alexander Mickelthwate.

Listening to the duo instantly recalls the artistry of that other famed Mozart interpreter Lili Kraus. The perfect fluency of their passagework, the clarity and silvery tone of presentation mark the duo instantly as of the highest calibre.

Mozart’s Concerto in F, K242 was originally conceived as a concerto for three pianos and in this form was presented at Sydney Opera House some years ago in a performance that featured the late Hazel Hawke as one of the three soloists. The Silver-Garburg performance is of Mozart’s own adaptation of the work for two pianists.

This is impeccable playing but it is the duo’s recording of Mozart’s Concerto K 365 that scales the heights. This recording is a frankly magnificent achievement. The three movements call to mind a chaplet of flawlessly facetted gems. Stylistically, it is beyond reproach. Alexander Mickelthwate presides over an on-form Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. This CD should be in the collection of every Mozart aficionado.