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Sydney International Piano Competition 2008

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Chamber Music and Concerto highlights

Pianists: Tatiana Kolesova, Konstantin Shamray,

Ran Dank, Charlie Albright, Hoang Pham

ABC 476 6960 (4-CD)

TPT: exceeding four hours

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 SIPCA Vol2

Mozart: Piano Concertos K466 in D minor; K595 in B flat major

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos No 2 in G minor; No 3 in C major

Beethoven: Piano Trio in B flat major, opus 97 (Archduke)

Brahms: Piano Trio in B major, opus 8

Ravel: Piano Trio in A minor

Mendelssohn: Piano Trio in D minor, opus 49

 

During the early years of the 20th century, recitals given by Polish pianist Ignaz Paderewski drew immense audiences. No musician since Liszt was as widely known as this striking figure with his immense shock of red hair and  powerful stage presence. He was the equivalent of today’s rock stars. He earned a ton of money and was lionised wherever he went.

 

This was the triumph of spin over substance, the elevation of a second-rater to demi-god-like status.

 

It could never happen now. In Paderewski’s day, there was nothing like the avalanches of music recordings (most of them of fine quality) that now routinely flood on to the market. So there were far fewer opportunities in Paderewski’s day for concertgoers to assess his worth in relation to recordings by other, far worthier, musicians. He got away with musical murder then. He could never do so now.

 

A 4-CD pack devoted to performances by laureates of the 2008 Sydney International Piano Competition demonstrates unequivocally why Paderewski (and a host of other early 20th century pianists) would never have stood a chance in a contest where the least accomplished SIPC competitor would have been vastly more convincing than  Paderewski whose accomplishments included a stint as prime minister of Poland.

 

Perhaps the greatest factor contributing to the ever-rising professional standards of pianists  – and other instrumentalists and singers – around the world is the flood of fine recordings that have come onto the market. Inevitably, the many fine performances enshrined on compact discs is have raised expectations by listeners who would certainly not be conned nowadays compared to the state of affairs that pertained when Paderewski would routinely be received like musical royalty wherever he went.

 

Listen to Konstantin Shamray in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor. The skill with which he conveys the poetic, dreamlike nature of the piano part that ushers in and closes the first movement is that of an arrived master. And midway, he is no less convincing in evoking the essence of Prokofiev’s starkly abrupt, striding measures. I listened in wonder to the virtuosic brilliance with which he steers a sure way through the musical minefield that is the scherzo.

 

And in Prokofiev’s much better-known Piano Concerto No 3 in C,  Ran Dank sounds perfectly suited to its challenges, especially the opening andante-allegro where his playing oscillates between nimble, filigree-delicacy to virile poundings. Dank rises wonderfully to the challenges of the theme and variations. Here, Dank is invariably positioned at the emotional epicentre of the writing. The playing radiates joie de vivre. Dank is no less persuasive in the finale where there is a joyful coming-to-grips with the score.

 

There’s an abundance of chamber music here with Charlie Albright a particularly bright musical star in Beethoven’s Archduke Trio with Dimity Hall (violin) and Julian Smiles (cello).

 

This generous, 4-CD pack includes two Mozart concertos as well as chamber works by  Brahms, Mendelssohn and Ravel.


Stephanie McCallum (piano)

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stephanie_mccallum_photo 

 

 

Octagon Theatre

 

 

reviewed by Neville Cohn

 

 

 

 

It would be unreasonable and manifestly unfair to expect an absolutely unwavering standard of excellence from any musician, even the most experienced and committed. In the nature of things, any performer can have an off-day. And this an overriding impression of Stephanie McCallum’s recital in UWA’s Keyed-Up recital series at the weekend.

 

Let it be said at once that Ms McCallum is one of the brightest and most enduring stars on the Australia’s fine music scene. She has numbers of well-received compact discs and a formidable list of live concert successes to her credit.

 

McCallum’s program for the Keyed-Up series incorporated the complete set of Beethoven’s Bagatelles opus 33 which she recently committed to compact disc – and it was one of the most positive highlights of the evening, with care lavished on minute detail. These seven miniatures, lovingly fashioned, came across like a chaplet of finely facetted gemstones.

 

I particularly liked Roger Smalley’s Morceau de concours. In McCallum’s hands, it came across as one of the composer’s more approachable offerings, a study in tonal levels, with an abundance of subtle sonic shifts and much trilling – a technically formidable piece which was commissioned as a compulsory item for those taking part in a recent Sydney International Piano Competition.

 

Schumann’s Fantasie in C, one of the composer’s most passionate utterances, was given a frankly disappointing, very uneven, performance with scatterings of inaccuracies and moments when momentum faltered as the soloist, playing from the score, seemed to be searching for notes.

 

In Liszt’s Ballade No 2, too, McCallum’s performance was marred at times by a less-than-total engagement with the music, with error-strewn moments that lay cheek by jowl with episodes in which there was a thrillingly virtuosic identification with the score. Yet more Liszt was no less uneven. Wilde Jagd is not for timid pianists and, on past form, one would have expected McCallum to take its hurdles in her stride but, as in the Ballade, the playing was uneven.