Rachmaninov Fourth Piano Concerto at the Proms

Listening to the stunning performance by pianist Boris Berezovsky I was reminded how a seldom played work can suddenly take on a whole new life when the right forces collide. Such was the case here. The European Youth Orchestra was in great form...as invariably they are...and Antonia Pappano continues to impress as one of the more musical young conductors around. The writing in this work is at time cerebral, and not once do you find Rachmaninov letting your listening path be easy. The first movement does have a haunting second theme, but still it is hard to bring it to mind. The last movement is furious and unrelenting, a macabre scherzo of dazzling speed. Berezovsky took all the fearsome technical difficulties in stride, and managed to project clarity and a crystaline sound that was a joy to hear. Seldom have I heard a Proms audience as enthusiastic as this one, which made for a great listening experience.

Vaughn Williams' Piano Concerto

Listening to a performance of Vaughn Williams' Piano Concerto, one wonders about its curious history. Given its first performance in 1932 by Harriet Cohen, it promptly fell into obscurity, until being revived in the 1940's in a revised version. Its always fun to hear the English version of the name Ralph...which comes out Raffe..If you say that over here in the USA everyone stares at you. Anyway, it is Sir Raffe Richardson, Raffe Fiennes, goes on and on. Oh what a time I had with names when I first went to England.

All these English piano concerti..Vaughn Williams, Ireland, Bax, ...exhibit a curious companionship in that they never follow the Continental manner. Usually there is this fascination with the piano as a coloristic contributor in a wider orchestral framework. That is what I am hearing here. Of the lot, I much prefer the John Ireland Piano Concerto.

I met Harriet Cohen as a student in London, about 1960. She was a colorful person, with a rather darker side.One had a certain sympathy for her, as she cut her finger on a broken glass, and that put an end to playing. Also, her home was bombed in the Second World War, so she had lost everything. She never quite reached the prominence of say, Dame Myra Hess, or Moura Lympany. But she did have a knack for giving first performances of important English compositions. My teacher Hilda Dederich was promised the first performance of the Piano Concerto by Sir Arnold Bax, but found out to her dismay that it had been given to Harriet Cohen instead. For a bit of gossip, it was generally known in music circles in London at the time that La Cohen was a rather free spirit. Guirne Van Zuylen, a contemporary and fine pianist and composer, told me of having visited in the homes of both Vaughn Williams and Sir Arnold Bax. Prominently displayed were similar photos of Harriet, both inscribed." to Dear Ralph, with all my Love"....and "to Dear Arnold, with all my Love'. I must say I was not attracted to La Cohen, finding her self absorbed and acerbic. She did give a Medal...the Harriet Cohen Medal...which always attracted note. I didn't get one.

Following through with the use of English folksong in many of these works, I always get more of the "folk" and less of the "song". When the composition is over I can rarely hum the tune. Perhaps that is a rather good indicator on the likeability scale.Pianist Ashley Wass did a fine job with a tiger of a piece. Certainly Vaughn Williams is having a good airing on these Proms this season.

More About Carl Friedberg.

The thing I most remember about this remarkable man is something I have noticed with other great artists. There was an element of not quite being on earth, rather the air of a person who had so conquered his demons that he could live with his art as naturally as one breathes. Not that he wasn't definite about his likes and dislikes. My teacher, Mary Newett Dawson, often went to meet him when he arrived in Kansas City. I remember her laughing that it took three restaurants before they found one he would go into. The first two had recorded music, and that was a no go for him. He was definite with the Bellerive Hotel about his accomodation as well. As a Steinway Artist, the Steinway people always placed a grand in his suite, as well as a small upright in his bedroom. He claimed that he actually listened better when he played a smaller piano. That helped me in latter years when I often had to practice on upright pianos of uncertain origins. If Friedberg could do that, so could I.

To have a lesson with Mr. Friedberg cost 50.00....which was a huge amount of money in the early 1950's. The payment on my Baldwin Acousonic was only 10.00. But my parents paid it and never complained about it. My father was so amused he kept the returned check for one of the lessons, and gave it to me years later. I had a really good repertoire to take to him, thanks to my teacher, and I felt comfortable with all of it. Looking back I am amazed I played all of it. I never was much for tracking my practice hours, and I am sure some days I did very little. But I was organized, so I could always tell more or less what sort of progress I was making. I took Debussy's "La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune" for my first lesson. I look back on that and smile, as I am sure as a 17 year old there would have been a few errors, in rhythm particularly. I did not play wrong notes, as my teacher would never have allowed me to get away with that. "The terrace for moonlight audiences..." was a phrase Debussy read in Le Figaro, depicting a large audience seated on a hillside, listening to a religious prophet. Freidberg likened the opening phrase to the spider slowly decending from his web by a long, silver thread. I was hooked from that moment!. I also remember playing "La puerta del Vino", and about those loud crashing chords at the beginning he said they were like the swinging doors leading into a salon of very doubtful social standing. I was even more hooked over that! Needless to say, this man had imagination.

Friedberg had a way of getting you to do what he wanted by playing on your imagination. There was alot of experimenting to get just the right mood and sound. He gave a certain direction for the technical part, but he helped you discover this in such a way as to make you think you actually discovered it yourself. There was a certain mystery in his teaching. He was uniquely philosophical....very German in this way....and was apt to quote Goethe and Aristotle in the same breath. "Know Thyself" was a special favorite.

I always had the feeling with Mr. Friedberg that we were partners in a search for the great mysteries of music. When I left he told me I had a wonderful gift for sound, and to trust myself. I was walking on air when I left, and I can say that was the first time I ever believed I really had talent. It was the turning point in my musical experience.

Olga At The Proms....

Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Olga Kern, late of Columbia, South Carolina and the Southeastern Piano Festival, chose wisely for her Prom debut last night. She has played the Rachmaninoff "Rhapsody on a Tneme of Paganini" on tour with orchestra, and at many important points in her career. Having just heard her Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 2 here in Columbia in June, I was ready for the glistening technique and the fiery attach and brio. Olga plays with elan, and what she does is very much her own. The "Rhapsody" emerged here as the show piece it is, dependent on quick thinking and constant control. Unfortunately,she misjudged the notorious acoustics of the Albert Hall...and its famous echo. Some passages were so fast they emerged in somewhat of a blur: at other times it was hard to hear clearly her rapid fire octaves. She did have a superb accompanist in Leonard Slatkin , who was at the ready throughout. The Royal Philharmonic has played this work constantly, so they were spot on also. It seemed that she favored an extremely fast tempo in general, although she did slow down enough to make the more famous melodies attractive and colorful. Olga doesn't mind making a personal effect at times. Surely she would have to point these out to the conductor, as they can be unusual. Slatkin caught every one. Her response from the audience was warm, but not as demonstrative as here. Perhaps the English like a certain element she has not quite reached yet: that might be explained as taking more time in the bravura elements so that they speak clearly, without excessive pressure, and not fussing too heavily with the melodic bits. No doubt she will be invited back.

Ralph Vaughn Williams

The London Proms are currently celebrating the 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958). Somewhat neglected for the past decades, the music of Vaughn Williams was enormously popular when I was in high school and university in the 1950's. Compositions I particularly remember are the London Symphony, and "On Wenlock Edge" for tenor, string quartet and piano. This I performed twice, most notably at Yale with Donovan Wold. We celebrate Bartok and Kodaly for their efforts in collecting folk songs, roaming the countryside, finding singers who could remember the old tunes they in turn learned from their ancestors. Vaughn Williams did the same for English folksong, basing a great deal of his melodies on these wondrous memodies...as he said so eloquently "When I hear them I feel something deep within myself that makes me an Englishman".

Vaughn Williams died in 1958, the year before I came to London. I remember impressive performances of his choral music, and orchestral works, especially those conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, at that time very old and at the end of his long career. His music is so ideal for introducing people to classical music, with its haunting melodies and lush string sound.

It is interesting to live long enough to enjoy the revival of works of art that have lost their audience, only for them to awake and find a new one. English music does not alway transport well away from its shores. I think of Elgar's great choral masterpiece "The Dream of Gerontius" which the English revere, yet it is rare to hear a performance in the USA.I remember hearing Guirne Van Zuylen working with a Welsh tenor on the part of Gerontius over a period of weeks in 1959. It was a very moving and enlightening experiece. Perhaps Benjamin Britten has fared well with his operas, and of course we often hear Elgar's "Enigma Variations" and "Cello Concerto". But other great composers, for instance Frederic Delius, have not fared well. There is longing, melancholy, and restrait in all this music...and for that reason it perhaps goes against the grain for so many. But for those of us who love it, it is unique and breathes the very soul of England.Listening at this very moment to Leonard Slakin conduct Vaughn Williams Symphony No. 6 makes me realize I now recognize music from this period in English musical history easily (mid-century). The aftermant of the Second World War is felt in so much of it.."Peter Grimes" with its overpowering choral moments, and again, the Sonata for Piano by Howard Ferguson are two strong examples.

I remember a comment made to me by Jennifer Vyvyan, a wonderful soprano associated with many first performances of Britten's music. She recalled as a student at the RAM going to all the performances she could manage to hear Britten's premiere performances of "Peter Grimes"... having to stand for many of them. She said that after the dark days of the Second World War this work was like a beacon of light, drawing everyone towards it.