Search - Schumann, Dvorak, Marc Albrecht :: Schumann, Dvorák: Piano Concertos

Helmchen, Albrecht, StrasbourgPO: Schumann, Dvorak P Ctos: A

Dan Fee | Berkeley, CA USA | 11/20/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The good people at Pentatone continue to release interesting and worthwhile music. On this disc we get the single piano concertos of Robert Schumann and Antonin Dvorak. The Schumann is nearly a warhorse of concert hall status; while the Dvorak still seems to be a real world rarity, though the number of available recordings has dramatically increased in the last decade or two. Time was, when you could hardly find a disc of the Dvorak piano concerto, nor was it all that easy to find an average music lover who even knew that Dvorak had written such a keyboard work. The Schumann concerto on the other hand was well known to everybody, right from its debut with Clara Schumann at the piano.



Bench marks for either work are substantial. Schumann standouts must include: (1) Ivan Moravec (red book PCM disc plus Japanese SACD remastering), (2) Artur Rubinstein with Carlo Maria Giulini leading Chicago (red book CD, plus we await the SACD remaster), (3) Claudio Arrau, (4) Dinu Lipatti ... plus wait, do not forget Malcolm Frager, Leon Fleischer with Szell, Nelson Friere with Kempe in Munich, Murray Perahia with Colin Davis, Howard Shelley, Pollini, Radu Lupu, Zacharias, Brendel, Cliburn, Argerich, Richter. An Amazon catalog search yields some thousand possible entries, even taking into account the re-releases and other disc duplications. Broadly speaking, the available recordings seem to sort into three categories, some perhaps overlapping style, manners, musical approach - not least depending on the relative particular contributions of conductor X times band Y.



That is, Schumann's piano concerto typically ends up - (A) poised, warm, charming, (B) poetic, romantic, ... "recklessly pretty" as Tovey said? Or, (C) Vigorous, energetic, muscular. The poetic performers bring out the mysterious depths of this remarkable work. The poised players recall an almost Mozartian charm with clear, limpid deep currents of serenity. The energetic players seem to bring out the athletic, up moods and figurations.



Consult the catalogs on Dvorak, and a smaller but stellar list of available recordings also pops up. Perhaps we should think first of Rudolf Firkusny, whose stirring and poetic advocacy helped single-handedly keep Dvorak's orphaned piano concerto in active concert halls for several decades when it seemed that hardly anybody else bothered to play the work. I think three or four different discs are listed, from a Westminster early stereo disc with Somogyi in Vienna, to Walter Susskind in St. Louis, to Vaclav Neumann in Prague, to sometime live concert takes from archives. If we are going to celebrate Firkusny in Dvorak, we must also pause to appreciate his warmly committed readings of the Dvorak piano quintets. Then. Add in Richter with Kleiber on EMI, Andras Schiff in Vienna on Decca Universal Classics, Jeno Jando on Naxos, Ivan Moravec (playing the edited Vilem Kurtz edition), Paolo Giacometti (SACD), Igor Ardasev with the excellent Leos Svarosky, and a smattering of others, among whom Harnoncourt with Aimard also stands out. I note, too, that the super-poetic pianist Vasily Primakov has done the Dvorak concerto, so of course having fallen under the considerable spell of his Chopin concertos I must hear what Primakov does in the Dvorak. (Stay tuned.)



On the disc at hand we can simply take for granted an excellent sound picture. If the engineers at Pentatone do not know how to do super audio surround sound for classical music, then all is lost indeed. The Strasbourg, France venue is just big enough to gather and reflect the sound, full frequency, and warmly-vividly colored. Nothing wild leaps out from the surround channels; but the increase in presence and wrap is palpable. Many listeners will keep the disc just for its exemplary sound.



What we get from pianist Martin Helmchen, helped along very alertly by younger conductor Marc Albrecht and the Strasbourg band players is a youthful, sparkling approach to both concertos. The Schumann first movement is more athletic than usual, the middle movement more touched with customary song and some poetry, and the final movement a mix of energy and winsome glances. This is music for young lovers, then, and perhaps it is so concerned with getting going that it just misses some of the deeper and more mysterious poetry as served up in famous readings by Dinu Lipatti, Artur Rubinstein, or Ivan Moravec. Since those other readings do still exist, I see no reason to dismiss Helmchen and company for what they might lack, instead of what they offer. If you like Schumann youthful, fresh, and frisky, this concerto will hardly disappoint anybody.



Similarly, for the Dvorak. I hear a deeper folk color and strength in Firkusny, more poetry in Richter, remarkable wholesomeness in Jeno Jando, and a special starry burn in the Schiff readings. I suspect the near future arrival of Vasily Primakov will show off more poetry than Helmchen; but I cannot avoid noting that the poetry arrives when it does in Helmchen, leanly fine tuned without any superfluous traces of cartoon bourgeoisie swooning or padded-plus layers of pseudo-Romantic sentimentality. The great musical truth in nearly every keeper reading of the Dvorak is that the players should not be trying harder than the music warrants. Everybody succeeds by just letting the real Dvorak loose upon us listeners; no pushing, shoving, taffy-pulling, or musical italicizing needed.



What Helmchen has, consistent with other favs, is his faith in Dvorak. He gives the Lisztian-Schumann-Mendelssohn aspects of the keyboard writing their due without getting off course. The spell of repeat spins will probably grow as we hear and hear again, some marvelous things that Helmchen and partners are doing in the Dvorak.



Five stars. Sound quality stars. Music performance stars."