Intermezzo

Raise your handkerchiefs for András Schiff

András Schiff - Wigmore Hall, 9 September 2008

 

There's always one, isn't there?

This time, it was the total t1t who, like the rest of the audience, sat silent throughout the hundred non-stop spellbinding minutes of András Schiff's Goldberg Variations. Then erupted with an almighty cough about 2 milliseconds after Schiff had struck his last note. Before his fingers had even left the keyboard! 

Was it a set-up? Who knows (- Schiff is notoriously touchy about interruptions - and why shouldn't he be?)

Score-free and pedal-less, the performance had all the Schiff trademarks of intelligence and clarity. He made his points strongly and unequivocally, sometimes controversially. His tuneseeking tendency to cleave to a line could destabilise and unbalance. And though the strange dissonances of variation 25 were quite properly emphasised before resolution, I'm not sure they needed quite the bold caps double underlining they received. But he didn't, as some before him have done, chicken out when it came to the rapidfire super-virtuoso sections, appreciating the need for balance in tempos as in every other aspect of the work. It was a performance that reached the intellect more than the heart perhaps, but still a stunning achievement.

Afterwards, he seemed genuinely touched to receive the Wigmore Medal for his contribution (over 30 years!) to the musical life of Wigmore Hall. And despite his pianothon, he even managed a coherent and graceful speech of thanks, the coughing interloper apparently forgotten.

Andras Schiff's Schubert marathon

András Schiff - Wigmore Hall, 15 May 2008

Schubert – Impromptus, D.899, Moments Musicaux, D.780, Drei Klavierstücke, D.946, Impromptus, D.935

It rarely seemed that way, but this was an unusually long evening, with a 90 minute first half and another half an hour in the second. I'm not sure of the purpose of stuffing so much into the first half, but the main effect was to underline how much less consequential the six Moments Musicaux are than the Impromptus and Klavierstücke Schiff framed them with.

Schiff had performed the same programme in the Wigmore Hall the previous evening. How draining that had been is a matter of speculation. But Schiff made a surprising number of clunky errors in the first set of Impromptus. Painting with a broad brush, sparing of pedal, he took a bold and decisive line. His left hand sang out purposefully -- it was grave and relentless stuff, with little of the improvisatory flavour of his playful approach the last time I heard him perform these pieces.

He seemed reluctant to take a break between these and the Moments Musicaux which followed. Visibly itching for the applause to end, he launched in as soon as was decent, and seemed suddenly more relaxed and able to explore a lighter lyrical side, though again without great refinement of detail.

With the Drei Klavierstücke, again kicked off after a pause of mere seconds, he returned to the bold outlines of the earlier part of the programme, as if he had plenty to say but nothing left to ask.

The break between the first and second half seemed to rejuvenate Schiff. With the D.935 Impromptus he was fully alert to the interplay of line and gave a considerably more detailed, considered and frankly musical performance. Particularly in the startlingly forward-looking final F minor Impromptu, Schiff finally sounded as if he had unlocked something not only in Schubert but also in himself.

Encoring with Schubert's Hungarian Melody D.817, Schiff bizarrely sounded more far more energised and alive than he had at the start of the recital, cleverly leaving us wanting more. And after over two hours of performance, that's no mean feat.

This video is part of a masterclass Schiff gave - it's interesting in the context of what I noticed in the recital to see how he's focussing more on what his student should take out than on what she needs to put in:

Beethoven's piano sonatas - the Andras Schiff lectures

This may be a timely point for a reminder that in 2006 András Schiff gave a highly informative and insightful series of lecture-recitals at the Wigmore Hall in parallel to his Beethoven sonata series. They are still available on the Guardian website, here.

Angelika Kirchschlager shouts some Schubert

Angelika Kirchschlager/András Schiff - Wigmore Hall, 6 November 2007

Angelika Kirchschlager is capable of singing very beautifully indeed. A fresh-minted sweetness and purity of tone are her hallmarks, and that's exactly how she packaged most of her higher notes in tonight's Brahms/Schubert recital.

But it was disappointing (to those of us who go in for that sort of thing anyway) she chose to deploy her lower register in a semi-conversational style bordering on sprechgesang. In the lighter songs - like Brahms's Och Moder - it was comically effective. But elsewhere it was over-employed to the point of mannerism. I can't recall noticing this in her singing before (at least not to this extent). Not one true chest note all night, so I don't think it can be passed off as interpretive choice. Illness, affectation, nerves? -- baffling.

At the other end, her highest notes were paper-thin, so it's perhaps fortunate the programme had been judiciously selected to minimise these.

She remains at least a marvellous actress, with an ability to bring songs to life physically even where the vocals are lacking. In the elegant silky bias-cut dress pictured above, and painful looking high pointy stilettos she commanded the stage.

The evening was billed as 'Songs with and without words', and accordingly each half was bisected with a group of short piano solos. Although the sort of thing András Schiff might have had difficulty working into a regular piano recital, here they slotted in neatly. He gave a typically poised and thoughtful reading of three Brahms Intermezzi inspired by poems, and later on cut loose for three characterful Schubert pieces, from the songlike Hungarian Melody to the rumbunctious Grazer Galopp. They're pieces you might not get to hear very often, unless you play them yourself, so were all the more welcome.

Brahms Wach auf mein Herzensschöne; Es steht ein Lind: Da unten im Tale Op. 97 no. 6; Och Moder, ich well en Ding han!; Vor dem Fenster Op. 14 No. 1; Feinsliebchen, du sollst mir nicht barfuß gehn; In stiller Nacht;
3 Intermezzi Op. 117;
Von waldbekränzter Höhe Op. 57 No. 1; Wenn du nur zuweilen lächelst Op. 57 No. 2; Es träumte mir, ich sei dir teuer Op. 57 No. 3; Ach, wende diesen Blick Op. 57 No. 4; Unbewegte laue Luft Op. 57 No. 8

Schubert An Silvia D. 891; Der liebliche Stern D. 861; Geheimes D. 719; Wiegenlied D. 867;
Hungarian Melody in B minor D817; Allegretto in C minor D915; Grazer Galopp in C D925;
Am Bach im Frühling D. 361; Der Pilgrim D. 794; Lied des Florio D. 857 No. 2; An den Mond D. 259; Sehnsucht D. 636