Schubert: Piano Sonatas D. 850 & D. 960
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano.
Bridge 9550 A/B
Disc One: Total Time:  39:35
Disc Two: Total Time:  43:28
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Schubert’s piano sonatas are fascinating works that merge the sublimity of Mozart with an increasing Romantic passion found in Beethoven’s works in the genre.  They may be less intense in that way, but Schubert’s lyricism and harmonic language are what often make the pieces attractive.  For this recent release, pianist Anne-Marie McDermott has chosen to of the larger sonatas, stretched to near-symphonic length.  Schubert was a quite competent pianist himself, but not of the growing virtuoso variety that were appearing as the 19^th Century was underway.  His performances tended to be in more intimate salon settings which lent their own aura to the music.

When the energy burst forth in his D-Major sonata, D. 850 (1825), one is at first caught off guard.  This is a rather fast-paced, and technically-challenging “Allegro” belying its composition for the virtuoso pianist Karl Maria von Bocklet (the dedicatee also named on the 1826 publication).  McDermott’s performance lends an immediacy to the music with crisp articulation that gives the music a further sense of forward motion.  In the second movement, she moves things along well taking some time at cadences for a little romantic dalliance before moving on in the set of rondo-variations here which gradually fade away.  The scherzo then presents a bit more playful contrast with a gorgeous central waltz section.  The technical challenges then return for the finale but the bluster of the opening is gone and all ends with a sense of poise.  Overall, McDermott’s performance finds a nice balance with the sort of Beethoven-like intensity with touches of grace and moments of reflective romance.  It makes for a quite compelling performance.

Unusual harmonic ideas and key relationships help increase the emotional intensity of Schubert’s last sonata, D. 960 in Bb-Major composed just a few weeks away from the end of his life in 1828.  There is a mysteriousness that hovers in the opening “Molto moderato” that also has moments of reflective lyricism that seems to exist in spite of whatever lurks beyond.  McDermott brings out these aspects quite well in her performance.  It is a rather lengthy opening running half of the sonata’s total playing time.  With the thoughts of it lingering over us, Schubert moves on to the slow movement where the material seems to diverge between the hands creating two different soundscapes.  It feels like a good jumping off point for whatever might come next in Romantic piano music with Brahms on the horizon.  After some of this almost darker exploration, the tone shifts for the scherzo which still maintains a sense of delicacy (it is even in the tempo marking to be so).  The finale finds several thematic ideas that feel like Schubert must get as many of these in before time is up.  Something seems to be distracting as well with the way things seem to shift from one depth to another.  Here is where Beethoven’s later sonatas also have their echo but this feels less a summation than an anticipation of what may lie ahead.

What is striking about McDermott’s performance is that we get a sense of where Schubert’s style falls in that bridging gap of the Classical Era and the Late Romantic.  There is nothing genteel about these works that have extensive technical demands that she more than meets.  Often the stream-of-conscious appearance of lyrical melodies can be disjointed in these sonatas, but everything moves well through these transitions with a performance that helps guide the listener and signals that we are moving into new realms.  Bridge has captured the sound here quite well making for a recording that places us well in the soundspace with just a right touch of ambience to the hall.  Usually these works are not paired together and they could not squeeze onto a single disc so there are no additional shorter piano works to fill out things here.  Still, this is a highly recommendable set of performances that can sit alongside those in more complete cycles by Andras Schiff and Mitsuko Uchida who both have interesting approaches as well.

Paris: La Belle Epoque
Robert Langevin, flute. Margaret Kampmeier, piano.
Bridge Records 9555
Total Time:  77:17
Recording:   ****/****
Performance: ****/****

Robert Langevin, the Canadian-born acclaimed flautist has put together an extensive recital exploring solo works from the French Belle Epoque.  The album includes both some familiar repertoire and, certainly, familiar composers though admittedly a couple are quite unexpected and welcome surprises.  The era is one that is filled with some of the greatest of French Music.  It has the arrival of French Romantic style, the blend of Wagnerisms that would provide one thread into Impressionist style with the addition of church modes and global scales adding another potential for musical exploration.  These realities are what often makes the music stand out from its more familiar Germanic counterparts and there is always a sense of wit and joy that comes through even when the deepest emotional moments are explored.  Langevin is joined here by pianist Margaret Kampmeier who proves to be a good match.

The album begins with a rather unique work by Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) known most for his organ music.  The Suite, Op. 34 (1877) is a large-scale work in four movements with the “Scherzo” providing apt virtuosic displays and the “Romance” allowing for some quite beautiful lyric playing.  The outer movements help frame these in faster-paced music.  Supposedly, Widor was encouraged to orchestrate the work by flutist George Barrere but never got around to it which is unfortunate as no doubt it would have been a more popular orchestral solo staple.  Still, it is a delightful piece and makes for an apt start to the exploration of music from the era with its closer leanings to romantic style, but with interesting modern twists.

Lesser known is Jules Mouquet (1867-1946) a more conservative composer from the era (he even wrote a couple of oratorios) who wrote a number of instrumental works.  La flute de Pan, Op. 15 (1904) is essentially a programmatic sonata with each movement inspired by an ancient Greek text.  The piece moves from a playfulness to interesting birdsong imitations and romance all culminating in a virtuosic final movement.

Perhaps a bit more widely known, Gabriel Faure’s (1879-1941) work blends an equally conservative approach but with an often restrained beauty that adds to its appeal.  Two of his more familiar works are part of this program.  First is the 1898 Fantaisie, Op. 79 which Faure wrote as a competition piece that was intended to focus on more than just technical skills.  There are still plenty of those challenges in the work which would be used for the Paris Conservatoire’s flute competitions on later occasions.  For the sight-reading portion, Faure also wrote the Morceau de concerts which is in the more reflective end of his work offering more introspection and opportunity to demonstrate phrasing and lyricism.  These works are the bookends for several other solo works that were written for Conservatoire.  Georges Enesco’s (1881-1955) Cantabile et presto was one of 4 pieces he would write for that purpose.  Written in 1904, the work shows some of the increase in more impressionistic qualities in its opening segment while shifting to virtuosic displays for its concluding presto.  Philippe Gaubert (1879-1943) was a noted flautist in his own write but also a fine composer as well.  Three of his pieces are included in this program.  First is the competition piece Nocturne et allegro scherzando (1906) which provides a fine contrast to Enesco’s work both in terms of approach and overall style.  The Fantasie (1912) has a sort of rhapsodic quality with and musical imagery that was not originally a competition work but would be used as such on occasion.  Finally, there is the Madrigal of 1908 which equally demonstrates the flirtation with ancient musics and an early mix of modernism and neo-classical qualities.

The album would be quite complete with just these works but Langevin has also included 2 familiar pieces by Debussy (1862-1918) to wrap up this recital.  First is an arrangement of the Prelude to the Afternoon of A Faun by Gustave Samazeuilh (1877-1967).  This version is from 1925 made by this champion of Debussy’s music (he did a number of piano reductions and transcriptions by hundreds of contemporary larger-scale works).  It is rather fascinating to hear how the orchestral colors are transferred to the piano especially.  The album concludes with a little encore of sorts in Syrinx (1913) where we already begin to hear the shifts away from this Impressionist style as a sort of last flirtation before more fully embracing modernism.

While this is a recent Bridge release, the recording was made back in 2012.  One has to wonder why it took this long to see the light of day but at least it has and those who appreciate flute music will certainly have a lot to dive into in this release of significant works for flute.  They demonstrate Langevin’s own virtuoso skill and lyrical abilities on the instrument and that makes this equally attractive.  Balance feels fine though the sound seems a bit dry at times which does not give the flute sound a chance to float a bit more in quiet passages, but it does aid the rapid passage work and articulation pop well.  An overall excellent album that allows for a good blend of somewhat familiar work with rarer recorded repertoire adding to its attraction.