Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions
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Composer: Johann II [Junior] StraussComposer: Johann Sebastian Bach
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg
Composer: Richard [Classical] Wagner
Composer: Franz [Vienna] Schubert
Composer: Sergey Rachmaninov
Composer: Robert Schumann
Performer: Frederic Chiu
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Import, Original recording reissued
CD Release Date: 2002-11-12
Music Label: Hmf Classical Exp.
Free Music Notes for Virtuoso Piano Transcriptions
Free Music Review: Piano Celebration, By and For Piano-Lovers!
Hit: 5 Stars
If you love the piano, and better yet, if you play a bit (or a lot) of the instrument, you should run--not walk--to your favorite CD vendor and pick up this great disk! It's excellent, it's delightful, and it's a bargain!
One of the joys of piano-playing, even for a duffer like me, is to try to play a familiar work from orchestral or other literature convincingly on the piano. It's a challenge, but can also be great fun to try to summon up the spirit of a favorite work using only 88 keys, 3 pedals, and as much technique, musicianship, and courage as you can muster. In the case of this CD the challenge is met with smashing success!
All those represented on this CD, with the possible exceptions of Schoenberg, Strauss, and Wagner (about whom I'm not sure), have or had a great love of the piano and a substantial capability to play it. (Bach didn't have a piano, but he loved the organ and other keyboards.) Furthermore, Bach, Busoni, Liszt, and Rachmaninov were genuine virtuosi, and Chiu is, too, with the added advantage of being alive!
As to the music, everyone knows the Blue Danube Waltz, but here it's presented as a virtuoso arabesque, replete with intricate filigrees of sound and other ear-catching devices to effect a pianistic transformation of Strauss's dance while preserving the basic musical content. The result is a brilliant showpiece for Mr. Chiu's remarkable dexterity, but which is at the same time quite a lovely, tasteful, and interesting piece of music.
Three movements from Bach's well-known violin partita in E (BWV 1006) jerk us backward a couple of centuries, but delight us no less. The Preludio is played in such a sprightly, pianistic way that we're beguiled into thinking it was originally written for keyboard. (Indeed, it's often reminiscent of the Italian Concerto.) For this, we are indebted to Rachmaninov for his great transcription and to Chiu for his stunning performance. The less vivacious, more stately, Gavotte en Rondeau follows with equal effect. Chiu's neat fingerwork lets the melodic motifs shine through untrammeled by the accompanying chords, etc., and his understanding of the baroque style provides an unfailingly authentic interpretation. The Gigue rounds out the group and restores much of the exhuberance of the first movement, with great éclat.
Next the mood turns toward high sobriety as Busoni's version of Bach's choral prelude "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" [Come now, Savior of the Heathen] is presented. In this piece Chiu displays his mastery at capturing the yearning inherent in this old hymntune, while demonstrating such skill at contrapuntal execution we are able to follow multiple simultaneous voices flowing independently with absolutely no confusion among them. The result is a deliciously contemplative work of the greatest dignity. The next choral prelude, "Nun freut euch, liebe Christen" [Rejoice now, beloved Christians], is sheer magic! Against a rapid, perpetual motion melody we hear the slow hymntune presented in all its imperturbable simplicity while at the same time we hear the punctuation of a staccato bass. (By now I'm getting suspicious that Chiu has a third hand; how else could he bring all this off?) The third choral prelude is the dearly loved "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" [Wake up, the voice calls to us]. Here Bach's own lovely melody flows over a slow, smooth bass line, while phrases of the hymntune burst in at times. The overall effect is gorgeous! (As one who has attempted the old Myra Hess version of this prelude, I can tell you it isn't all that easy; but here Chiu makes it sound as simple and natural as breathing.)
The Schoenberg "Klavierstück," transcribed by Busoni, brings us to the 20th century and the world of atonality. It is quite a jump in musical style, but here the interpretation is as convincing as in the older, more familiar works. Though not a Schoenberg fan, I truly enjoyed this performance and found it to be thoroughly intelligible and satisfying.
The mythic world of Teutonic gods and superheroes is next evoked in Liszt's transcription of the "Liebestod" [Love-Death] scene from Wagner's Tristan and Isolde. Here the piano takes on the task of presenting the effect of a large orchestra with singers and all in a mood of high drama. And again we are pleased to find all the grandeur, intimacy, and beauty of the original.
The three Schubert songs which follow offer impressions of voice and piano, as conjured up by Liszt (2) and Rachmaninov (1). Here we can compare the work of these two transcribers, both amply qualified for the job. Next is another song impression by Liszt, this time of Schumann's Frühlingsnacht [Spring Night]. All these song transcriptions are good enough to stand on their own as piano works, irrespective of their sources.
The final piece is Prokofiev's transcription of a set of Schubert waltzes, which I believe were originally written for piano. Here they are presented in all their original grace, delicacy, nobility, and tunefulness, but dressed up for the ball!
Frederic Chiu is an American (of Chinese immigrant parents) educated at Indiana U. and Juillard who now resides in France, where he made his professional debut. He keeps a busy schedule of performing around the world, as well as teaching in piano master classes. His performances are eagerly attended and have earned him much critical acclaim. Recording exclusively for Harmonia Mundi, he has piled up a discography of over 20 CDs, including a 10-disk series of the complete piano works of Prokofiev. He has earned particular praise for his very wide dynamic range (from thunderous fortissimos to the most delicate pianissimos), for his ability to bring out melodies clearly through complex masses of sound and to keep multiple melodies clearly differentiated, and for his general interpretive sensitivity. His first CD was of piano transcriptions, for which he has a special interest and a genuine flair. He personally wrote the liner notes for this CD, and his piano is a Yamaha.
Probably the greatest danger in virtuoso transcriptions is that of glittering superficiality. Here the stature of the transcribers and artistic depth and integrity of the performer combine to eliminate all traces of that danger!
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