Schubert: Piano Sonatas Nos. 20,
D. 959, and 21, D. 960; Brahms: Seven Fantasies, Op. 116; Three Intermezzos,
Op. 117; Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118; Four Piano Pieces, Op. 119. Jorge
Federico Osorio, piano. Cedille. $16 (2 CDs).
François-André
Philidor: Sinfonias 1 and 5 from “L’Art de la Modulation”; Michel Blavet:
Sonata Seconda, Op. 2; Rameau: Excerpts from “Les Boréades,” “Les Fêtes
de l’Hymen” and “Dardanus”; Jean-Pierre Guignon: Les Sauvages; Jacques Duphly: Pièces de Clavecin.
Les Délices (Debra Nagy,
baroque oboe; Julie Andrijeski and Karina Schmitz, baroque violins; Emily
Walhout, viola da gamba; Michael Sponseller, harpsichord). Navona. $14.99.
The willingness to take
chances is a distinguishing feature of artists who want to continue to grow beyond
their existing accomplishments. And when chance-taking succeeds, the results
can be remarkable, as they are in Jorge Federico Osorio’s new two-CD recording
of Schubert and Brahms piano works for Cedille. Osorio has recorded two of the
four sets of late Brahms piano miniatures before, and has established a strong
reputation as a sensitive, elegant Brahms interpreter. But he has never
recorded anything by Schubert, and the formidable last sonatas are a very
challenging place to start. Schubert’s three final sonatas, D. 958, D. 959, and
D. 960, respectively in C minor, A major and B-flat major, are towering works
in their own right, lengthy and complex and structurally challenging; they are
also reflective of Schubert’s fascination with Beethoven and apparently of his
own emotional state, on the basis of their inclusion of references to some of
his earlier works, such as Winterreise.
The fluidity of key changes, the complexity of themes and their development, and
the sheer scale of these works – D. 959 and D. 960 run some 40 minutes apiece –
show Schubert scaling new structural and emotional heights that build on a
great deal of his earlier material. And the sonatas are a huge challenge to
pianists, not only in their virtuosity, which is really of secondary
importance, but also in their size and temperament and the need to maintain a
forward flow over long periods while still carefully expressing the intricacies
of individual movements and portions of movements. Osorio turns the final two
sonatas into the bookends of a two-CD set offered at the price of a single
disc, which would make this a bargain even if the performances were less
impressive than they are. But they are so good that the major disappointment of
this release is that D. 958 is omitted – Osorio clearly has understanding and
affinity for these works that would surely be just as clear at the start of the
trilogy as they are in its latter two-thirds. Osorio builds to climaxes
carefully, choose tempos wisely, and handles the very large first movements of
both these sonatas with care and attentiveness throughout. And he paints a
highly expressive and convincing canvas for both works, even though neither
offers the usual pacing for a slow movement: D. 959 has an Andantino and D. 960 an Andante
sostenuto (it is D. 958 that includes an Adagio). Osorio’s accomplishments in the Schubert are wonderfully
contrasted with and complemented by his handling of the four sets of complex,
emotionally charged “miniatures” by Brahms – works that are short but in no way
small. The vast majority of these pieces were labeled Intermezzo by Brahms – 14 of the 20 works in the four sets – and
Osorio’s intriguing performances set up the curious, imaginative question of
the sort of work within which each “intermezzo” might appear. The other six
works – three marked Capriccio and
one each called Ballade, Romanze, and
Rhapsody – receive the sort of
sensitively variegated treatment that makes the distinctive features of each
piece stand out while also fitting each work neatly within the particular set
into which Brahms placed it. This release bears the overall title “Final
Thoughts,” referring to the fact that the pieces on it are the last ones for
piano by these two composers. But surely these are not and will not be Osorio’s
final thoughts on these works or on others by these composers (including,
perhaps in a future recording, Schubert’s D. 958). Osorio is a pianist of
sensitivity and nuance, and here shows himself capable of handling self-contained
miniatures and large, even sprawling multi-movement sonatas with equal skill
and involvement. To the extent that he takes chances in this recording, he
succeeds with them admirably.
Speaking of titles, that of
the new Navona release featuring the ensemble called Les Délices is “Age of Indulgence,” and it
is in being indulgent of their interest in late-Baroque French composers that
these performers take their chances
in this recording. Only two of the composers here are at all well-known: Rameau
and, to a lesser extent, Philidor. Offering their music along with works by
three very infrequently heard composers is part of the chance-taking. Also,
like Osorio’s CD, this one uses musical bookends, here in the performance of
two four-movement, fugue-focused sinfonias from Philidor’s L’Art de la Modulation to open and close the disc. These prove to
be very intriguing works, filled with chromaticism, unexpected harmonies and
unusual modulations. This is very
late Baroque music, dating to 1755 – just a year before Mozart’s birth. So some
of its harmonic daring is not entirely surprising. But as heard here on
excellently played original instruments, it is revelatory of the ways in which
late-Baroque thinking shaded into that of the Classical era. Blavet’s Sonata Seconda features virtuoso playing
reminiscent of that required for Vivaldi’s music, but there is fluidity to the
complex oboe part that is certainly more French than Italian in spirit. The
five excerpts from operas by Rameau include two from an opera that was really
post-Baroque: Les Boréades
dates to 1763, and although it sensibilities are similar to those of other
Rameau works, some of its musical techniques are more forward-looking than
those of the excerpt from Les Fêtes
de l’Hymen (1747) and the two from Dardanus
(1744). A particular gem on this release is Guignon’s Les Sauvages, which is for two violins: it interweaves the
instruments very skillfully while providing considerable drama and truly
impressive use of the violins’ virtuoso capabilities. Duphly’s two pieces for
solo harpsichord make an excellent contrast to Guignon’s music: they are
perhaps the most traditionally Baroque works here in terms of harmony and their
overall sound, skillfully made and with some attractive flourishes but without
the sense of boundaries breaking, or about to break, that comes to the fore in
several of the other pieces on the disc. The musicians of Les Délices, a group founded as recently
as 2009, are not only skilled performers – individually and together – but also
strong advocates for the special pleasures of this set of works. Few if any of these
pieces will be familiar to most listeners, but all of them, in addition to
being delightful to hear, shed clear light on an important transitional time in
classical music.
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