A L S O AVA I L A B L E A selection of Piano Classics titles For the full listing please visit www.piano-classics.com
AmericanRomantics Ƭhe Boston Scene
Ƒoote ❊ Whiting ❊ Paine Chadwicƙ ❊ Ɲevin ❊ Ruthven Lang
BRAHMS Handel Variations 2 Rhapsodies Fantasien Op. 116
Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 Cello Sonata ANNA FEDOROVA Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Laércio Diniz
Benedict Kloeckner, cello
ARTEM BELOGUROV Chickering Piano 1873
PCL0080
PCL0081
ALKAN
PCL0082
LISZT Sonata
Chanson de la folle au bord de la mer
SCHUBERT
Wanderer Fantasy
Song of the madwoman on the seashore
JANÁCˇEK
Sonata 1.X.1905
A collection of eccentric piano works
3–CD
ALKAN GENIUS-ENIGMA ÉTUDES Op. 39 (complete) SONATA “les quatre âges” SONATINA 3 Morceaux dans le genre pathétique
Vincenzo Maltempo, Érard 1899
PCL0083
Philipp Kopachevsky
PCL0084
Vincenzo Maltempo PCLM0088
Sofya Gulyak
In 1861 Brahms, then twenty-eight, finally moved permanently from his family home in Hamburg. Having exchanged the cramped and noisy environment of his parents’ house for the peace and quiet of lodgings in pleasant suburb of Hamm, he discovered, like Virginia Woolf’s everywoman, that a room of one’s own was conducive to creativity. In that year he completed two piano quartets and two extended sets of variations – for four hands on a theme by Schumann and for two, on a theme by Handel. He had long been fascinated by the format, having already written three extended sets of variations on another theme by Schumann (Op 9), on an “Original Theme” and on a “Hungarian Song” (published together as Op 21) and incorporating variation movements into the Op 1 Sonata and Op 18 Sextet. He was also extremely knowledgeable about baroque music, both at the practical level – he wrote several exercises in the baroque style – and the academic – he was a subscriber to the complete Bach and Handel editions then in the process of compilation, and collected original manuscripts and early printed copies. His mastery of the “old forms” was remarked on by Clara Schumann and also attracted praise from an unlikely quarter: when Wagner heard him perform the Handel variations, he
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is supposed to have remarked that it was amazing what someone who really knew what he was doing could achieve with them. Brahms took as his theme the Aria from the third movement of Handel’s second harpsichord Suite in B flat, (a copy of which he owned in an original 1733 edition). Since Handel had provided five variations on it himself, this might appear slightly presumptuous but although Brahms’ sequence dwarfs Handel’s modest set, he treats the original with great respect, rarely straying far from the format of the theme (two four-bar periods repeated) and preserving the key throughout, apart from a few excursions into the tonic minor (variations 5, 6 and 13). Although some of the variations look to the past for models, e.g. canon (variation 6) siciliano (19) musette (22) and in the great final fugue, this is not an exercise in pastiche, witness for example the modern chromaticism of variation 20, and the work is quintessentially Brahmsian throughout. The twenty-five short variations have been variously divided into two, three or four symmetrical groups of “strict” and “free” variations, all of which pivot around variation 13, in which the theme is more obviously recalled. Several are obviously paired by their shared characteristics, e.g. contrary motion
(5 and 6), rhythmic pattern (7 and 8), use of parallel sixths (13 and 14) – a doublet that also comprises a Hungarian-style slow Lassu and quick Friska – with some variations flowing into each other without a break. Following the example of Beethoven’s Op 35 Prometheus Variations, the final variation is followed by a massive fugue which is constructed out of a motif taken from the beginning of the theme and in which Brahms shows off his contrapuntal skills to the full. He inscribed the manuscript “for a beloved friend” and presented it to Clara Schuman on her forty-second birthday, and it was Clara who gave the first performance in December 1861. The success of this concert was marred for her by Brahms’ apparent indifference to the work’s reception although he was later to declare it to be one of his favourites. He struggled to get the work accepted by Breitkopf and Härtel who were reluctant to publish on the grounds that they would never recover their costs but eventually agreed to do so although only after Brahms had made a substantial reduction to his fee. The two Op 79 Rhapsodies of 1879 were the longest single movement piano works he had composed since the Op 4 Scherzo of 1851 and were dedicated to Elizabeth von Herzogenberg, who several years previously
had been one of his piano students. However Brahms had found her attractive presence so distracting that he was unable to concentrate on her tuition and she had to change teachers, although once she was safely married, he was able maintain an easy relationship with her and her husband. It was Elizabeth who suggested calling the pieces rhapsodies although Brahms who had originally described them as Capricci disliked the implication that they lacked formal characteristics. The B minor Rhapsody (which shares features with Chopin’s Op 20 Scherzo in the same key) employs a ternary structure –the first part developed out of the agitato B minor theme and a second in D minor with a contrasting B major inner section whose material is related to the quiet opening passage of the D minor material. After a literal repeat, the B major material is incorporated in the coda. The G minor Rhapsody calls for extensive use of crossed-hand technique, and it is generally believed that this is the piece Brahms is playing in Willy von Beckerath’s famous image of him seated at the keyboard, leaning back with eyes closed, a smoking cigar stub in his mouth. It has a more straightforward sonata-form structure with exposition and development of two themes - one surging but harmonically
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SOF YA GULYAK ambiguous, the other doggedly repetitive in D minor, with both firmly anchored in the tonic on their recapitulation. Following the Op 79 Rhapsodies, Brahms wrote no further works for solo piano until the four collections of 1892-3, the first of which, a set of seven short pieces, four Intermezzi and three Capricci, was published in two parts under the title Fantasien. He had considered and rejected this for the Op 76 collection, also made up of intermezzi and capricci, but was apparently persuaded by his friend Max Kalbeck to adopt it on this occasion (although for the Op 118 and Op 119 sets he chose the completely neutral Klavierstücke). The extent to which Op 116 embodies an ordered sequence of connected pieces and the nature of any underlying pattern is a matter of speculation. Schumann’s Op 16 Kreisleriana, subtitled Phantasien für das Pianoforte, is considered a possible model and its arrangement of fast and slow pieces certainly mirrors the Op 116 set (to the extent possible when comparing even and odd numbered sequences). It is known that Brahms originally included only five pieces, adding a further two, whose identity is not known, at the last moment. Kalbeck suggested the final two but many believe it was the first and last (both in D minor) and if this
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is correct, it is possible to discern a nested sequence arranged on the basis of format: numbers 1 and 7 with the most complex structures, 2 and 6 in ternary form, 3 and 5 in binary and the central 4th (which was originally called a notturno) being sui generis although involving elements of variation. What certainly acts as a unifying element across all seven pieces is the interval of the third, in particular in falling sequences, which are most evident in the openings of the three Capricci, and are woven into the fabric of the melodic structure or the accompaniment of all the other pieces. The sense that each is in some way derived from its predecessor, being in Kalbeck’s phrase its Tochterpflanze (offshoot), should encourage their being performed and heard as a complete sequence although individual works can and often are played in isolation. David Moncur
In September 2009 Sofya Gulyak was awarded the 1st prize and the Princess Mary Gold Medal at the Sixteenth Leeds International Piano Competition – the first and up to the day of writing the only woman to achieve this distinction. Since then she has appeared all over the world to great acclaim. Her recital programs are frequently reviewed in superlatives, and her concerto appearances with major orchestras are written up in glowing terms by the world’s music press. Sofya has been praised for her "tremendous precision and coloration...exquisite soft playing ...delicacy yet" and described as a" Rach star"("Washington Post"). Sofya Gulyak’s resume includes prizes at many prestigious piano competitions: she is a 1st prize winner of William Kapell International piano competition in USA, Maj Lind Helsinki International piano competition, Tivoli piano competition in Copenhagen, Isang Yun International piano competition in South Corea, San Marino piano competition, winner of Busoni competition in Italy and prize winner of Marguerite Long piano competition in Paris. Recitals and concert appearances have been numerous, with Ms.Gulyak having performed all over the globe in such venues as La Scala Theatre and Sala Verdi in Milan, Hercules-Saal in Munich, Salle Cortot, Salle Gaveau and Salle Pleyel in Paris, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Konzerthaus in
Berlin, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Kennedy-center in Washington, Palais de Musique in Strasbourg, Hong Kong City Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Musashino Cultural Center in Tokyo, Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Auditorium Manzoni in Bologna, Aberdeen Music Hall, Salle Moliere in Lyon, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, King Theatre in Rabat, Kursaal in Bern, Tivoli concert Hall in Copenhagen. Ms. Gulyak appeared as a soloist with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic, Rio-de-Janeiro Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Halle Orchestra, BBC Scottish, Orchestra of Fondazione Arena di Verona, Orchestra Filarmonica of Bologna, Enescu Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic, Copenhagen Symphony, Ulster Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Shanghai Philharmonic, Oulu Philharmonic, Leipzig Philharmonic, Pensacola Symphony, Tatarstan Symphony, Philippines Philharmonic, Morocco Philharmonic and others. She collaborated with such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sakari Oramo, Mark Elder, David Hill, Donald Runnicle, Vasily Petrenko, Alan Buribayev, Eiving Gullberg Jensen, Theodor Guschlbauer, Rory McDonald, Danail Rachev, Fabio Mastrangelo, Michele Mariotti, Fuat
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Mansurov, Alexander Sladkovsky, Mario Kosik, Jesus Medina, Peter Rubardt to name just a few. The festivals Sofya participated include Klavier Ruhr Festival, Chopin festival in Duzniki-Zdroj, Festival du Sceaux, International Keyboard Festival in New York, International Strasbourg festival, Busoni festival, Harrogate festival, Cracow piano festival, New Zealand Piano festival, Ravello Festival, Festival Chopin in Paris, Shanghay International Piano Festival and many others. Sofya’s recording of Russian piano music (Medtner, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev)has been released by label Champs Hill Records in 2013 and received 5 stars from “Diapason” magazine( “What a pleasure to hear the piano blossoming and projecting in the most vivid of ways when played by Sofya Gulyak. The singing sound alongside dazzling and powerful execution distinguishes an outstanding natural pianist”) and praising reviews from “Gramophone”( “ This is a stunning debut album...”) and “The Guardian” magazines (Sofya Gulyak is a fearless pianist, never afraid to scale the most technically demanding heights of the repertoire and equally proud to wear her heart on her sleeve”). Sofya Gulyak is a native of Kazan (Russia) where she studied in the Special Music College under Nailya Khakimova and then in Kazan State Conservatoire under professor Elfiya Burnasheva. After she continued her studying at
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the Piano Academy "Incontri coi Maestri" (Imola, Italy) with Boris Petrushansky and at the Royal College of Music with Vanessa Latarche. Ms. Gulyak also attended as a jury member at the international piano competitions in Italy, Serbia, France, Greece, USA, and was invited to give master classes in China, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Mexico, USA, Germany. She is a professor of the piano faculty at the Royal College of Music in London. Her playing was broadcasted on the radio and TV in Russia, Poland, France, Italy, Germany, USA, Finland, Denmark, Serbia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, United Kingdom (BBC 3 and BBC 4) etc. With Mark Elder conducting the Hallé, Gulyak powered her way to the prize with a performance of Brahms's First Concerto that was often superb in its measured intensity...she has the right combination of tonal weight and dark lyricism for Brahms, and she's wonderfully alert to the mix of passion and rhetoric in his music, all of which mark her out as being a formidable artist, with a significant career ahead of her. The Guardian www.sofyagulyak.com
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