Brahms Without Airs
Reviewed by Michael Adams
In
an era when classical recordings are disappearing from store shelves about
as fast as DVD players (but for sadly different reasons), it’s
refreshing to see a disc by a violinist other than the usual suspects,
like Shaham, Perlman, Mutter, Kennedy, Zukerman et.al.
Frank
Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 1995, is
joined by pianist William Wolfram in Brahms’ Three Sonatas for Violin
and Piano. (Boolean Recordings; available at www.sonatabop.com
)
Rare are the people who can wear two hats - of both concertmaster and
soloist -
with distinction. They are very different roles, requiring unique skills.
However, this disc shows that the small fraternity that includes Joe
Silverstein and Glenn Dicterow might well have a new member.
Before I tell you about the CD though, in the spirit of full disclosure,
you should know that although I’ve never met Frank Almond, I did
impersonate him once. While a student at Mannes College, I had a rehearsal
with friends at Juilliard. The only obstacle was to get past the security
guard in the lobby, whose job it was to turn away all who did not possess
a coveted Juilliard ID card. I approached the guard desk, behind several
other students who dutifully presented their ID’s. While the guard
checked out those in front of me, I peeked at the student directory on his
desk, trying to glean the first name that I could read upside down.
“Almond”, of course, was near the top. I was hoping that the “I
forgot my ID” routine would work if he would check my “name” in the
directory. Apparently, I did indeed look enough like a “Frank Almond”
to pass muster. I’ve always been grateful to Frank for that. Now back to
our regularly scheduled CD review.
Let me start by saying what this recording does NOT have. There is a
refreshing lack of affected gesture, like glissandos, rubatos and agogic
accents in the predictable places. Almond is clearly a musician of
exquisite taste and technical polish. Missing are distracting instrumental
mannerisms which so often get in the way of simple music making. The same
can be said of Wolfram. His playing is warm and finely attuned to the unique characters
of each sonata, and he handles the often athletic and unwieldy piano writing
with great finesse and expressive touch.
Most performances of the Brahms Sonatas generally fall into two camps: the
overly fussy interpretations that magnify every detail, indulge every
excess (to be known hereafter as the “every note a shrine” style), and
the muscular, turbocharged, athletic style that is long on passion, but
short on poetry. Admirably, the Almond/Wolfram performances don’t fall
prey to either.
I should confess that I’m of the opinion that the less you mess with
Brahms, the better. It’s all on the page; you need simply play what he
wrote, no more and no less. He was a classicist. Beethoven was his god.
I’m hard-pressed to appreciate performances of Brahms in either of the
two extreme styles mentioned above, fussy or muscular. That’s why I took
an instant liking to these performances. They have integrity. Almond can
spin a beautiful, simple sound that doesn’t draw attention to itself which is a rarity in today’s crop of celebrity virtuosos.
This allows Brahms the classicist to come through. Phrases are etched very
clearly, without being overly inflected. Less is more here.
I do take issue with the way that this disc was recorded however. The
piano sounds wonderful: warm, well balanced to the violin, full of clear
detail, and perfectly centered in the microphone axis. The violin does not
fare as well. It sounds distant and slightly unfocused, as if there is too
much “room ambiance” between the violin and the mikes. I found myself
wishing I were a tad closer to the violin most of the time.
There are times too, that I wish there were a bit more starch, more
“oomph” in the sound. (I know, I know, I said I didn’t like the
muscular approach, but a few climaxes could benefit from more passion and
intensity.) The playing is
refined and free of mannerisms, but like a great vodka, it goes down
smoothly, leaving little flavor in your mouth. I never get the feeling
that the performance fully exposes the soul of the music.
The smartly written liner notes, by bassist and Milwaukee Symphony
colleague Roger Ruggeri, proudly indicate that this CD was recorded
without the use of animal testing! Silly
me – I had been totally unaware of the issue! We can only hope that one
day the practice of animal testing will be universally banned!
In any event this disc would be a great addition to
any connoisseur’s collection. #
Artistic Director of Music in the Vineyards.