Composer: Alexander Tcherepnin
Performer: Noriko Ogawa
Orchestra: Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Lan Shui
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: BIS
Catalogue: BISCD1317
Release: 2008
Size: 478 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 12
Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 48
02. I. Moderato
03. II. Allegro
Festmusik, Op. 45a
04. I. Ouverture
05. II. Einzug
06. III. Tanz
07. IV. Finale
08. Symphonic March, Op. 80
Concerto No. 1 was composed in a late-Romantic vein: ‘a typical Sturm und Drang piece’, as Tcherepnin himself would later describe it. By the time of the third concerto, he had entered a modernist stage and the work was written during wide-ranging travels that brought the composer from Boston to Jerusalem and Cairo – its first theme was inspired by a song he heard from Egyptian boatmen on the Nile. Also included are two orchestral works: Festmusik, a suite from the opera The Wedding of Sobeide with libretto by Richard Strauss’ collaborator Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Symphonic March, composed in 1951, as Tcherepnin was establishing himself as a symphonic composer in the USA.
Since the only competition for this recording at the time of release — a pair of Olympia discs featuring pianist Murray McLachlan with Julian Clayton leading the Chetham Symphony Orchestra — can be hard to come by, it is tough to say how Noriko Ogawa’s recording of Alexander Tcherepnin’s First and Third piano concerto compares. But it is hard to believe the competition could be better. Ogawa is a fleet-fingered virtuoso whose steely attack and vigorous rhythms are well suited to Tcherepnin’s music whether in the high Romantic First Concerto of 1919 or the edgy modernist Third Concerto from 1933. She can bring out the First’s big melodies and articulate the Third’s opening Moderato’s sharp-cornered themes and closing Allegro’s knotty fugue with true virtuosity. Equally impressive is the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under conductor Lan Shui. It admirably supports Ogawa in the concerto, contributing superbly played and strongly rhythmic accompaniments no matter what the style of the music. It is even more impressive in the two fillers here: a Symphonic March and a four-movement Festmusik suite drawn from Tcherepnin’s opera The Wedding of Sobeide. In the former, Shui and the Singapore players are bold, aggressive, and optimistic; in the latter, colorful, evocative, and sensuous. Though Tcherepnin was no Stravinsky or Shostakovich, his music still deserves to be heard by anyone thrilled by Glière or Ippolitov-Ivanov. BIS’ digital sound is bright, deep, and luxurious.