Festival du Comminges, 06/08/2018
Wagner/Liszt : Tannhäuser - Pilgrim's Chorus
: Der fliegende Holländer - Spinning Chorus and Senta's Ballad
: Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod
: Parsifal - Verwandlungsmusik (Act 1)
Debussy : Preludes 1-3 & 10-12 (Book 1)
Franck : Prelude, Chorale and Fugue
Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
Wagner cast a long, long shadow over the French composers and musicians of the late 19th Century. If, today, his personality and character attract almost as much attention, positive or negative, as his music, back then, during his lifetime and for some decades after his death, the personal aspect was of minor import to anyone outside Germany, and it was his music that caused not just waves, but veritable tsunamis, in the musical world. By turns adored and reviled, few were the composers unaffected by the innovations of harmony and form he introduced, whether it was to utterly reject his theories, or to embrace them wholeheartedly. Some, like Debussy, did both, enthusiasts in their youth, less admiring as they matured.
Liszt had no need of Wagner's influence to explore new harmonic paths, but he did admire the work of the man who was to become his son-in-law, and it manifested in the multiple transcriptions he made of passages from Wagner's operas. Liszt made many transcriptions and arrangements throughout his life, some note-accurate (Beethoven, Berlioz), others far more free-form (Mozart, Bellini, Verdi). The Wagner pieces come in-between; of tonight's examples, the Pilgrim's Chorus and the Liebestod are almost perfect transcriptions of the originals, while the others take greater or lesser liberties with the original material. None of them, however, could be considered for 'domestic' consumption, which was usually the purpose of transcriptions of orchestral or operatic music. They were to allow the music to be heard and performed at home, in an age before radio and recordings, but the very idea of your average amateur pianist taking on the formidable demands of Liszt's piano writing is laughable.
The young French pianist Tanguy de Williencourt is anything but average, or an amateur. He evidently harbours a particular affection for this repertory (he has recorded all the Wagner/Liszt transcriptions), and it comes through in his interpretations, which he delivered fluidly, demonstrating the very necessary virtuosity, and a particularly effective pedalling technique. The venue - a small, Romanesque church, all in stone - has an excellent, but quite reverberant acoustic, good for solo piano on condition the pianist treats the sustaining pedal(s) with considerable respect. Over-pedalling turns everything to mush, I've heard it before here, but not tonight, and in this rich, dense music, that was a feat in and of itself.
Of the four extracts he played - and then, as one of his encores, the "Star of Eve" aria, also from Tannhäuser - Williencourt showed a particular affinity for the more spiritual side of Wagner's music. The great processional from Parsifal, with the Dresden Amen woven through it, over heavy, pealing bells, was particularly effective, but the more pagan ecstasy of Isolde's Liebestod wasn't quite as convincing. I think I've mentioned before, there are two broad approaches to playing Liszt's transcriptions (equally valid, I hasten to add) - either you're playing Wagner, that is, you're focused on the operatic aspects, and on making it sing, or you're playing Liszt, and are focused on the pianistic aspects, exploring and exploiting the capabilities of the instrument. For me, Williencourt is the latter type, these were piano pieces first and foremost, evolving out of the Wagner originals.
The concert's programme underwent some changes, and in the original, we were supposed to get the full set of Preludes from Debussy's First Book. In the end, we only got half of them, a real palate cleanser after the flamboyance of the Liszt. Again, Williencourt's pedalling was exceptional, keeping Debussy's lines clear, yet allowing them to resonate, and none more so than "La cathédrale engloutie", an ideal piece for this particular acoustic, its evocation of bells vibrating gently in the air. The group finished with "Danse de Puck" and "Minstrels", fleet and quirky, a nice change of pace after quite a lot of rather solemn music.
Franck, like Liszt, was also a near-exact contemporary of Wagner, and underwent the influence of both composers to a considerable degree. His admiration for Wagner's music was lifelong, and shows in his harmonies, and his cyclical themes, which can (loosely) be compared to leitmotifs. His piano solo music is rather overshadowed by his organ music, especially as there's often something rather organ-like about his music for solo piano, but the Prelude, Chorale & Fugue is possibly his best known work, a tightly constructed triptych, where the theme of the Chorale is integrated into the Fugue with the rippling texture of the Prelude. The sense of spirituality which had infused the best of the Wagner transcriptions reappeared here, rapt and engaging. Williencourt plays with a relaxed conviction, an admirable control of the sound, and an occasional flowering into the luminously intangible, and this was an excellent introduction to his craft.
[Next : 8th August]
: Der fliegende Holländer - Spinning Chorus and Senta's Ballad
: Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod
: Parsifal - Verwandlungsmusik (Act 1)
Debussy : Preludes 1-3 & 10-12 (Book 1)
Franck : Prelude, Chorale and Fugue
Tanguy de Williencourt, piano
Wagner cast a long, long shadow over the French composers and musicians of the late 19th Century. If, today, his personality and character attract almost as much attention, positive or negative, as his music, back then, during his lifetime and for some decades after his death, the personal aspect was of minor import to anyone outside Germany, and it was his music that caused not just waves, but veritable tsunamis, in the musical world. By turns adored and reviled, few were the composers unaffected by the innovations of harmony and form he introduced, whether it was to utterly reject his theories, or to embrace them wholeheartedly. Some, like Debussy, did both, enthusiasts in their youth, less admiring as they matured.
Liszt had no need of Wagner's influence to explore new harmonic paths, but he did admire the work of the man who was to become his son-in-law, and it manifested in the multiple transcriptions he made of passages from Wagner's operas. Liszt made many transcriptions and arrangements throughout his life, some note-accurate (Beethoven, Berlioz), others far more free-form (Mozart, Bellini, Verdi). The Wagner pieces come in-between; of tonight's examples, the Pilgrim's Chorus and the Liebestod are almost perfect transcriptions of the originals, while the others take greater or lesser liberties with the original material. None of them, however, could be considered for 'domestic' consumption, which was usually the purpose of transcriptions of orchestral or operatic music. They were to allow the music to be heard and performed at home, in an age before radio and recordings, but the very idea of your average amateur pianist taking on the formidable demands of Liszt's piano writing is laughable.
The young French pianist Tanguy de Williencourt is anything but average, or an amateur. He evidently harbours a particular affection for this repertory (he has recorded all the Wagner/Liszt transcriptions), and it comes through in his interpretations, which he delivered fluidly, demonstrating the very necessary virtuosity, and a particularly effective pedalling technique. The venue - a small, Romanesque church, all in stone - has an excellent, but quite reverberant acoustic, good for solo piano on condition the pianist treats the sustaining pedal(s) with considerable respect. Over-pedalling turns everything to mush, I've heard it before here, but not tonight, and in this rich, dense music, that was a feat in and of itself.
Of the four extracts he played - and then, as one of his encores, the "Star of Eve" aria, also from Tannhäuser - Williencourt showed a particular affinity for the more spiritual side of Wagner's music. The great processional from Parsifal, with the Dresden Amen woven through it, over heavy, pealing bells, was particularly effective, but the more pagan ecstasy of Isolde's Liebestod wasn't quite as convincing. I think I've mentioned before, there are two broad approaches to playing Liszt's transcriptions (equally valid, I hasten to add) - either you're playing Wagner, that is, you're focused on the operatic aspects, and on making it sing, or you're playing Liszt, and are focused on the pianistic aspects, exploring and exploiting the capabilities of the instrument. For me, Williencourt is the latter type, these were piano pieces first and foremost, evolving out of the Wagner originals.
The concert's programme underwent some changes, and in the original, we were supposed to get the full set of Preludes from Debussy's First Book. In the end, we only got half of them, a real palate cleanser after the flamboyance of the Liszt. Again, Williencourt's pedalling was exceptional, keeping Debussy's lines clear, yet allowing them to resonate, and none more so than "La cathédrale engloutie", an ideal piece for this particular acoustic, its evocation of bells vibrating gently in the air. The group finished with "Danse de Puck" and "Minstrels", fleet and quirky, a nice change of pace after quite a lot of rather solemn music.
Franck, like Liszt, was also a near-exact contemporary of Wagner, and underwent the influence of both composers to a considerable degree. His admiration for Wagner's music was lifelong, and shows in his harmonies, and his cyclical themes, which can (loosely) be compared to leitmotifs. His piano solo music is rather overshadowed by his organ music, especially as there's often something rather organ-like about his music for solo piano, but the Prelude, Chorale & Fugue is possibly his best known work, a tightly constructed triptych, where the theme of the Chorale is integrated into the Fugue with the rippling texture of the Prelude. The sense of spirituality which had infused the best of the Wagner transcriptions reappeared here, rapt and engaging. Williencourt plays with a relaxed conviction, an admirable control of the sound, and an occasional flowering into the luminously intangible, and this was an excellent introduction to his craft.
[Next : 8th August]