RSNO Chamber, 04/12/2022

Byrd : The Battell

Louis Couperin : Unmeasured prelude in D

Franck : Prelude, Chorale and Fugue

Chopin : Polonaise-Fantaisie

Rabinovich : Sonatina

Schubert : "Wanderer" Fantasy

Roman Rabinovich, piano

Roman Rabinovich took the time to present his programme to us, both generally in the first part, and his own work specifically in the second, which was very welcome.  The programme, he told us, was constructed around the idea of fantasy, both in the musical sense, that is, a work that is not formally structured (to put it very, very briefly), and in the imaginative sense.  In that light, he began with an example of the type of programme music known as battaglia, that was popular around the 17th Century.  The earlier examples tended to be vocal, so William Byrd's The Battell, which was written for keyboard, harpsichord or virginal, probably, is a little unusual.  It is part of My Ladye Nevells Booke, which was a compilation of Byrd's works that remains one of the most important sources of Elizabethan keyboard music still in existence.  

It is a suite of nine short numbers, leading up to and engaging in the battle, and then the retreat, with that characteristic galloping rhythm that you find in most examples of this genre, so clearly evocative of the heavily caparisoned horses of the period.  Rabinovich brought a very delicate touch to it, sharp, clean and light, perhaps trying to suggest the fragile timbre of the virginal.

An unmeasured prelude is a short instrumental piece written without any indication of time-value for the notes.  The score shows only note-heads, and usually has no baronies either, but will give indications of phrasing and ornamentation.  The end result is a sort of annotated improvisation, the player is free to choose whatever time-values wished, a rather extraordinary concept for its period, and one which would vanish only to resurface in the mid-20th Century, in the form of what is broadly known as 'aleatory music'.  

It's a form that flourished in 18th Century France, and Louis Couperin (the uncle of the better known François Couperin "le Grand") was a particular advocate of the genre.  This is one of the reasons I prefer Louis to François, he was a very adventurous composer, and it's a pity his career (and his life) was so short.  Rabinovich's touch was immediately warmer here, more direct, though still quite detached, but then he went straight into the Franck, and the piano came into its own.  This was a fine reading, richly sonorous, pensive but bold, with some lovely, lyrical phrasing.

The second half was not as satisfactory.  The Chopin, to begin with, was over-pedalled, notably in the introduction.  I had felt the Franck was too, a little, but that's something a lot of pianists do.  I think it's because it allows the piano to suggest the heavy harmonics of the organ, and Franck is so strongly associated with the organ that it does not seem misplaced.  Chopin, however, is a different matter, and the Polonaise-Fantaisie suffered both from the blurring of the sound, and from Rabinovich's rather idiosyncratic approach to its contrasting sections.  The lyricism which had been present in the Franck was in a little short supply here.

His Sonatina, composed, I think, in 2020, is a four-movement work, alternating slow and fast tempi.  If the first two movements left me a little indifferent, the last two, inspired, however indirectly, by his little daughter, were much more approachable, with dancing rhythms, almost folk-like, and certainly reminding me at times of Bartók.

Last came Schubert's great Wanderer Fantasy, and the little errors which, up to a point, are normal in any live performance, became a nuisance.  The Wanderer is certainly Schubert's most technically demanding piano piece - he himself could not play it very well - but I was startled at how scuffed Rabinovich's performance was, clipped notes all over the place, as if he had run out of energy.  It detracted quite seriously from the overall performance, which was appropriately vigorous, with some welcome sweetness at times, and left a tarnished impression of the piece overall.  A pity to end such an interesting programme on such a flawed note.

[Next : 8th December]