Ravishing beauty and supreme artistry combined with total mastery of art that conceals art has me searching for superlatives for one of the finest most moving recitals I have been to for years .
Waldszenen that was an outpouring of subtle beauty where every note had a poignant significance .Beethoven’s Pathetique as though I had never heard it before such was the kaleidoscope of sounds and dynamic drive.An ‘Adagio cantabile’ that was a true bel canto that arose out of a sumptuous accompaniment and the central episode like a heart beating -Beethoven’s!
Alkan that was so exquisite it brought tears to my eyes as did the ravishing beauty of Chaminade’s Automne .
Liszt Pesther Carneval was breathtaking , astonishing and at the same time so characterful that it brought smiles to the face just as it brought gasps as phenomenal gymnastics were thrown off with rhetorical mastery …..and all this on what Perlemuter would have generously described as a casserole! ……..much more to come tomorrow when I have got my breath back!
A programme that at first glance seemed interesting if rather conventional. Beethoven’s Pathétique ,Schumann,Alkan,Chaminade and Liszt .It was from the first mighty chord of the Beethoven that one was aware of a piece that was like new and was unfolding before our eyes in a voyage of discovery where clarity and beauty went hand in hand with a pulsating heart of poignant significance. It was the dynamic contrasts that added even more meaning to an opening where I had never been aware before now of it’s grandiloquence combined with searing beauty. Florestan and Eusebius spring to mind or the split personality that could be two things in one. The irascible temperament of Beethoven that could flare up with impatience and frustration but also the serene deep inner soul that was indeed to come to the fore as the composer could see the paradise that awaited him. All these thoughts come to mind, now,thinking about last night’s performance.Technical and professional considerations ( no I pad in sight as the music for this artist was internal not external!) ca va sans dire ,it did not even pass through one’s mind as the music just poured forth in a continuous stream of mellifluous sounds on a piano that miraculously Mark had found it’s soul ( not sole) very deep down in it’s roots.The silences were so poignant too before the chromatic scale, marked and surprisingly played piano without a crescendo,where the sforzando was a shock tactic before the burning intensity of the Allegro di molto ma con brio. A dynamic drive but still the searing beauty of the exchange between voices as the music was driven relentlessly forward.This continual forward movement made the return of the opening call to arms even more of a shock as were the rests between each gasp that were held with breathless courage as long as he dared.This was music making that was recreation and which we the audience were unknowing accomplices.This is the very ‘raison d’etre’ of live music making as opposed to perfectly concocted studio performances. This is ‘X’ certificate stuff not for the uninitiated with fear of the unknown! I was not expecting to be so involved with such a popular work that at first glance I had underestimated.The melting beauty of the diminuendo into the abrupt return of the Allegro will remain with me for a long time as will the reappearance in the coda and the ‘Grave’. A continual stimulation of the senses that I cannot begin to imagine the effect on the public of the day with this revolutionary invasion of their private emotions.
The surprise after such upheaval is the heavenly peace of the ‘Adagio cantabile’ that was played with the beauty of Bel Canto (which we were also to appreciate in Alkan later in the programme) of which Mark is a master. Freedom but within certain limits of good taste and style ( Chopin likens it to branches free to move but with the roots firmly fixed in the soil). All sustained by a luscious undercurrent of harmonies that gave such depth to this much loved but often maligned movement. The central episode with it’s pulsating heartbeat ( as in Chopin op 28 n.17) on which the melodic line is answered by the bassoon like bass notes. The gradual pizzicato bass notes played so clearly that the return of the melodic line now incorporated with a reverberating heartbeat was like wallowing in a sumptuous jacuzzi !
The sun suddenly came out and the radiance of the Rondo was exhilarating and rejuvenating with a ‘joie de vivre’ and technical relishment.It made the slow chorale episode even more poignant as a momentary cloud passed over our heads before the lightweight pitter patter to join the fun once again. What a voyage of discovery this was and I can only think back to Serkin’s performance in the Festival Hall for a similar experience.
Between them they know more about the works of Liszt and Alkan ,respectively,than anyone alive or dead!
Waldszenen long a favourite of Peter Frankl but long forgotten by the younger pianists generation . That other Mark, Marc-André Hamelin and Viner have much in common. Hamelin being one of the first to include Alkan in his programmes and also physically like ‘our’ Mark does not portray his emotions with unnecessary movements but looks and concentrates on the sounds he is searching for! It was just a few months ago that Hamelin played them in Warsaw , a performance he repeated in Cremona last weekend .My first impression after listening to Hamelin was the same that I had today listening to Mark – Thank God I have lived to hear such beauty!
Marc – André Hamelin – A pied piper and Prince of Pianists.
If Marc-André is the Prince surely Mark Viner ‘c’est le Roi ‘ ( to quote Rostropovich on listening to Perlemuter who he had invited to play in his festival in Evian many years ago ). Every note was made to speak like a lieder singer such was the power of communication and feelings aroused as we too were on a tour in the mysterious woodland of Schumann’s fantasy. Deep nostalgia and beauty as we entered with the rhythmic drive of the hunter following us. Only to be stopped in our tracks by the simplicity and radiant beauty of solitary flowers.The brooding of the left hand gave a real sense of atmosphere to the cursed place that made one realise why Schumann’s beloved Clara refused to include it in her performances! The two final chords lifeless and without expression are enough to strike fear into the heartiest of souls. The joyful singing on finding such a friendly landscape afterwards was quite exhilarating in Mark’s well oiled hands. There was a pastoral beauty as we saw the wayside inn with it’s bass melodic line and gentle harp like flourishes unfolding. There was the radiant solitary beauty of the prophet bird that was of such significance with a solemn celestial beauty to the central chorale as she surveyed the scene in such a leisurely knowing way. It was played quite exquisitely, poetry from a poet’s hands! Rhythmic playfulness of the Hunting song was immediately calmed by the sublime calm and beauty of the farewell. Fluidity and radiance with deep bass notes just adding a richness to the sublime golden streams of sound that were enveloping this old but surely vintage casserole!
Alkan has long been a first love for Mark since he was bewitched by a visit of Ronald Smith to the Purcell School where he was studying with Tessa Nicholson. He asked his teacher to show him how to acquire a technique so that he too could delve into a world that had ignited his imagination. ‘Noblesse oblige’ and Tessa trained him as she has so many other remarkable young musicians including Tyler Hay and Alim Beisembayev. Mark is now embarking on a series of recordings of all the works of Alkan and I believe he has arrived almost half way with CD n. 7 already in the can. On listening to this collection of six ‘songs without words’ that had been inspired by Mendelssohn and that Alkan too had composed in several series of six miniatures . Alkan’s ‘3 Recueil de chants’ op 65 was so exquisite I found myself absorbed and ravished by the subtle beauty, exquisite jeux perlé and astonishing fiortiori that on reliving such beauty I cannot understand why these are never heard in recital or at least on Classical FM ! ‘Vivante’ was a true song and miniature tone poem with the emphatic doubling of the melodic line so reminiscent of Mendelssohn yet with a unique original voice. The ‘Esprits follets’ was a tour de force of Horowitzian bewitchment with featherlight scales disappearing into the bass as the melodic line unwound unperturbed with nonchalant mastery of sound and pedal. There was the simple elegance of the ‘Canon à la 8’ but the most incredible playing was in the ‘Tempo giusto’ which it may have been , but to cram in so many notes so as not to disturb the Tempo giusto is the stuff that legend is made of and that surrounds the mysterious recluse that was Alkan.Sumptuous rich sound for ‘Horace et Lydie’ where I doubt this piano has ever been seduced as Mark did today giving up such riches for two hands and two feet. But Mark also has a soul that was to surface ever more in the Barcarolle that was played with beguiling rarified whispered sadness and a kaleidoscope of sounds that were like jewels sparkling in the radiant beauty of this atmosphere.
Mark may have mentioned that Chaminade has been accused of composing elevated salon music when ‘Le Six ‘ were hard at creating a different world. ‘Automne’ is indeed the work often heard on Classical FM and which used to adorn every home that had a piano and aspidistra. Such a beautiful melody played exquisitely by Mark but I have never heard the central virtuosistic interruptions that of course our Auntie would have ignored! Not Mark who played with fearless brilliance and passionate conviction before lying exhausted as he allowed the ravishing melody to flow from his fingers and lay to rest as a bare whisper but happy at having known such beauty.
The Liszt Hungarian rhapsody is the longest of a collection of 19 and is usually heard in a cut version because lesser mortals than Mark see just technical wizardry and a vehicle to arouse applause and a standing ovation . Of course this is the showman Liszt but as Mark showed us there is much much more to it than just note spinning. Time seemed to stand still as Mark let rip at the keyboard with unbelievable pyrotechnics and an extraordinary range of emotions that kept us enthralled as he spun off the piano seat with a final victorious flourish.
What a night that was in the Church that I had passed for the first 25 years of my life having spent my childhood in Bedford Park in Flanders Mansions. Little could I have imagined what wonders it would still hold for me fifty years on !
Mark Viner at St Mary’s ‘Mastery and mystery of a unique artist and thinking musician.’
Mark Viner at St Mary’s Faustian Struggles and Promethean Prophesies
A link to a fascinating discussion about Alkan in Cremona with Marc-André Hamelin last weekend can be heard in this long distance article that I wrote :
A letter from Cremona ,the eternal city of music where dreams become reality.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 
Una risposta a "Mark Viner cooks a dish fit for a King Ravishing beauty,supreme artistry and total mastery served up on a casserole by a cordon bleu maitre."