Antti Siirala - Schubert: Piano Transcriptions (2003)

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Antti Siirala - Schubert: Piano Transcriptions (2003)

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I spend part of every summer at the Aspen Music Festival, at least partly because it's where one can easily hear a lot of young musicians, some of them still students, who are the cream of the crop. It's there that I heard, when they were very young, musicians like Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Sarah Chang, Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Kalichstein, Ian Hobson and many others. I've been amazed, repeatedly, at the quality of youngsters coming up. An embarrassment of riches, one would have to say. And it's hard to keep track of them.
Here is a young pianist, Antti Siirala, from Finland, in his early twenties, playing like a master. When I first put this CD on I was immediately reminded of the pearlescent, rounded tone and beautifully controlled and nuanced playing of Murray Perahia. I wasn't surprised, then, to read later that this young man has received encouragement from, among others, Mr Perahia.
The neat idea behind this CD's program is to present several piano transcriptions of melodies by Schubert done by various composers including Leopold Godowsky, Liszt, Prokofiev, and Busoni. The largest and last piece on the program is Godowsky's original 'Passacaglia' based on the first eight measures of the first movement of Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony–not the familiar tune, but that somewhat mysterious opening melodic line which, as it happens, lends itself very nicely to treatment as a ground bass for a passacaglia. More about that later.
The program starts with Godowsky's transcription of 'Gute Nacht,' the first Lied in 'Winterreise.' The song sets the mournful tone of that song cycle and Godowsky clothes his treatment in dark chords in the lower half of the piano. Siirala plays gently, quietly, and with enormous musicality. This was what convinced me, right away, that he was someone to listen to. Above all, his right sings the melody like a great baritone might.
This is followed by 'Der Lindenbaum,' arranged by Liszt, which is played as the folk-song it sounds like (although, of course, the tune is original with Schubert). Then we have a conflation, by Liszt, of 'Der stürmische Morgen' and 'Im Dorfe,' from 'Winterreise.' Following are a string of Schubert waltzes arranged by Prokofiev during his brief sojourn in America in 1920; they definitely do not sound like Prokofiev, per se, but are faithful to the originals. They are played straighforwardly by our young pianist, but with just a hint of that Viennese lilt that we came to know later in the waltzes of Johann Strauss Jr; it's easy to see where the Strauss waltz came from in these rustic waltzes.
Then comes the delightfully naïve 'Morgengruss' from 'Die Schöne Müllerin,' arranged by Godowsky with some unexpected harmonic twists; there are some virtuosic patches, carried off nicely by Siirala. But nothing in them prepares one for the virtuosity required in Liszt's transcription of 'Erlkönig' with those impossible repeated right-hand octaves accompanied by octave runs in the left. Imagine doing all that AND throwing in the melody line as well, and in chords! Ouf!
The only let-down, primarily in terms of the musical value, is the 'Overture in D' transcribed by Busoni; it is, in my opinion, a minor, not very interesting piece, although minor Schubert is not to be dismissed out of hand. And it is well-played here.
Finally, we have the 20-minute 'Passacaglia' described above. Amazingly, this piece, until recently all but unavailable on records, now has at least six other recordings, including two by Marc-André Hamelin, one each by Carlo Grante, Rian de Waal, Ian Hobson and David Stanhope. I've heard both by Hamelin (very similar although recorded more than a decade apart) and those by Grante, Hobson and Stanhope. The Stanhope, in my opinion, is the weakest, poorly characterized. Hobson's is only marginally better. The Grante and the two Hamelins, though, are tours de force. I'm happy to say that young Mr Siirala's recording is only a hair below them and more than satisfactory. He handles the drama inherent in the 44 variations, cadenza and final fugue with aplomb. The almost superhuman virtuosity required holds no terrors for him.
In sum, this is a young man to pay close attention to and this CD is a welcome addition to any collection. There is no question that he has both major technique and cultivated musicality, and has already developed well beyond what one could expect of one so young. I hope to hear more from him. Recommended. – Scott Morrison

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Antti Siirala - Schubert: Piano Transcriptions (2003)

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