A potent fusion of intellectual severity and technical finesse brings rare distinction to Mitsuko Uchida’s new Philips survey of key Second Viennese School piano works. Arnold Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto Op. 42 is the major offering here, and Uchida is joined by the Cleveland Orchestra under Pierre Boulez in a startling and brilliant performance that rates as a major addition to the catalog. It invites immediate comparison with Alfred Brendel’s 1972 version with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Rafael Kubelik (recently reissued in DG’s budget Eloquence series), but Uchida’s radically different approach undoubtedly complements Brendel’s, which is still widely considered as definitive. Respectable as it is, DG’s remastered sound is no match for the exceptionally vivid Philips sonics.
From her fascinating reflections on the concerto (the booklet also includes Paul Griffiths’ helpful annotations of the other works here), you’d rightly surmise that Uchida would take a fantastical, mysterious, intensely personal approach, in stark contrast to Brendel’s clinically analytical manner, and that’s exactly what happens here. Schoenberg’s deliberately enigmatic program (“Life was so easy–Suddenly hatred broke out–A grave situation was created–But life goes on”) doesn’t always register too clearly in performance, but Uchida brings it into sharper relief than I’ve experienced before.
For example, at measure 176 “hatred” erupts with peculiar vehemence, its pain and clangor more implacable thanks to Boulez’s sharply-etched accompaniments and to thrilling solo playing that effectively characterizes the brutality of Schoenberg’s text. Uchida also is a full 30 seconds slower than Brendel in the next section (“A grave situation…”), making the music more lurid and menacing, and much more flexible in its phrasing. There are some superb solos from the Cleveland winds here. Interestingly, Uchida is nearly 15 seconds faster than Brendel in the concluding Giocoso section of this through-composed work (“But life goes on”). As Uchida herself remarks: “Schoenberg has too many hidden agendas…I am sure that the content relates to the events of the time (1942).” That’s why her reading has such menacing power to disturb, even to chasten, and this is an altogether astounding performance.
Space doesn’t permit any detailed appraisal of the other solo piano works here, but the Webern Op. 27 Variations and Schoenberg’s Op. 11 and Op. 19 groups are marvellously played, and there’s a shattering account of Berg’s Piano Sonata Op. 1 to conclude this remarkable disc. [4/13/2001]
