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Martin Helmchen in Schwetzingen · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Distler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  You can subscribe to The Piano Maven podcast
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  through my Substack page by clicking on the link
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  in the episode description. Paid subscribers
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  get bonuses such as Piano Maven Zoom meetings,
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  as well as goodies from my private collection
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  of recordings and all kinds of stuff like that.
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  So please consider subscribing to help us reach
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  out further into the piano community and to keep
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  the quality as good as I can get it. Anyway,
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  I wanted to talk about a marvelous live... recital
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  that i just discovered that has been recorded
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  and uploaded to archive .org someone has been
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  uploading a boatload of live piano recitals onto
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  the archive .org website and you know being the
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  insatiable piano maven that i am of course i've
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  had to download a lot of these Most of them I've
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  downloaded sight unseen. I figured I'll just
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  get them on the computer and I'll listen to them
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  when I have time. I mean, when do I really have
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  the time? But there has been a recital I've just
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  been enjoying so much in the last few days. And
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  I just had to tell you about it. It's a concert
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  that features a pianist whose recordings I've
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  always enjoyed, the German pianist Martin Helmschen.
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  I love a lot of his Schubert and Beethoven, especially.
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  He also has an amazing recording of the Messiaen
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  Vingt Regards sur l 'Enfant Jésus. And I'm going
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  to be talking about that recording when I eventually
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  do an episode on the humongous piano suite of
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  Messiaen, the Vingt Regards. But I do want to
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  talk today about a recital that you can find
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  on archive .org. And I've posted a link. in this
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  podcast episode's description so you can hear
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  this recital for yourself. It took place in Schwetzingen
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  on May 4th, 2022. It must be a broadcast because
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  the sound quality is really quite terrific. The
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  concert begins with Bach's Partita No. 1 in B
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  -flat and Occasionally, Martin Helmsing gets
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  into an effettuoso mode, but he plays Bach with
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  so much color and imagination, and he varies
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  his ornamentation and articulation on the repeats
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  very tastefully and imaginatively. And he really
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  sails through the courant with, I guess, a small
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  dose of adrenaline. He must have had some in
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  his pocket. There's also a live performance of
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  this partita with Helmschen on YouTube from the
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  Verbrier Festival. I haven't yet heard his commercial
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  recordings of the six partitas. I have to make
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  amends and listen to them pretty soon. But this
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  Schwetzingen performance is just so captivating
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  and creative. I mean, I really loved it. Then
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  after the Bach, he gives a really haunting and
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  introspective and... deeply felt reading of those
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  very special late pieces by Robert Schumann,
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  the Gesang der Früh, Op. 133, The Morning Songs.
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  You know, for years, these pieces were considered
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  by many to be inferior Schumann, you know, from
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  his late period when he pretty much lost it.
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  But I love these pieces, even though they don't...
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  reveal their special qualities so readily. You
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  really have to come to Schumann. He doesn't come
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  out to you, if you know what I mean. But it seems
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  that more and more pianists have been taking
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  up the Gesangedefrue on record and also in recital.
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  And I love this performance. I really love the
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  rich and almost organ -like sonorities that Martin
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  Helmschen brings to this piece. Beautiful, beautiful
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  piano playing. And the next piece on this recital
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  is quite a contrast. Bartok's Out of Doors Suite.
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  Although Martin Helmschen brings all of the right
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  rhythmic propulsion and incisive articulation
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  and dynamic contrast to this music, and it really
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  needs all these qualities, the music never sounds
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  harsh or percussively ugly in Helmschen's hands.
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  His clusters sing out rather than bang out in
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  the first piece, for example. And in that first
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  piece, the way he builds up the accelerando,
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  he does this to really terrifying but full -bodied
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  effect. And the softer, more introspective movements
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  also benefit from Helmschen's. amazing clarity
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  and his tone color. I think this is one of the
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  best performances of Out of Doors that I've ever
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  heard, to be perfectly honest. And then the major
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  work on this recital is the Schubert A Major
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  Sonata, the big, awesomely published sonata with
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  the Deutsch No. 959. The first movement has a
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  lightness and mobility and flexibility that prevents
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  the strong architecture from turning overly monumental
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  or rigid. The phrases constantly move over the
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  bar lines in Helmschen's performance. Everything
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  just ebbs and flows so naturally and so inevitably.
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  He keeps the music alive and moving, and there
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  are no dead spots in this interpretation. It's
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  just gorgeous. And the slow movement is interesting.
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  It starts out in an almost sweet and disarming
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  way. And Helmschen builds that really harrowing
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  climax with great care in terms of his control
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  of the tempo and his scaling of the dynamics.
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  Now, it doesn't quite approach the intensity
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  and tumultuous. breaking point that you get from
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  a pianist like Claudio Arau or in the Christian
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  Zimmerman recording or even Maurizio Pollini's
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  recording. Now, I wouldn't say that Helmschen
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  is cool -headed, but he certainly doesn't open
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  the floodgates of emotion and let himself go.
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  But his sense of concentration and his classical
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  poise, I think, really compensate. And it's just
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  beautiful playing. And the scherzo just dances
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  off the page so lightly and with such suppleness
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  in Martin Helmschen's hands. You get none of
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  that fussy micromanaging or those mannered tenutos
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  or the icky little accents that you hear from
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  other pianists who shall remain nameless. You
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  know, pianists whose initials are Alfred Brendel
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  or Alexander Longquitch. But the finale is gorgeous
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  also, and it mirrors interpretively what Helmschen
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  does in the first movement regarding his effortless
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  control and the unforced lyricism and the sheer
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  variety of articulation. Now, maybe Fellini's
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  recording digs a little deeper in the main theme.
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  I don't know. But look, Martin Helmschen. plays
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  this finale so beautifully. He plays the whole
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  sonata wonderfully. This is incredibly cultivated
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  Schubert playing. It's a great fusion of fingers
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  and musicality and heart. And for the encores,
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  we get this exquisitely timed reading of Schumann's
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  Prophet Bird from Waldseemann. And then we hear
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  a more introspective, and more poetic, and I
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  would even say more profound, rendition of Franz
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  Liszt's O Bordensource than one usually hears.
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  Some people play this piece as a brisk and rippling
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  etude, you know, which is a valid approach. But
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  in Martin Helmschen's hands, this music becomes
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  a tone poem rather than a showpiece. This is
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  just such a wonderful recital from one of today's
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  truly exceptional pianists and musicians. And
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  if you go to the link that I provided, you can
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  download it and hear for yourself just how special
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  this recital is. This is Jed Disler, and you've
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  been listening to The Piano Maven, your friendly
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  podcast guide to piano recordings. Thank you
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  for listening, and I look forward to being with
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  you for the next episode. Be well.