Latest / The Piano Maven with Jed Distler / Antoine Préat's distinctive Haydn and Prokofiev

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Antoine Préat's distinctive Haydn and Prokofiev · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Consider taking out a paid subscription to The
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  Piano Maven, and you can find a link to do so
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  in our episode description. Paid subscribers
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  get a free download at the start of each month,
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  and at a certain point I want to start up having...
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  Zoom meetings for paid subscribers. We have not
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  done this in quite a long time, I know. But I
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  think it's high time that we've done this. You
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  know how my schedule is with the traveling and
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  touring. But we will make it happen. I really
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  think we should. But at least you do get the
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  free download at the start of each month. And
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  your support really does help to keep this podcast
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  alive and kicking throughout the year. As I said
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  on our last episode, my USB mixer died during
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  the summer, so I had to invest in new equipment.
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  And I would not have been able to do that easily
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  without your support. So I want to thank you
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  again. I want to talk about a recent release
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  that impressed me quite a lot. And it's from
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  a pianist named Antoine Prea. P -R -E with an
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  accent and A. And on this release, which is called
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  Fortune's Fool, he juxtaposes works by Haydn
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  and Prokofiev. And I think there are common threads
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  between these composers, most apparently in how
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  both Prokofiev and Haydn use humor to convey
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  character. Haydn usually with, you know, a kind
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  of wink of the eye and Prokofiev in a rather
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  caustic and acerbic way, you know, with his dry
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  humor. I guess the word sardonic. It is my go
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  -to critical cliché when I write about Prokofiev's
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  piano music. Anyway, Anton Preyra plays the Haydn
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  E minor sonata, followed by Prokofiev's sarcasms,
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  and then the Haydn B minor sonata, followed by
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  the ten pieces of Prokofiev from his ballet Romeo
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  and Juliet, you know, the suite that he created
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  for piano. out of music from his original orchestral
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  ballet score this disc was released in april
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  of this year 2026 on the naive label and when
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  it was assigned to me for review. At first I
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  thought, well, you know, I better be prepared
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  with comparative performances at the ready to
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  see how Antoine Préard's piano playing stacks
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  up alongside the multitude of comparisons and
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  other versions of these pieces that you can find
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  in the catalog by streaming or downloading or
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  fishing in the Hudson River or, you know, however
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  you get the music. But what happened was that
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  this pianist, to my mind, was creating a really
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  fresh and personal and quite stimulating sound
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  world with all of this repertoire. And as I was
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  listening, I really couldn't help but focus on
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  this pianist alone and these interpretations.
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  just kind of bagged it as far as the comparisons
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  went. I even wound up playing certain tracks
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  over and over again, which I don't always do
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  when I'm writing reviews, but I couldn't help
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  myself because I wanted to catch certain details
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  again, like a cleverly effected transition somewhere,
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  or an inventive heightened embellishment, or
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  some bits of perfectly placed timing between
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  sections or how a particular cadence lands and
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  resonates. And one thing that really impressed
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  me, especially in the Prokofiev, was how this
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  pianist has the ability to build up big dynamic
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  climaxes slowly over time without you noticing
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  the sheer momentum that he's generating with
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  the buildup. And then... when he gets to the
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  loudest possible moments. He never, but never
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  bangs. Somehow the sound is always full and well
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  -modulated and never brittle. So, what do I love?
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  What does make Antoine play us? Haydn E minor
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  sonata recording special. You know, the E minor,
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  I can't remember the exact number. I'm too lazy
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  to go look at my Haydn catalog now. But, you
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  know, the... You know, I can't remember even
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  all the music in that first movement. But the
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  finale is... I should know that because this
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  was the first Haydn sonata I ever played, but
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  I never played it nearly as well as Anton Preillat.
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  In his first movement, the pianist brings out...
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  the second subject's cross -rhythmic phrase groupings
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  in such a way that you don't really know where
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  the bar line is. He knows exactly where the accent
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  should go, and it makes for very stimulating
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  listening. It's anything but square, really.
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  And the central andante doesn't have that uniform
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  legato and tapering that you often hear, you
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  know, where the pianist is on cruise control.
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  But he gets varieties. of articulations between
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  detach and legato that impart a really three
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  -dimensional complexion to the music but without
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  any sense of contrivance or effettuoso and even
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  in the finale antoine paillat's left -hand alberti
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  basses you know the accompanying you know the
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  accompanying lines in the left hand have uncommon
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  shape and direction they don't all transpire
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  from the same cookie cutter if you know what
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  i mean this is really really fine and distinctive
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  piano playing haydn playing And I think it's
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  cool how this finale segues right into the first
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  of the Prokofiev sarcasms. I mean, what a big
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  surprise it was to come out of the Haydn directly
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  into that massive tempestoso opening piece of
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  the sarcasms. And this is big bronze -tinted
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  piano playing where each register of the piano
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  seems to... embody its own sound world. It isn't
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  just one uniform piano sonority from bottom to
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  top. At least that's how I hear it in this recording.
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  Each of the sarcasms comes off with its own personality
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  in a totally gripping way. Then the heightened
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  B minor. I like how in the first movement, how
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  Antoine Payat generates tension by keeping the
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  rhythm centered, yet never rigid, and with the
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  most subtle nuances that force you to concentrate.
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  I mean, this is not a pianist who belabors the
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  obvious. No siree, Bob. And also, the minuet.
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  is tastefully inflected, but it never strays
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  from a basic tempo that you can really dance
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  the minuet to. Not that I tried dancing the minuet
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  to it. Now, some listeners may think that his
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  finale is too held back or maybe not fast enough,
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  and I can concede. that point, but I also think
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  that his relatively measured tempo allows for
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  the repeated notes to have more breathing space
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  and room to take shape. I was really convinced,
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  although I am not going to give up my Marc -André
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  Hamelin recording, which is brilliantly fast
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  and deadpan. I guess you can say that Hamelin
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  in the finale is like John Eliot Garner to Anton
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  Preya's Thomas Beecham. if you get my drift.
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  For the most part, the pianist keeps Prokofiev's
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  ten Romeo and Juliet pieces within pianistic
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  dimensions rather than approximating orchestral
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  sonorities, and I think that's a really good
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  interpretive gambit. And I couldn't help but
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  tap my toes when I was listening to the opening
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  folk dance and those beautifully contoured contrapuntal
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  lines, and I found it refreshing to hear a minuet
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  that was not so overly bass -heavy and earnest.
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  And then the Young Juliet movement really had
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  a balletic kind of lilt to it. You know, most
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  young pianists treat this music like it's the
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  50 -yard dash. And in those clusters in the Montagues
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  and Copulets, you really can ascertain the pitches.
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  It just doesn't sound like mud. Also, the pianists'
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  tempos. are really well chosen in the lengthy
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  finale, Romeo and Juliet Before Parting, and
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  there's a wonderful sense of melodic projection
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  and you really get a sense that the pianist knows
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  the original ballet score in terms of his tempo
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  relationships and his creating character. The
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  booklet notes for this release feature an interview
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  where the pianist really insightfully explains
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  his reasons for pairing Haydn and Prokofiev,
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  and the engineering is absolutely terrific. So,
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  whatever you think about the disc's title, Fortune's
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  Fool, I say that it's my good fortune and my
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  decidedly unfoolish fortune to welcome this release
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  into my permanent piano collection. So I highly
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  recommend it to you. This is Jed Disler, and
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  you've been listening to The Piano Maven, your
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  friendly podcast guide to piano recordings. And
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  I look forward to being with you for our next
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  episode. Take good care.