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This Month's Feature
Richard Adams Interviews
Ashley Wass
An
Interview with Ashley Wass
Richard Adams:
Congratulations
on your new recording of the Bax Symphonic Variations and Left-Hand
Concerto.
The reviews have been very enthusiastic
and it’s a top seller.
Are you surprised by how warmly this
disc has been received?
Ashley Wass: Thanks Rich. I know that recent Bax
releases have had a history of selling in fairly large numbers, so I
suppose there was always a certain degree of expectation surrounding
this CD. I remember feeling that the sessions went pretty well, so I
was hopeful the end result would be something I could be proud of.
Having said that, it’s impossible to be completely objective about
your own work and it’s very hard to predict the views of the
critics.
RA:
Any chance that the success of this disc
may lead to concert performances by you of the Symphonic Variations?
AW: I hope so, although the terrible state of the
orchestral parts and score will make the piece very difficult to
‘sell’ to conductors and management. There is just about enough time
during a recording session for musicians to query any anomalies, but
with the limited rehearsal time usually afforded a concert
performance I suspect mass confusion would reign. It’s a great
shame; I’m certain the work would prove very popular with audiences.
Even though it’s long and complex, the material is, by and large,
easily accessible and appealing to the first-time listener.
RA:
I’ve
heard from other musicians that they’ve encountered resistance from
concert programmers when they’ve suggested playing Bax.
Has that also been your experience?
AW: I’d say I have roughly a 50% success rate
when it comes to proposing Bax. I suppose I’m in a slightly
fortunate position because so much of my reputation over recent
years has been built around my recordings of British music;
consequently many promoters expect me to offer something to further
cultivate my image as a specialist in that field. It’s actually very
hard to predict when and where Bax will be accepted; I’ve been
specifically asked to perform his works in countries such as the
USA,
Portugal
and
Sweden, yet have
often had to remove him entirely from my programmes when playing for
major promoters in the
UK!
It’s quite curious that the recording and
performing industries are often so completely at odds with one
another. There are examples of composers (such as Bax) who are
extremely popular on CD yet are seldom heard live. Are the
concert-going public and the record-buying public really so
disconnected? I think not.
RA:
You
mentioned a possible hindrance to getting the Symphonic Variations
performed is the terrible condition of the score.
It’s an absolute mess because it was
never published and the orchestral parts and conductor’s score are
all in Bax’s handwriting – which was not that easy to read.
What problems did this cause you while
trying to learn the work as well as during the recording sessions?
AW: Well, I know you recount the story of my battle with the
publishers in your Editorial; it was a nightmare! The first copy
Warner/Chappell sent me was completely illegible and it was only
thanks to the generosity of others that I eventually got hold of
something I could read in relative comfort. As I’ve already
mentioned, a great deal of time was spent during the sessions
checking notes; individual parts were often inconsistent with one
another and both James Judd and the orchestral musicians had a
terrible struggle to decipher Mr. Bax’s handwriting! Unfortunately,
as long as this remains the state of play, it will be almost
impossible to present live performances of the work.
RA:
Is this a common problem with piano
scores by lesser known composers or does Bax just have the
misfortune of having his legacy cared for by an unusually negligent
publisher?
AW: It’s hard for me to say, although poor old
James was once again forced to struggle with a dodgy score when we
recently recorded the Vaughan Williams Concerto! I remember someone
told me last year that they’d spent a great deal of time tidying up
the conductor’s score before I played the piece at the Proms;
apparently the copy provided was a confusing mish-mash of the solo
piano version and the two-piano arrangement.
RA:
I
can’t think of very many British piano concertos that are on quite
the same scale as the Symphonic Variations or are as enjoyable but
then I’m biased.
What do you think are its virtues and
flaws and how does it compare with other concertos by British
composers, in your opinion?
AW: I’ve thought about this a lot recently. What was it that first
drew me so favourably to the SV? It’s a work which certainly has its
flaws; it’s far too long (can the main theme really support such a
grand and thorough exploration?), it’s structurally clumsy in places
(I’ve always found “Enchantment”
particularly weak) and it suffers from more than the odd spot of
dodgy orchestration.

Conductor James Judd and pianist
Ashley Wass discuss a point in the score during last year's
Naxos sessions for Bax's Symphonic Variations."
Photo by Richard R. Adams.
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And yet I love it dearly. To me, it’s by far the most fulfilling and
rewarding work of Bax I’ve encountered. I think there’s something
incredibly personal
about the piece; it’s epic, organic, almost autobiographical, and it
traverses a vast emotional range, from despair and anger to dainty
humour and contentment, and from melancholy and serenity to hope and
eventual triumph. It juxtaposes music of the utmost passion with
long passages of intimate and extraordinary beauty, and the pianist
regularly switches from spotlight soloist to orchestral interweaver.
Perhaps it could be said to belong to a world far
away from the stereotypical (often misguided) image of British music
of its era, and should instead make its home in the heart-on-sleeve
school of the Russian romantics. Certainly this is no ‘cow pat
music’!
There is one practical issue that I feel
contributes enormously to the virtue of the SV and that’s the way in
which it’s written for the piano. I’ve often been critical of Bax’s
piano writing; I find his sonatas, for example, often over-textured,
un-pianistic and full of glaring weaknesses and inconsistencies
(such as climaxes written in the weakest parts of the instrument).
But the SV seems, for the most part, to make much better use of the
vast range of colours, techniques and sounds the piano has to offer.
It’s a work that requires strength and percussiveness, richness of
sonority and sensitivity, translucence and transparency, a singing
tone and dexterity. I also adore the way in which the piano is
incorporated into the orchestral texture so that the work assumes
symphonic proportions. The more I got to know it the more I fell in
love.
Other British concertos that I particularly admire
are the Vaughan Williams and Britten; both are deserving of a place
in the core repertoire. But of course they are very different beasts
to the SV!
RA: You’ve also recorded the Left-Hand
Concerto, which has always received bad press.
You certainly play it as though you
believe in it?
Do you think it’s a successful concerto?
AW: I can’t pretend it’s Bax’s strongest work, but
I’ve always been very fond of the LH Concerto. The second movement
in particular is gloriously lush and melodic; a true love song, I
think. Indeed, I used to play Margaret Fingerhut’s fine recording to
my musical friends and ask them to guess the composer. Most of them
thought it was Rachmaninov!
RA:
You’ve
told me that you responded to the Symphonic Variations from the
moment you first heard it but you didn’t have the same warm reaction
the first time you heard “Winter Legends”.
In fact, for a time you weren’t certain
you’d even record it but now you plan to.
Is that because
Naxos
is asking for it or have you had a change of heart regarding that
work?
AW: It’s certainly true that “Winter
Legends” didn’t grab me as much as the
SV upon first hearing. However, it’s grown on me over time, and the
memory of the pleasure I had working with the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra and James makes me keen to complete the series. There are
lots of works I’ve come to love despite suffering a rather cold
first impression; I suspect “Winter
Legends” may eventually join that list.
As for
Naxos,
although they’ve made it clear they would like me to record Bax’s
other pieces for piano and orchestra, they have never put me under
pressure to do anything about which I’m not wholly convinced. I
think that’s why the partnership has been a relatively healthy one;
it’s through the exchanging of suggestions and ideas that we reach
mutual agreement over which projects get the green light.
RA:
Your
association with Bax now goes back some eight years when you first
started recording the piano sonatas.
Those recordings also received glowing
reviews although some commentators questioned your tendency toward
slow tempos in those works.
I’m
wondering if you’re
still performing the sonatas and if so, has your approach to them
changed now that you’ve played so much of Bax’s music?
AW: Yes, I do still perform them. In fact, the First Sonata is part
of my programme for the ‘08/’09 season and I often play
“Dream in Exile”.
I suppose there would be something seriously amiss if my ideas
didn’t grow and develop as time progressed; that applies, of course,
to any repertoire. But having said that, I still view the sonatas
fundamentally
in the same light as I did when I first studied them. My tempi might
not be to everyone’s taste (not that it matters anyway!), but for
me, a more hurried approach does a great disservice to these works.
Unlike the SV, which is epic and needs very careful pacing, I think
the sonatas require space, time and a great deal of flexibility to
really reveal their full scope and character. Take the First Sonata
for example; it would be so easy for it to become a relentless
trudge. There’s a great deal of complexity and subtlety in the
work’s melodic and structural content, and it’s only through an air
of fantasy that it really comes to life.
The general consensus exists, of course, that Bax
wasn’t always as concise and structurally precise as he could have
been. However, that doesn’t mean his music should be pushed, rushed
or reigned in; doing so would only make any weaknesses in the score
seem more glaring and obvious, and would risk reducing a gloriously
imaginative compositional mind to a one-dimensional mess.
No matter what subtle differences there are in my present-day
interpretations, the truth is I can still look back at my early Bax
recordings (particularly the sonatas) and feel relatively satisfied.
And that’s all I set out to achieve at the start of every session;
an end product that I
can be proud of. It’s fair to say my enthusiasm for Bax’s music
dipped for a period (around the time of my third solo disc and the
two violin sonata recordings), but some time away exploring other
composers and my introduction to the SV certainly served to
re-invigorate me.
RA:
In
addition to Bax, you’ve also recorded complete or near complete
cycles of the solo piano music of Bridge, Elgar and Alwyn.
Are there any other British composers
you hope to add to that list and what about a possible recording of
Bridge’s magnificent “Phantasm” for piano and orchestra?
AW: Well, first of all I’m supposed to record the Bax and Bridge
Piano Quintets with the Tippett Quartet later this year. If we can
make our schedules match, that is! After that there are tentative
plans for discs of Moeran and Britten. As you know, of all the
British composers I’ve explored, Bridge is the one who I rate the
highest, so I’d love to do the
“Phantasm” one day. We’ll have to wait
and see!
To be honest, there are many British composers
whose music I admire; Rawsthorne, York Bowen and William Baines to
name just three. But after at least three discs per year for the
last five or six years I think it’s time to slow down!
RA: You performed Ralph
Vaughan William’s Piano Concerto last year at the Proms and you
recorded that work for Naxos
this year.
I know you had some doubts about that
work when you first started working on it so I’m wondering if you
opinion of it has changed now that you’ve performed and recorded it?
How do you think the version for one
piano compares with the two-piano version and have you thought about
playing the original version with the Bax Third Symphony quotation?
AW: I came to think of it as a fantastic piece;
very physical and enormous fun to play. It’s a shame it isn’t done
more often. Although making oneself heard above the massive and
dense orchestration is difficult, I definitely prefer the solo piano
version. And I’d love to take a look at the original ending… I
wonder if there’s a copy somewhere..?
RA:
You’ve
been an exclusive recording artist for Naxos and it’s wonderful
they’ve asked you to record so much British music but we should
remember that your very first recording was a tremendous disc of
piano music by Cesar Franck and I believe your favorite composers
for the piano continue to be Beethoven and Brahms and I suspect
Chopin and maybe Schumann as well?
Is there any chance
of Naxos
inviting you to record more of this standard repertoire and if so,
what works would be first on your list to record?
AW: Yes, Beethoven and Brahms are still very much among my major
musical loves. Less so Chopin though; I’ve never particularly
enjoyed playing his works, even though I respect them greatly.
Franck has remained very close to my heart and I still play the
“Prelude, Chorale and Fugue”
a lot (incidentally it works wonderfully well in a programme with
Bax’s First Sonata; both works ending with triumphant
bell-ringing!), as well as the magnificent Violin Sonata and Piano
Quintet.
I’ve recently recorded a disc of Liszt for
Naxos.
Liszt is a composer I’ve come to adore; for me he’s perhaps the most
underrated of all the ‘famous’ composers (along with Mendelssohn).
He’s often dismissed as a mere virtuoso, when in fact much of his
work is incredibly lyrical and poetic, not to mention harmonically
way ahead of its time.
Eventually, I’d like to record the late works of
Brahms, and possibly the Op. 5 Sonata. Oh, and the piano concertos –
both of which are key works in my repertoire – would be high on my
list of priorities too!
RA: Can you tell us a little of your process
for learning a new work like the “Winter Legends” of Bax?
Do you ever consult recordings – such as
Harriet Cohen’s recording, which I suppose ought to be considered
authoritative?
Are you able to sight-read your way
through the score the first time you look at it?
How long does it take from the time you
start working on it until it’s performance-ready and what challenges
do works like the WL and SV pose for you as a pianist?
AW: Bax is many things, but one thing he isn’t is
sight-readable! In fact, I generally find his scores demand more
time and patience than those of most other composers; they contain
vast numbers of sharps and flats and the harmonic language is often
quite unpredictable. He was also quite liberal and inconsistent with
his deployment of accidentals, so even the most clearly printed
published score requires a certain amount of estimation and
investigation!
I tend only to listen to recordings in the very
early stages of a project, simply as an efficient and effective
means of research and reference. The Fingerhut recordings became my
benchmark for both the SV and the LH Concerto, but I deliberately
banished them to the back of the cupboard many months before I
actually began studying the scores. It’s an approach that has
remained consistent throughout my career; I much prefer to study
each new work with a fresh and open mind.
The time it takes to prepare a piece varies
massively, of course, depending on how long, difficult and
complicated it is! Whenever possible I’ll take an initial look at a
score far in advance, then put it away and return to it several
times before the concentrated preparation begins in the weeks before
the session or performance takes place. Sadly, with the demands of a
busy schedule, this luxurious ideology doesn’t always transfer into
reality!
I wouldn’t honestly say I’ve ever discovered a
passage in Bax that has given me sleepless nights from a technical
point of view. Yes, there are tricky passages, but on the whole
they’re not comparable to the difficulties encountered in the music
of, for example, Liszt or Alkan. The truth is no two pianists have
identical techniques and we all have our strengths and weaknesses.
What I find horrendously hard may come as second nature to someone
else, and vice versa.
RA:
You
and your wife are planning to climb to the Base Camp of Mount
Everest soon.
This isn’t something a lot of couples do
together.
Can you explain the reason you’re doing
this and what you hope the experience will mean to you and Claire?
AW: 2008 was a very mixed year for my wife and me; we got engaged
and married, but Claire also lost her Father to lung cancer. He was
just 50 and the fact he wasn’t there on our wedding day was a truly
shattering blow. I think his loss changed our outlook on life quite
dramatically; we realised how important it is to make time both for
each other and for the things we’re truly passionate about while
we’re blessed with the opportunity. Consequently, we decided to join
a charity expedition and asked our wedding guests to donate to the
Institute
of Cancer
Research
instead of drawing up a traditional gift list. Our initial target
was £6,000 and it’s amazing to think we’ve already surpassed that
figure with several months still to go!
We
know a few people who have done the trek and they all claim it was a
life-changing experience. Three weeks of walking in some of the most
beautiful scenery imaginable, faced with the prospect of a simple
existence devoid of luxury and in the company of a distant and
different culture must have an impact on how one views the world. I
can say from experience, all worldly troubles vanish when you’re
climbing; the minutiae of every day life gain true perspective. I’ve
always held a strong and passionate interest in the
mountains, so to
trek to the foot of the world’s highest peak will be very much the
trip of a lifetime. We genuinely can’t wait!
By the
way, for further information about our adventure, and the reasons
behind it, you can visit
www.justgiving.com/wass
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