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.

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 .