Comparison recordings:
Sonata in b, Clifford Curzon [AAD] Decca
452 306-2
Sonata in b, Vladimir Horowitz [restored
Obert-Thorn] [ADD] Naxos 8.110606
Sonata in b, François-René
Duchable Erato ECD 88091
The immediate point
of the lecture is that Liszt considered
his art an expression of his religious
practice, that he considered the act
of producing art to be a sacrament.
Barnes quotes a Church Father as the
source of this idea. As a non-Christian,
I would naturally point out that this
idea was well understood and put into
practice by Egyptian philosopher-priests
throughout Egyptian history beginning
in 3000BCE, and Liszt might have known
this from this source since he was in
Paris when the explorations of Egypt
by Napoleon’s expedition were being
discussed in the salons.
But as Mr Barnes sensibly
points out, in 34 minutes he can’t cover
absolutely everything about the subject,
so we move on to his next point: that
the sonata in b is similar in
its dramatic structure to other ecclesiastical
works by Liszt, notably the Via Crucis,
and that various themes in all such
works were Liszt’s musical symbols for
various religious events, most specifically
the "cross theme". From the
first three notes of a chant "Crux
Fidelis...," the motif of a major
second followed by a major third, these
three notes, from their appearance in
many of Liszt’s works, seem to Barnes
to have represented for Liszt the vision
of the cross appearing forward out of
dark mists as a symbol of Christianity
triumphant over barbarism and over Evil.
The idea that hammering
piano chords represent nailing Jesus
to the cross is not likely to win the
Sherlock Holmes award for the most subtly
ingenious deduction of 1996 or 2004.
But these ideas taken together can be
extremely useful to an artist, particularly
one who shares Liszt’s religious convictions,
when working up a performance of a major
work like the Sonata in b, a
work which presents many problems of
interpretation. Almost exactly the same
religious scenario can be seen in the
Toccata movement from Widor’s
Symphony #5; this was a help
to me in selecting registrations for
a performance the work on an organ unlike
the one for which the work was written.
When Liszt’s "cross
theme" appears in Mendelssohn’s
Scottish Symphony as the beginning
of the Big Tune in the last movement,
or in Mayuzumi’s Nirvana Symphony,
the possibilities of what this theme
might represent to Jewish or Buddhist
composers are left unexplored. Another
theme from the Sonata in b appears
in Glazunov’s Third Symphony;
is it a Slavic folksong? A motif consisting
of just two succeeding common musical
intervals is statistically likely to
have occurred somewhere in virtually
every piece of music ever written. When
we consider a motif consisting of three
intervals, such as the B-A-C-H motif
found in Bach and subsequent composers,
or the D-S-C-H motif found in Shostakovich,
the possibilities narrow enough to be
more definitive.
And the real test of
such an extra-musical interpretation,
such as a similar one made by guitarist
Paul Galbraith for the Bach Chaconne,
is whether the result is an illuminated
performance of the work. In Galbraith’s
case, his religious sentiments interfere
with his artistic ones, and his performance
of the Chaconne movement is one
of the weakest in his otherwise splendid
recorded set of the related works.
Mr. Barnes is a fine
pianist and gives us a performance of
resounding conviction, so his analysis
must be taken to have been a success.
Jesus has never been nailed up with
such ferocity, and the prayers are offered
with melting sincerity. The other recordings
listed above display incrementally higher
levels of virtuosic brilliance, and
alternative dramatic viewpoints, but
no greater intensity.
From the photograph,
the piano used appears to be a mid-size
grand, and some of the lower register
notes are consequently a little thin
compared to other available performances
on larger pianos. The recorded sound
is quite clear, but the attempts to
reduce the intrusive effects of coughs
in the auditorium are only partially
successful.
Mr. Barnes refers in
his discussion to a religious ikon,
which is duly reproduced in the program
booklet — at postage stamp size. Mr.
Barnes would have been better served
if the ikon had been reproduced at full
page so that details he referred to
could actually be seen.
Potirion Sotiriu
by Victoria Bond is an extended improvisatory
piano interlude introduced and concluded
by brief a capella performances
of the chant upon which it is presumably
based. It is brilliantly dramatic, suggestive
of several musical styles, and is performed
by Mr. Barnes with the same commitment
as the Liszt. Sound is somewhat better
and the background is dead quiet.
Paul Shoemaker
Paul Barnes, piano