CD Review: David Aaron CarpenterElgar Cello Concerto (arr. Tertis-Carpenter)Schnittke Viola Concerto

Wow, what was that? As a proud viola player, I'm all for the expansion of our limited repertoire, but this is one of those cases where the transcription just does not work. I first caught whiff of this recording back in January and was intrigued, to say the least. There are few recordings available of the Elgar on viola and the fact that the soloist is being accompanied by the phenomenal Philharmonia Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach was enough for me to give this recording a try. This recording has garnered critical acclaim from reputable reviewers on The Strad and Gramophone Magazine, even winning the latter's Editor's Choice award for the October 2009 issue. After listening to the album straight through, I keep asking myself what those critics heard that I didn't.

There is no denying that David Aaron Carpenter is an amazing violist. A protégé of Pinchas Zukerman, this American took first place at the prestigious Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition in 2006 and is the youngest Music Protégé selected in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He plays with a big, silky tone and has technique comparable to the best of the best. Yet, even with those strengths at his disposal, his reading of the Elgar was a bit painful to listen to.

The Elgar, to me, is the concerto of a tragic hero, portrayed by the cellist. Weathered with life's brutal reality, the hero recounts his story for those who would stop to listen. The reason why the opening is so affecting is because the timbre of the sound is so guttural; the hero, out of silence, vehemently cries out in his recitative. It is full of masculinity, nobility, and, most importantly, vulnerability. All those qualities are lost when played on the viola. Even before a note is played, the viola is at an inherent disadvantage because the physical specifications of the instrument results in a tone production that is an octave above cellos. Therefore, instead of a man singing the recitative, we have, in effect, what sounds like a boy tenor trying to sing a man's part. Take a listen to the difference. For the cello comparison, I'm using the amazing recording by Sol Gabetta.

Sol Gabetta

David Aaron Carpenter

To me, this difference is significant enough that the concerto played on viola actually detracts from the musical quality of the piece. Another passage that sounded particularly jarring occurs in the last movement. There is a moment where the soloist joins the cello section for a few moments of unified, impassioned playing. What makes this section so moving in its original form is this shedding of the soloist aura in exchange for the the unifying forces of a section sound overwhelms the listener. When this moment came in Carpenter's recording, I was hoping that instead of joining the cellos, the transcription calls for the violist to join with the violas. No such luck, however, and the difference in timbre made the moment sound flat and underwhelming instead of powerful and epic.

Carpenter's playing in the Schnittke, on the other hand, is incredible. The difference is night and day. His aforementioned artistry, the silken tone and sure-handed technique, are on full display here. His incredibly even doublestop playing makes all the voices clear in dissonant counterpoint writing in the solo part. The wickedly difficult second movement is the highlight of the recording, with the garish episodes of uncouth and bitingly caustic music being brought off with conviction and passion.

In summary, this recording of the Schnittke has become my benchmark recording for the concerto, superior to time-tested readings by legendary violists such as Yuri Bashmet and Nobuko Imai. The Elgar, on the other hand, will probably not be listened to again.

Artist Portrait: Sol Gabetta

Sol Gabetta. Even the name rolls off the tongue mellifluously. From her website, we find that this 29 year old Argentinean cellist, who is of French and Russian descent currently residing in Switzerland and continuing her cello studies in Berlin, has a couple of accolades to her name. She has won the International Tchaikovsky Competition (including the Natalia Gutman prize for best musical interpretation) and the ARD competition in Munich. However, the Crédit Suisse Young Artist Award that she won in 2004 was the launching point for her career. Along with a sizeable prize money of 75,000CHF (around $72,000), she also won a concerto performance with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Valery Gergiev. Since then, her stock has continued to steadily rise.

Yet even with all these accomplishments, it is surprising that she is still relatively unknown amongst my musical friends. Granted, I had not heard of her either until a few months ago when I picked up her new recording of the Elgar Concerto. Like most people, I had assumed nobody was ever going to surpass Jacqueline du Pré's legendary 1965 recording. So I approached the recording more out of curiosity rather than trying to find a Goliath-slaying interpretation that would usurp du Pré's. Much to my surprise, that was exactly what I found. For the first time in a long time, I sat through the whole concerto, riveted and overwhelmed. The opening of the concerto feels like a punch in a gut; the sound is so penetrating and visceral. The wickedly difficult second movement is effortless in her hands. She plays with such lightness in touch and variety of colors that it felt like I was hearing the music for the first time. The way she paces the moments in the last movement before the opening recitative returns is incredibly affecting. I still get goosebumps and chills every time she finally replays the recitative. The other pieces on the CD (Dvorak Rondo, Respighi Andante con Varizioni, and a few Elgar miniatures) are also gems amongst the diamond.

Fascinated with her playing, I went out and bought her debut recording. My favorite recording of Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations and Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No.1 has been, for the past 10 years, Han-Na Chang's own 1996 debut recording. Not only does Gabetta benefit from better recording quality (in terms of acoustics and balance), her playing is more forceful than Chang's without ever sounding forced. It is as if Gabetta is asking the listener to meet her halfway, holding us accountable and asking us to listen with the same amount of emotional investment that she is performing with. Gabetta is a daredevil at times, throwing caution to the wind when the excitement calls for it. For example, the way she attacks those dastardly difficult octaves in the final moments of the coda of the Rococo Variations makes you sit at the edge of your seat.

Thanks to the power of YouTube, there is a great video of her performing the Elgar in its entirety. One of my favorites moments was watching her egg on the cello section in the last movement (0:34 in the third video) with the same abandoned swaying that Jacqueline du Pré was so famous for.