This album redefines the encore
mainFrom the Lebrecht Album of the Week:
If you thought of encores as sweetmeats, this album redefines the genre. Each is piece is not so much a cap on the proceedings as a new line of inquiry, a way of keeping all the evening’s music in mind while continuing to explore its possible ramifications.
Read on here.
And here.
Kind of wish encores were still sweetmeats. So tired of string soloists giving us po-faced unaccompanied Bach the whole time, even after big Romantic concertos. You’re hungering for a lollipop and they force feed you stale rye-bread…
Wow, leaving the level of the performer’s artistry aside, that’s the first time I’ve heard Bach characterised as ‘stale rye-bread…’
I’m always interested to hear what encore(s) the performer is going to play, but after 1.5-2 hours of listening intently I’m not really sure my brain is receptive to brand new “lines of inquiry.” More like a latte followed by a nap.
Last time I heard Schiff play, a program of late sonatas in February, his encores were a movement from a Schubert sonata and the aria from the Goldberg Variations. Last time I heard Pollini play (a program of Chopin and Schumann) he played several encores including an entire Chopin ballade, ballsy for a geezer).
I remember Pierre Laurent Aimard doing a Beethoven Concerto in New York and giving a Stockhausen Klavierstuck as an encore !