Fazil Say Plays Beethoven

[Todd]

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[asin]B00H4G4D56[/asin]



It's not often – well, it's never, really – that I can say the highlight of a disc is the cadenza in a concerto, but so it proves in Fazil Say's new LvB disc.  The notes don't indicate it, but I'm guessing that the first movement cadenza in the C minor concerto is Say's own, and it is something.  It takes material from the surrounding music, includes some fugal playing, and some quasi-variations that strike me as nothing less than a micro-Op 120-style piece plopped down near the end of the movement.  The playing is loud, soft, fast, slow and everything in between, and picks apart the source material rather well.  The rest of the movement is generally fast, clear, energetic and perhaps just a bit too sunny for the C minor, but that's okay.  The slow movement is taut yet deep-ish, and the concluding movement is vibrant and showy.  Say plays with real verve and idiosyncratic excess throughout, but somehow the whole things works marvelously well.  Gianandrea Noseda and his Frankfurters accompany the soloist expertly throughout.  This does not supplant the greatest recordings by <insert favorite artists here>, but this is unique and has enough flair to satisfy.  It will be interesting to see if this recording maintains its appeal over the long haul, or if this is more like an eccentric performance that fares best when it exists in memory only.

Op 111 comes off better than I anticipated.  The opening movement borders on the manic at times, with some clangy playing, though it's clearly for (good) effect.  The Arietta is sublime and just a bit quicker than normal.  The variations are quick from the start, with Say playing right up to the edge of ham-fisted note pounding without ever getting there, and he not only uses unusual rubato, but he also plays with dynamics unlike anything I've heard, with the boogie-woogie variation especially altered – or, occasionally, pummelled, depending on taste.  The variation also sounds decidedly "modern" as he presents it.  The rest of the sonata heads right into transcendent late Beethoven territory.  The rubato is bizarre at times, yet it jells, at least for me.  The dyamnic contrasts are also unusual, with Say playing at widely different volumes simultaneously.  This is not unprecedented.  Yaeko Yamane does something similar in her recording of the work.  Say's trills are better, and while they, too, droop way down in volume at times, almost to nothing, they don't quite reach basically inaudible levels like Yamane's.  The overall effect is similar, though.  Even if this is not one of the best recordings available, it is unique and intriguing.

Op 27/2 starts off essentially conventional in style.  Say opts for a slow tempo, uses the sustain to good effect, and creates a moody atmosphere.  A few unique touches can be heard, but nothing jumps out as overtly idiosyncratic.  The second movement is also fairly conventional, indeed, even somewhat subdued compared to some versions, but it's as though one can sense the barrage to come  in the closing movement.  Say starts it fast, and picks up from there, blurring notes here, thundering out chords there.  The playing comes off as episodic at times, with the overriding arc of the movement sacrificed to momentary effect, but the damage, if damage it be, is minimal.  Not bad, not bad at all.

Until now I've listened to only two of Say's discs: his uneven, eccentric, and not wholly satisfying earlier LvB disc, and his less eccentric, mind-bendingly great Haydn disc.  This disc is definitely closer to the latter, though it does not reach the same level.  This is some pungently original playing, though I dare say many would not like it.  (And many would not like the Gouldian vocalizing throughout, either.)  I'm not entirely sure why I like it as much as I do, to be honest, but I do.