- Moments Musicaux

play hifi lofi, license, BUY

Pianist ELIZABETH WOLFF has developed a large following both as a chamber musician and as a soloist. She has collaborated with such noted string quartets as the Shanghai, the Brunswick, the Rosamonde, and the Zapolski, and has participated in music festivals including Music Mountain, Aspen, Music at La Gesse, Mohonk, The Beethoven Festival, and the Festival de Musique en Lorraine.

Founder and Director of Music at Lake Willoughby, Miss Wolff has also been on chamber music faculties of Summertrios and Music Mountain. Currently, she is Co-Director of Chamber Music Retreats at Vassar.

Miss Wolff is recipient of numerous awards and sponsorships including the Pro Musicis Foundation's International Award, The Belsky Music Award, a Music at La Gesse Fellowship, and The Jerome Foundation debut recording grant. In New York, she has been presented as soloist for three consecutive seasons on The Distinguished Artist Series at The Tisch Center of the 92nd Street 'Y', at Merkin Concert Hall and Florence Gould Hall by Pro Musicis, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at Weill Recital Hall. As well, she is often featured pianist in live radio broadcasts on WQXR, WNCN and WNYC. Other United States solo concert performances include The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, The Schubert Club in St. Paul, and numerous Pro Musicis sponsored national recital tours. Miss Wolff's appearance at London's Purcell Room received rave critical acclaim and was followed with highly successful tours of Austria, Holland and France. She was invited back to Vienna to perform works of Brahms in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his death.

Miss Wolff's affinity for and love of the piano works of Rachmaninoff have garnered special notice. She was guest soloist on WQXR's "Russian Nights" special broadcast, she conducted master classes as well as performed in recital at the renowned Rachmaninoff Institute in Tambov, Russia, and most recently she performed for the International Conference of the Rachmaninoff Society in London and Vienna. Of Miss Wolff's recording of the Six Moments Musicaux, Opus 16, American Record Guide noted, "I have never heard anything quite like the enchanting soft playing in No. 5, and No. 6 is a remarkable performance...a stimulating and musical pianist." This disc has been re-issued, and included on it is a premiere recording of the two sets of Moments Musicaux (Opus 7 and 84) by Moritz Moszkowski.

Elizabeth Wolff's commitment to teaching is demonstrated through the broad range of her educational activities. These include an adjunct lectureship at Hunter College, presentations for The College Music Society, her lecture/recital series entitled Minding the Score, chamber music coaching in affiliation with The 92nd Street YMHA School of Music and with Chamber Music Associates, and her class of individual students. Miss Wolff received a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Science degree from The Juilliard School where she was a scholarship student of Rosina Lhevinne. Other teachers include Seymour Bernstein, Jeaneane Dowis, and Benjamin Kaplan.

Some Thoughts on the Moments Musicaux

In 1981, I recorded Rachmaninoff's Six Moments Musicaux, Opus 16 for Orion Records. I was then, and remain to this day, in love with them. They are at once noble, nostalgic, energetic, profound, and always brilliantly crafted.

The recording project continued into the present because I grew curious about the title "Moment Musical." This term refers to a 19th century character piece, similar to those entitled Bagatelle, Eclogue (pastoral dialogue), Eccosaise, Rhapsody or Impromptu. Franz Schubert's Moments Musicals (sic) Opus 94, dating from 1827-28, are the first, the "Grand-daddy" of the genre. They confirm the inexplicable inherent in genius- exquisite melody, wondrous harmonic changes, "heavenly brevity" in this case, and a sense of contrast and variety that allows each miniature to stand alone while complementing the work on either side of it.

The ripple effect that Schubert would create is first heard from Rachmaninoff, whose Six Moments Musicaux were written in 1896. Whereas Schubert opens his set in the key of C with a tenderness bordering on whimsy, Rachmaninoff closes his in the same key, with dense, youthful and confident bravura. These pieces were penned in haste. The young composer had to pay back a loan that subsequently was stolen, so the project's financial purse served as incentive. They are typical of his early works, dense, rich in counterpoint, highly chromatic, poignantly nationalistic, deeply felt, and of course, exceptionally challenging to the pianist. Unlike those of Schubert or Moszkowski, they are true concert works, being best served on a stage and with a concert grand.

Because the Moments Musicaux, Opus 7 and Opus 84 of Moritz Moszkowski have never been recorded, a more detailed discussion of these miniatures seems warranted. Moszkowski, a German of Polish descent, was born in 1854 in Breslau. As a composer, he was not especially noted for deep philosophical statements, but he was indeed respected as a concert pianist. He frequently toured England, both as conductor and pianist, as well as taught at the Kullak Academy for many years. Moszkowski's best-known compositions for piano were two books of piano duets, Spanische Tanze, Opus 12. Due to their popularity, he arranged them for solo piano. His success as a composer of Spanish music is further displayed in other piano works, including the trifle, Caprice Espagnol, Opus 37. In addition, his ballets remain today as especially effective and popular works. The sets of Moments Musicaux, on the other hand, are much less well known. If they lack the depth or scale of those of Rachmaninoff or Schubert, they have charm and intrinsic value as teaching material and as salon pieces. Some are very well written--captivating for the listener, as well as physically challenging to the performer.

The first set of Moments Musicaux, Opus 7, was written for Moszkowski's friend Constantin Sternberg. Composed in 1879 and 1880, they are in the keys of B Major, C-Sharp Minor, and F-Sharp Major, respectively. All three pieces are in strict ABA form, with short, effective codettas. The most difficult to bring to a just final interpretation is the first one. It has awkwardly static melodies, as well as self-conscious, incessant accompaniment figures that are even doubled in both hands. The tempo marking "Allegramente" seems to add further interpretive confusion. The "second" (Its copyright date is actually a year earlier than either the first or third.) is in C-Sharp Minor. A wonderfully grand work, it is the only one from either set that is reminiscent of the Spanish exotic flavors for which Moszkowski was known. Indeed, it is abundant with the rhythmic flair one associates in hearing Spanish castanets, or hand clapping, or foot stomping. It is also by far the most virtuosic piece from either set, and reminds the performer, both in sound and technical demands, of the composer's more well known, highly effective and scintillating Etudes for piano. The last piece in F-Sharp Major, assumes an overly simple harmonic palette. The tune is also undemanding, but is saved from becoming monotonous because of an unusual middle section. The meter shifts from 4/4 to 6/8, the rhythmic implication being an embryonic tango, or perhaps tarantella. Thus, although the often repetitious and sometimes unimaginative writing of the first and third piece give the pianist much to work out, the set still has interest and charm.

The 4 Moments Musicaux of Opus 84, however, are truly gems. Written for Minnie Davidson, and penned with the given name "MAURICE", rather than "MORITZ", they were composed in 1911. They are in ABA form with codettas, sometimes as short as 4 bars. Even with such brevity, Opus 84 is completely captivating. The dense accompaniment, doubled middle voices, and awkward melodic lines of Opus 7 are gone. As well, there is some sophisticated polyphonic and contrapuntal writing. In short, the whole set appears more evolved. The first, in B-Flat Major, is a call to arms by perhaps a tin soldier-- bright, whimsical, and disarming. The ending is delightful, a tossing off of the whole, but so wisely crafted that the listener grins through its final silence. The second piece, in F Major, begins its journey as a barcarole. Written in 12/8 time, the right hand triplet eighth notes gently sway upward, ceaselessly supported by the rock solid dotted half-note chords of the left hand. Then, a new tune enters, implying that the former lines had been introductory. Perhaps Moszkowski was imagining a soft shoe cabaret dance. After all, he had spent his last 27 years living in Paris, most likely encountering these in the many soirees and clubs there. Regardless, after the opening returns in a passage that floats up and back three full octaves within only two bars, the codetta charms us with its simplicity and elegance. The third "Moment" in C Minor is the only one in minor and is the most personal and reverent of the set. Its simple melodic germ repeats over and over in block chords, revealing a deep and poignant soul at work. The ending, weighted with repeated C octaves in the left hand, rests hushed on a C Major final chord. The last piece is a refreshing, but not altogether light-hearted change. In the key of G, it evokes reminders of the C-Sharp Minor of Opus 7, with its offbeat left hand accompanying chords and dance-like atmosphere. But the tune here is more reminiscent of folk music, and less of the gypsy character found in Opus 7, No. 2. Indeed, a kind of reflective openness seems to be the pervading mood.

Thus, in his Opus 84 Moments Musicaux, Moritz Moszkowski has created four slight but charismatic miniatures. The title suggests we simply enjoy them as that.

Elizabeth Wolff
January, 2004