Sűddeutsche Zeitung 24.09.2010
In 1950, when the world was commemorating the 200th anniversary of J. S. Bach’s death, the composer Dmitri Shostakovich was in Leipzig as juror of the First International BachCompetition. One of the participants, the 26-year-old Tatiana Nikolayeva, so impressed Dmitri with her rendition of the Well-Tempered Clavier that he was overcome by an irresistible creative impulse: Only a few months later he had completed his own collection of 24 Preludes and Fugues, premiered by the same Tatiana Nikolayeva. Was it hubris to measure himself up to that most perfect of composers? For decades, this question was only answered discreetly, with a whispered “yes”. Perhaps this referred to the character of the music, rather harmless for Shostakovich and also sharing in that somewhat spiritual or esoteric colouring often-found in Eastern European or Western Asiatic music – the same esotericism occasionally employed by composers from Tchaikovsky and Rakhmaninov right up to Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancheli.
It is therefore not particularly surprising that this Op. 87 has remained a territory mainly visited by Russian pianists: Shostakovich himself recorded several of the pieces, as did Sviatoslav Richter; Nikolayeva and Vladimir Ashkenazy recorded the complete set, and recent additions include recordings by Constantin Sherbakov (Naxos) and Alexander Melnikov (Harmonia Mundi). Other pianists who have ventured into this territory have tended to come from the fringes of conventional pianism, such as the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett or the eccentric Olli Mustonen who blended Bach and Shostakovich.
And then there is Roger Woodward, that daredevil pianist whose staggering technique and explosively unbridled imagination place him apart from any performance tradition, in a world of his own – particularly in the case of Shostakovich’s Op. 87. Woodward’s recording, originally released in 1975, dates from only weeks beforeShostakovich’s death, and fully deserves this re-release on CD by Celestial Harmonies. Woodward removes any trace of Russia, or esotericism, from these Preludes and Fugues, leaving no hint of spiritual cleansing or undefined and intangible grandeur. Instead of this, Woodward focuses on the text much more than his colleagues, revealing a world behind the naiveté the music initially seems to suggest. With playful fidelity he reveals that Shostakovich’s cosmos can stand comparison with that of Bach after all – at least in terms of structure, character, economy, colour, eroticism, allusion, illusion and phrasing.
Woodward’s recording is also probably faster than any other, enabling the listener to feel the cycle as a whole. It also makes much of the wealth of the music more accessible, not least because Woodward never allows himself to lapse into empty spiritualism or Russian sentimentalism, nor into fading post-romanticism or cold structuralism. The message of this is that Shostakovich draws his inspiration not only from Bach but also from Debussy, Stravinsky and Bartók, even Mahler. The tonal world encompassed in these pieces is far greater than in his other music, revealing not only the dark, nihilistic Shostakovich, full of despair, but also the childlike master of filigree, the playful assembler of sounds.
Reinhard J. Brembeck
Translation Béla Hartmann
I have always enjoyed hearing (and reading through) Shostakovich’s “24”, but frankly, I never gave them a whole lot of thought until I heard a recording made by Roger Woodward (born December 20, 1942) in 1975 on Celestial Harmonies.
DAY-UM! So THIS is how folks felt when they heard Glenn Gould’s first recording of The Goldberg Variations in 1955!!!! One revelation after another after another after another, all of them informed by a degree of energy, lyricism and SWING that I had never sensed in the music – that I could never have sensed - until I heard Woodward’s performance!
Purists might sneer: “he’s playing too fast”; “that’s not what Shostakovich wanted”; “it’s too loud”; “it’s too soft”, blah, blah, blah.
The purists be damned. Woodward’s clarity of articulation and linearity, his lyricism and sheer rhythmic energy show the Shostakovich “24” to be the incredible masterwork that it is: Shostakovich’s magnum opus for keyboard, his greatest single work for the piano.
Woodward intuits what I understand to be Shostakovich’s very personal, very idiosyncratic musical idiom in a manner that I find alchemical. I would also point out that Woodward’s performances have the additional benefit of putting into high relief the intimate spiritual and musical relationship between Shostakovich’s “24” and Bach’s own WTC.
And while we’re talking about Bach: Woodward’s 5-cd recording of both books of the WTC (also on Celestial Harmonies) is – to my ear – damn-near perfect for all the same reasons as his recording of the Shostakovich “24”. His playing is characterized by lyricism and power in equal measure; unbelievable clarity of line and articulation. Woodward’s WTC is interpretively insightful but never eccentric; and it demonstrates a sense of dramatic line that somehow renders these two sets of 24 preludes and fugues into larger musical entities. Recorded on a Steinway D, it does not get any better than this.
Robert Greenberg “Pandreon”, San Francisco, September, 2018
LIMELIGHT MAGAZINE
NEWS
CANBERRA INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENING WEEKEND ROUNDUP
This year’s CIMF continues to build on its previous strengths and uniquely positioned character, writes our reviewer from Canberra.
by Vincent Plush on April 30, 2018
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Canberra International Music Festival Opening Weekend
Fitters’ Workshop, Canberra
April 27 – 29, 2018
A few hours later, a full-house greeted the first of two Debussy-Chopin programs by Roger Woodward. The once-notorious wunderkind of the avant garde is now revered elder statesman; at 75, he is as vital and essential as ever. Listening to his playing recalled Woodward’s formative lessons with Zbigniew Drzewiecki at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw a half-century ago. I could not recall such deliberative and magisterial pianism since Arthur Rubenstein’s recitals here in June 1964. Just put on a YouTube clip of Rubenstein and Woodward’s lineage and own legacy becomes immediately clear. After two encores and an ovation, his second recital on Tuesday evening will surely be a sell-out.
ABC Concerto Collection - Music Trust Review
http://musictrust.com.au/2015/05/roger-woodward-a-concerto-collection/
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2015/Aug/Woodward_book.htm
Celestial Harmonies : Jean Barraqué, Sonate pour piano
http://www.harmonies.com/13325-2_woodward_barraque/index.html
Review
http://www.br.de/radio/br-klassik/sendungen/leporello/cd-tipp-barraque-sonate-woodward100.html
Helmut Rohm/Bayerischer Rundfunk
Translation: Eckart Rahn
Jean Barraqué
Sonate pour piano
Jean Barraqué‘s sonata in two movements, finished 1952, is a monumental work, lasting about fifty minutes, composed in serial technique. It belongs to the most relevant and important works for solo piano, composed in the 20th century. For good reason is it mentioned in the same breath as Beethoven’s late piano works.
Who was this Jean Barraqué who lived from 1928 to 1973? He and Pierre Boulez – both students of Messiaen – were the two leading French composers, writing in the strict serial style. However, Barraqué‘s music is less crystalline; it rather has the thread of basic human existence woven into its fabric. Dedicated to the sublime in a unique way of his own, he only allowed six works the right to exist in his name: a philosophically oriented, radical artist, an eccentric and a tragic figure.
An exceptional reference interpretation
That Celestial Harmonies published now a recording by the Australian pianist Roger Woodward who also never allowed a template to describe him, is a shining cultural accomplishment. For several reasons. The tapes with the absolutely exceptional reference interpretation by Roger Woodward had only been located in 2013, and the recording is here presented in an excellent digital restoration. Whilst Woodward plays the sheer unbelievably technically and structurally difficult work with as much accuracy as one could hope for, his playing has also and at the same time a sense of poetic soul that blows through the work like the wind – it gets under your your skin as it effects you. Woodward’s subtle art of articulation creates in the serial/polyphonic moments an unheard-of transparency and depth-of-field focus. His timing is the expression of intuitive assuredness of the organic interplay of the powers of structure.
Feverishly-eruptive Episodes
Leading up to the recording, Woodward had worked for months on end with the composer – who appeared to have been resigned himself to an early death already at the time – going over each gesture, each of the magical constellations of Barraqué‘s cosmos. And Barraqué was present throughout the recording. That the pianist knows how to tell the tale, full of images and intensity in an extensive booklet essay results in a music-historically relevant enrichment of this wonderful edition. Woodward’s musical odyssey through the feverishly-erupting but then again lyrically-gentle episodes of Barraqué‘s masterpiece, flooded underneath by soft stillness and the night, as the sonata ends with a linear representation of the twelve-tone row, is incomparable.
Helmut Rohm/Bayerischer Rundfunk
Translation: Eckart Rahn
https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/roger-woodward-a-concerto-collection/
https://shop.abc.net.au/products/roger-woodward-concerto-collection-7cd
The release of this 7-CD set coincides with the launch of Roger Woodward’s autobiography Beyond Black and White: My Life in Music, published by ABC Books. This is the remarkable story of one of the world’s leading musicians. In Beyond Black And White, the author documents a rich life’s journey in this part memoir, part manifesto: from boyhood lessons at the piano in Miss Pope’s lounge room, to working with the world’s most celebrated musicians, conductors and orchestras in a career that spans more than fifty years in Europe, China, Japan and the Americas.
In a career spanning several decades, Roger Woodward has established himself as one of the most revered and adventurous pianists of our time.
In this new collection, ABC Classics presents over 7 hours of recordings, many of them never heard before, bringing together seminal interpretations of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic repertoire alongside rare recordings of contemporary works. The set features leading international conductors including Charles Dutoit, Edo de Waart, Diego Masson and David Porcelijn, and Australian orchestras including the Sydney, Adelaide and Queensland Symhony Orchestras
Track Listing:
CD 1:
1. 1-3. BACH Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV1052 (Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Eivind Aadland - conductor)
2. 4-6. HAYDN Concerto for Violin and Organ in F major
(Roger Woodward – organ, Wanda Wilkomirska – violin, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Niklaus Wyss - conductor)
CD 2:
1-3. CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
(Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Werner Andreas Albert – conductor)
CD 3:
1-3. BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (Queensland Theatre Orchestra, Geog Tintner – conductor)
4-6. BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 (West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Albert Rosen – conductor)
CD 4:
(Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart – conductor)
1-3. PROKOFIEV Piano Concert No. 3 in C major, Op. 26
4-6. SKRYABIN Piano Concerto in F-sharp minor, Op. 20
1. 7-10. SCHOENBERG Piano Concerto, Op. 42
CD 5:
1-3. RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 18 (Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit – conductor)
4. XIAO-SONG Huan (Camerata Australia, Diego Masson – conductor)
5. SRKYABIN Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, Op. 60
(Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Diego Masson – conductor)
CD 6:
1-22. SITSKY Piano Concerto No. 1: The Twenty-Two Paths of the Tarot (Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, David Porcelijn – conductor)
23-27. CONYNGHAM Southern Cross: Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra (Wanda Wilkomirska – violin, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Niklaus Wyss – conductor)
CD 7:
XENAKIS Kraanerg
(Alpha Centauri Ensemble, Roger Woodward – conductor)
Reviews:
The Independent
ROGER WOODWARD A Concerto Collection (ABC Classics)
*****
The extraordinary range and sensitivity of pianist Roger Woodward is highlighted on this seven-CD set. Intense and scholarly but never desiccated, his interpretations are always engaged, whether it’s the emotionally precise Adagio of Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D minor, or the modernist whirl of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto, Op 42. Among the highlights are Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4. Equally absorbing are works by Australian composers, Barry Conyngham’s exacting Southern Cross and Larry Sitsky’s The 22 Paths of the Tarot, by turns mysterious, theatrical and forbidding - all epithets applicable to the monumental interpretation of Xenakis’s Kraanerg.
Andy Gill, 4 April 2015
Classical CDs Weekly: Wim Henderickx, Mahler, Roger Woodward
Flemish modernism, an epic symphony in a new guise and a handsome tribute to a veteran pianist
by Graham RicksonSaturday, 07 March 2015
………
Roger Woodward: A Concerto Collection (ABC Classics)
Looking at the tracklisting on this seven CD gets one thinking about the size, or otherwise, of different pianists’ repertoires. Roger Woodward’s closest rival in the diversity stakes is, perhaps, Vladimir Ashkenazy. Ashkenzay’s recorded legacy is dazzlingly wide, and he’s still managing to release engaging, fresh discs of Bach and Scriabin alongside his conducting engagements. Woodward’s energy isn’t flagging either. Few pianists can perform dense contemporary music with such unruffled ease, and one of the most striking works here involves Woodward as conductor, leading Sydney’s Alpha Centauri Ensemble in Xenakis’s Kraanerg. This terrifying 71 minute piece for orchestra and tape, originally performed with accompanying choreography, is echt-Xenakis. Baying brass jostle with juddering lower string lines, volleys of percussion and eerie taped electronics. Some of the spookier noises defy ready analysis. Woodward directs with complete confidence, and the 1988 recording still packs a vivid punch. Other contemporary works include Larry Sitsky’s entertaining Piano Concerto no 1, an engaging sequence of 22 short movements depicting the cards in a Tarot pack, and a concerto for violin and piano by Barry Conyngham. The latter is superficially striking but not as powerful as a live performance of Schoenberg’s neglected Piano Concerto. This receives an affirmative, lucid performance, Woodward succeeding better than most pianists in highlighting the work’s debt to 19th century tradition.
We get an entertaining, deft reading of Scriabin’s uneven Prometheus: The Poem of Fire conducted by Edo de Waart. He also leads Woodward in a rollicking traversal of Prokofiev’s Concerto no 3, a reading confidently fusing muscular weight with good humour. We get, unexpectedly, Rachmaninov 2, affectionately conducted by Charles Dutoit. The first three discs contain delicate, poised performances of concerti by Bach, Chopin and Beethoven, all in readings you’d be more than happy to live with. An obscure, improbable Concerto for Violin and Organ by Haydn is a delight: a harmonious musical sparring match where veteran Polish violinist Wanda Wiłkomirska banters with Woodward’s chirpy pipe organ. A wonderful set, though clumsily packaged – the CDs could easily have been accommodated in a slimline box.
Review : The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/reviews-edition-jazz-peter-sculthorpe-roger-woodward-ben-gurton-john-tejada/story-fn9n8gph-12272024099
Vincent Plush
A Concerto Collection, Roger Woodward, ABC Classics
4.5 stars
ONE of the remarkable things about Roger Woodward’s career is his success as a concerto soloist, which began in 1964. Five decades later comes an impressive seven-disc set that brings together recordings with the Sydney, Queensland, West Australian and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras. There are standard works by Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev standing cheek-by-jowl with radical modernists like Schoenberg, Xenakis and Sitsky. ….. read more via link
you tube performances : 12 Chopin Etudes Op.10; Brahms First Piano Concerto in D minor, Op.15; Prokofiev Sonata no.7, Op.83. You can hear them here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLbdTNI-R-NPzVcu6d94rNw/videos?view=1&flow=grid
If you want to hear individually, including the Rachmaninoff Preludes, you can find them here:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLbdTNI-R-NPzVcu6d94rNw/videos?view=0&flow=grid
Xenakis ‘Mists’ for and by Roger Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI67PkoNmlY
Chopin Etudes, Op 10
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL REVIEW
DOMINY CLEMENTS
“A unique and remarkable concert.”
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Préludes Book 2 (1910-13) [35:59]
Fryderyk CHOPIN (1810-1849)
3 Mazurkas Op. 59 [10:33]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Partita No. 6 in E minor, BWV 830 [36:24]
Roger Woodward (piano)
rec. 6 January 2007, Sendesaal Bremen.
CELESTIAL HARMONIES 133242-2 [80:23]
This is the kind of release which comes along all too rarely, beautifully documenting a unique moment, and a point of musical confluence at which all of the energy lines seem to be pointing in all of the right directions at once.
Fans of Roger Woodward will need no encouraging to seek out and purchase this recording, and no-one with an attraction to piano music and the vibe of a live performance should be without this release. The booklet goes into the chain of events leading up to the concert, also being a glimpse into the strange sorts of paths musicians take, based on a sprinkling of luck and opportunity, and the bringing together of special musical qualities with those who can recognise them and act on that recognition. In other words, this is not a recording over which to chew comparisons of repertoire or to pick over interpretative minutiae. With a glorious recording which gives perfect seating at a very special concert, the price of all-time entry is small indeed.
I’ve admired Roger Woodward’s Debussy before (see review), and the qualities which make his studio recording so special are all in evidence in this live performance. The original concert programme included the Estampes, and it’s a shame we have to miss these due to space on the single disc, but this Préludes Book 2 is filled with magic and stunning colours. Woodward’s touch at the keyboard turns the piano into something majestic and intimate, orchestral and almost unbearably lonely, fantastically fluid and fearlessly funny, all within the split-second contrasts Debussy has in his writing throughout his incredible masterpiece. This is by no means a supplement to the studio recording, and while there are similarities the response of the instrument and the environment create a new package of genuine thrills. Wilfried Schäper’s booklet notes describe this performance “as if in one long breath”, and indeed, one forgets that this is a collection of individual pieces. Woodward’s performance becomes a grand tone poem in which familiar characters emerge to greet us, and those we thought we knew so well form from the mists of the imagination in new and sometimes surprising guises – all of them very happy with their awakening and the fine clothes they have acquired.
Roger Woodward’s Chopin is represented by a fine recording of the Nocturnes (see review), and an even more fine chamber version of the Second Piano Concerto (see review). His 3 Mazurkas Op. 59 are filled with poetry and gorgeous effects, about as far away from Polish folk music as one could imagine, which was of course part of Chopin’s intention. It seems a little unfair to sum these up as ‘light relief’ between the intense experience of the Debussy and the grand finale of the Bach, but they do serve this function very well, with their open melodic shapes and ever-tweaked but comfortingly familiar harmonies. Woodward seeks out these interesting variations of cadence with an exploratory, even ruminative character, using a full range of rubati to turn each piece into something far more than a dance, and in the case of No. 3 in F sharp minor taking us into fascinating worlds of impressionistic abstraction.
Woodward’s Bach has always created a lasting impression, and those who have heard his Well Tempered Clavier will know what I mean. If anything the single disc release which includes the Partita No. 6 (see review) is even more strikingly individualistic, and this performance came shortly after the studio recording was made, and takes what might be seen as ‘extremes’ of this version a stage further. In this case we can relish the Sarabande for a good extra three minutes as there is an additional repeat, and another notable difference is the swiftness of the final Gigue, which slices minutes off the studio version while still just managing to hang together. The booklet notes point out how “the adrenalin of live performance functions as legal doping with astounding results”, and you may not like the cascade of notes which the Corrente has become there is no denying the power of the musicianship in this Bach. The Sarabande in this instance takes close to 10 minutes, but it ‘belongs’ in this performance like cheese in a rarebit. You could no more tear it away from its surrounding movements as see it as anything other than the intensely pulsating centre of gravity around which they must revolve. This is Bach which uses the piano in a modern way, drawing on the sonorities of Debussy rather than approaching it as the kind of performance Bach might have known. Those who prefer a more ‘authentic’ starting point – and I have nothing against these by the way – will probably struggle with many aspects of this performance, but to my mind this heightens aspects of Bach’s sensuality and his relevance in today’s concert halls. We can thank goodness have our cakes and eat them both, and they can both be equally delicious.
There are a few noises which remind us that this is a live concert, with a few distant coughs and some extra thumping of the pedals at extreme moments, as well as ecstatic applause after each composer’s contribution. These are not too disturbing, but in any case it is worth putting up with a few minor blemishes for such a special recording. This is not an everyday library recommendation, but one of those uniquely special discs without which your collection would be all the poorer; and we don’t want that now, do we?
Dominy Clements
A unique and remarkable concert.
PROKOFIEV, Sergei Sergeyevich
works for piano 1908-1938
Celestial Harmonies 13292-2, Recorded 1991 ABC Australia
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/June13/Prokofiev_piano_132922p.htm
Dominy Clements : Roger Woodward’s recordings have consistently delivered stunning repertoire at the highest level, and his Bach, Chopin and Debussy CDs are all highly desirable. His experiences in Russia resulted in landmark recordings of Shostakovich, and his exploration of less well-known composers is essential listening for anyone seeking to educate themselves beyond what has become the mainstream.
This particular recording was made in 1991 and marked Prokofiev’s centenary. Roger Woodward’s extensive booklet notes are drawn from his 2013 book Beyond Black and White from ABC Books of Sydney, and they reveal much about what makes this recording something a bit special. Woodward studied in Warsaw, hearing Sviatoslav Richter playing Prokofiev and striking up a friendship with Lina Prokofieva. Steeped in such an atmosphere, Woodward’s insights into this music are invaluable, and this very fine recording brings together works from Prokofiev’s early to middle periods.
Prokofiev’s piano sonatas are a central part of 20th century piano repertoire, and while these have tended to eclipse many of the smaller works in this programme the fearsome Sarcasms and the superb Visions Fugitives pop up fairly frequently. The Sarcasms are a powerful entry into this world. A quote from the booklet gives some clue as to the earthy tones which emerge from your loudspeakers as the Tempestuoso erupts: “According to Lina Prokofieva and Sviatoslav Richter, both Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich loathed nuanced piano playing …” This is not to deny the music its dynamic contrasts or often expressive core, but creates a directness of communication untroubled by a search for rarity of timbre. The third piece’s Allegro precipitato has machine like pile-driver chords like something out of Mossolov’s Iron Foundry, but Prokofiev is always shining shafts of light onto even the grimmest pictures, and the central section relents and allows us to soar above the clouds for a moment. Woodward’s playing allows for all of these changes of mood, and on a grander canvas than Boris Berman’s Chandos recording, volume 2 of the complete Prokofiev piano music from which on CHAN 8881 happens to contain both the Sarcasms and the Visions Fugitives. Berman is good of course, but Woodward sounds more Russian, and more convincingly chased by the demons which inspire.
The sheer zip and sense of fun in the Prelude Op. 12 No 7 is terrific in this recording, Prokofiev letting rip with the most incredibly banal of melodic ideas and transforming them into something radiant. This ray of sunshine is placed deliberately next to the shivers of the Suggestion Diabolique, which is a black and white caper B movie encapsulated into two and a half minute shocker. The Four Etudes are the earliest works here, but show no shortage of that precocious and always precarious Prokofiev genius. Oleg Marshev’s Prokofiev CD on Danacord DACOCD395 (see review) is excellent, but also shows the difference between a more rhapsodic performance and Woodward’s less romantic approach. Woodward is by no means deaf to the traditions echoed in this music, but manages to make it sound much less like Rachmaninov than Marshev. There is something in his boldness of colour, allowing the notes to speak for themselves, which strikes at the heart of Prokofiev’s gritty passions.
The later opus numbers of Musiques D’enfants, Pensées and the pieces Nocturne and Paysage are pretty much grouped together. These just precede 1935 and 1936 which were the years Prokofiev wrote Romeo and Juliet and Peter and the Wolf respectively, though while the style is unmistakable the moody Lento of Pensées for instance creates a world which defies the forging of anticipatory links. The latest piece in the programme is the Nocturne Op. 43bis No 2 which is another dark statement, and full of Prokofiev’s marvellous labyrinthine harmonic twists and turns. The occasionally uneven skipping and narrative feel of the Gavotta is unmistakeably Russian, and this sits nicely next to Paysage which gives the impression of developing those repeated notes. Carefully chosen programming puts the most famous piece here, the March from L’amour des trois oranges, which Woodward delivers with superb élan and a sense of brutal satire.
When it comes to the Visions Fugitives it is impossible not to have a listen to Sviatoslav Richter’s incomplete selection as they appear on the Philips ‘Authorised Recordings’ release from 1994, 438 627-2. Richter is incomparable, but you have to hand it to Woodward for being his own man in these pieces. No. 3 Allegretto for instance, becomes a quite a jaunty outing in his case, where Richter is rather more poetic and reserved. The spectacular Animato which follows is a firework in both pianists’ hands, Woodward driving on with a swifter tempo in the final bars and cutting 5 seconds from Richter’s timing. The remarkable Molto giocoso is one of those moments where live performance apparently sees even Richter on the ropes. Having started too fast, 11 seconds in you hear the tempo shift into a rather more uphill gear and the piece never really recovers. Woodward’s excellent vignette shows how it should be done, tempo consistent and lower sonorities shining through with a clarion sustain. When you listen to Prokofiev’s own 1935 recording there’s that shift in tempo again, just as with Richter, but the score shows no marking to indicate this is the way it should be done.
It’s excellent to have the complete Visions Fugitives here, though there is no real shortage of recordings even beyond complete surveys of Prokofiev’s piano music. It’s more interesting to return to the source however, and Prokofiev’s own recording of extracts from this set indeed makes for fascinating listening. Without going into inch by inch comparisons there are similarities, such as the restrained intensity both musicians give to XVIII Con una dolce lentezza, and differences, such as with XVI Dolente, where Woodward’s first theme is initially a strident declamation from which echoes grow and seem to stretch into infinity. Prokofiev is gentler in his opening of this piece, nursing the notes along with rubato and building more to the rolling waves of the second section. There are numerous overlaps in programme between the Naxos disc and Woodward’s, Prokofiev having also recorded the Paysages, the Gavotta and the Suggestion Diabolique,so you will probably want to have both if this repertoire has inspired you. The early recording is surprisingly good in terms of sound quality by the way.
Roger Woodward’s Prokofiev, Works for Piano 1908-1938 is a superb set of performances and an excellent recording, the Hamburg Steinway D sounding rich and brilliant in the large but not overwhelming Eugene Goossens Hall acoustic. Recorded in 1991, this is originally an ABC production and is released under license, though I’ve hunted and not been able to find evidence of another physical release from the period. It seems remarkable that this recording is not better known, but this superbly presented Celestial Harmonies disc will, I hope, rectify this state of affairs.
DOMINY CLEMENTS
http://prkfv.businesscatalyst.comCELESTIAL HARMONIES 13292-2 [SA] Musicweb International Classical
Reviews.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Apr13/Prokofiev_piano_132922.htm
RECORDING OF THE MONTH - Musicweb-International
Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Works for Piano: 1908-1938
Sarcasmes Op.17 (1912-14) [9:23]
Prelude Op.12 No.7 (1906-13) [2:12]
Suggestion Diabolique Op.4 No.4 (1910-12) [2:32]
Four Etudes Op.2 (1909) [10:24]
Musiques d’enfants Op.65 (1935) [2:26]
Pensées Op.62 (1933/34) [13:33]
Nocturne Op.43bis No.2 (1938) [4:56]
Gavotta Op.32 No.3 (1918) [1:30]
Paysage Op.59 No.2 (1933/34) [2:19]
March from L’amour des trois oranges Op.33 bis (1922) [1:31]
Visions Fugitives Op.22 (1915-17) [24:01]
Roger Woodward (piano)
rec. 1991, Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, Ultimo, Sydney, Australia
CELESTIAL HARMONIES 13292-2 [75:48]
Pianist Roger Woodward calls Prokofiev “one of the greatest musical
iconoclasts in Russian musical history” and with good reason. While
composers such as Rachmaninov, Medtner, Myaskovsky and Kabalevsky
continued writing music in the nineteenth century tradition, Prokofiev,
who was only nine years old at the dawn of the new century was
determined to write music that was new and different and ‘of the
century’. His music is daring, exciting, at times furious, and
contemporary audiences must have been shocked and baffled by what they
heard.
The very first pieces on this disc, his Sarcasmes that date from
1912-14 are full of brash almost dissonant music requiring something
close to a pounding of the piano keys. It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t or
couldn’t write gentle music. Sandwiched between the Sarcasmes and
Suggestion Diabolique, another piece that truly deserves its title, is
hisPrelude Op.12 No.7. This contains the most exquisitely beautiful and
dreamlike sounds you could wish for. The first of theFour Etudes Op.2
from 1909 once again shows his liking for music that sounds angry, the
kind by which an evil giant from a children’s film might be
represented. This is not to say that such pieces are not enjoyable; on
the contrary they are very appealing and cause both excitement, and
wonder at the pianist’s ability to have their hands rush up and down
the keyboard in demented fashion. Roger Woodward describes these as
being “characterised by abrasive, rampaging sonorities”. Prokofiev even
went to extent of giving different time signatures to each hand. That
he was able to play them in public shows that he was an extremely
talented pianist who did not demand anything from anyone that he
couldn’t manage himself.
After the etudes come two of his pieces for children which are truly
delightful. Written in 1935 they were in response to a great demand for
children’s music. He is quoted in the notes as explaining that it was
at that time that he set about writingPeter and the Wolf. It’s a piece
that he completed within a week. He took another week to orchestrate
it; a staggering achievement but a measure of this incredible genius of
a composer.
His Pensées show his reflective side in these gentle dreamy little
vignettes. The last of these is the longest piece on the disc at just
under seven minutes showing how economical a composer he was. He could
create a whole world of ideas and expressions within a remarkably short
amount of time. It is interesting to read in the notes that he
considered the second of thesePensées “one of the best things I have
ever written”. I wonder what you will think as I can’t hear anything in
it that would cause such a reaction. That’s undoubtedly down to an
inability on my part or maybe it’s simply down to “what turns you on”.
Continuing with more calm and beautiful sounds we come to his Nocturne
Op.43bis No.2 a wonderful evocation of night-time. This is followed by
a charmingGavotta from 1918 and a Paysage from 1933-34. Both of these
bear Prokofiev’s unmistakable signature throughout their brief lengths.
TheMarch from L’amour des trois oranges is so well known but never
fails to bring a smile to my face.
Then we come to the 20 pieces that form his Visions Fugitives Op.22
from 1915-17. This sequence constitutes a third of the entire playing
time of the disc. It is fascinating to read Roger Woodward’s reactions
when he first came upon them at the age of 14 in 1957. He was shown
them by his teacher Alexander Sverjensky and the young pianist fall
“head over heels in love with this composer”. It is also just as
fascinating to read of the reactions to that which good Russian friends
of his had. These friends were “steeped in the golden age of
Tchaikovsky and Pushkin” who were dubious about his obvious enthusiasm.
Woodward explains that these miniatures were good preparation for “the
wide range of more complex textures that were constantly transcribed
throughout the middle and late periods”. Woodward likens the set to the
movements of a kaleidoscope which include “passing references to
Schönberg, Debussy, Stravinsky and Reger” - such a telling description
of these wondrous little works. Woodward quotes Prokofiev himself in an
explanation that part of the tiny penultimate piece of the set was
based on fleeting glimpses of the fighting in the streets during the
revolution of 1917. He often caught sight of the fighting from the
security of a corner of a building, thus a true ‘vision fugitive’.
This disc only helps confirm the genius of Prokofiev, a man who was so
afflicted by that particular feeling of nostalgia that émigré Russians
experience that, despite all the evidence, he felt compelled to return
to the Soviet Union. That decision was difficult and his wife resisted
but lost the battle to restrain him. As she had no doubt feared, like
many others he had a hard time ploughing his own musical furrow. To his
credit he, again like many others, doggedly stuck at it. What brilliant
creations his time in the USSR led to and the world continues to enjoy
them today.
I first came upon Roger Woodward with the first ever available
recordings of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues that he made for
RCA in 1975. I was bowled over by his masterly playing…....his
playing here is just breathtaking and one could never tire of hearing
this disc. His booklet notes are equally excellent and help to bring
Prokofiev well and truly into focus as man as well as musician.
This is a disc that any Prokofiev lover will want to own. I hope there
will be more because though Woodward writes that Prokofiev “struggled
with composition” he wrote some of the twentieth century’s most
enduring works.
Steve Arloff
Celestial Harmonies, 13255-2 (73:09)
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Mar12/Russian_AvantGarde_132552.htm
This fascinating collection of works covers the period of transition from Tsarist Russia to the establishment of the Soviet Union. To a certain extent it relates to Woodward’s re-release of the Preludes and Fugues op. 87 by Shostakovich on Celestial Harmonies 14302-2 (see review), which, dating from 1975, has acquired its own historical significance. Many of these pieces are little-known compositions that Woodward discovered as a student in Warsaw in the early 1970s, gaining access to rare works from Prokofiev’s widow Lina Prokofieva, and mining the archives of Polish Radio…....read more
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Mar12/Russian_AvantGarde_132552.htm
Gloria Artis - The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/award-recalls-pianists-solidarity/story-e6frg8n6-1226191861021
Pianist Woodward receives highest arts honor from Poland
Oct. 20, 2011—Internationally renowned classical and contemporary pianist Roger Woodward, a professor in the SF State School of Music and Dance, has received Poland’s highest honor in the arts.
Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage awards the Medal for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis (Zasłużony Kulturze- Gloria Artis) in the gold category to persons or organizations for distinguished contributions to the development of Polish culture.
The award is the latest in a series of honors bestowed upon Woodward for a lifetime of prestigious collaborations and career as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonia and New York Philharmonic. But it also reflects his ongoing passion for human rights and the need for artists to serve a larger community through their work.
Q: You’ve received several significant international honors. What does the “Gloria Artis” award signify within the span of your career?
Roger Woodward: Receiving an award from anybody, anywhere is always a very emotional moment, including recognition of the scholar and creative artist. My two sons, daughter, seven grandchildren and good friends are delighted. Recognition for services to humanity and of one’s work is always a humbling experience. What is far more important, however, is for us to be able to learn to live and work together in harmony and goodwill and in the workplace that translates into applications of genuine collegiality. As a student in Poland I reached out to people in a completely alien culture, lived and worked with Polish people and tried to learn their language and ways. In their moment of difficulty it was not possible to ignore their extraordinary kindness, so I used my art for the Solidarność trades union movement. At one stage, I memorized the complete works of Chopin, playing program after program worldwide to raise money for that movement at a time when its members were being hounded, imprisoned and murdered. Poland’s struggle for freedom in the face of overwhelming Soviet military superiority was achieved through many thousands of such tiny initiatives undertaken by many others. I certainly did not expect to receive Poland’s highest cultural honor let alone its gold category but I’m not complaining. I feel a little like the artist who walks into a hall to thunderous applause without having played a note. But rather than feel useless, I know that if what we do can possibly serve others well, including our wonderful students, how much more valuable our whole university’s achievement and higher education might well be to the larger community in such times. In this moment I think of Dostoyevsky when he suggested “beauty will save the world.”
Apropos other international honors, a few years ago the French government conferred a knighthood on me in L’ordre des Arts et des Lettres for work spanning forty years with French culture, in particular, the music of Debussy and for my work on a more personal basis with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Jean Barraque, Iannis Xenakis, Gilbert Amy and others, premiering some of their creations. The British government awarded a medal as Officer of the Order of the Empire, Australia awarded me Companion of its Order and the Polish government awarded me its highest civilian honor with the Order of Merit, Commander Class. But how could anyone in his right mind feel comfortable about any of this knowing how things are in Israel and Gaza, Zimbabwe, and the ambitions of those who want to dominate peaceful people and impose regimes of intolerance and discrimination? None of us live in a cocoon. Recognition for what was achieved in the past is therefore something that leaves me feeling uncomfortable. It’s what we are doing now that is more important.
Q: What was it about Poland that drew you to continue your studies there?
Woodward: The music of Fryderyk Chopin—aptly described by Robert Schumann as “cannons camouflaged as flowers”—as well as the “new” music of Andrzej Panufnik,Witold Lutoslawski, Henryk Gorecki, Krzysztof Penderecki and other Polish composers, theatre directors, designers, poets and film makers—in particular Andrzej Wajda and his cinematic masterpieces. There was a freshness of spirit at the time that was radiant, lively and all-embracing. I was offered a post-graduate place in Professor Zbigniew Drzewiecki’s class (a very close, lifelong friend of Artur Rubinstein, Karol Szymanowski, Paul Kochanski and Stanislaw Neuhaus—Sviatoslav Richter’s teacher) that was difficult to refuse. Until then my teacher at the Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, was Alexander Sverjensky, a former pupil of Sergei Rakhmaninov and Alexander Siloti among others.
Q: I read that you once played in a train yard in Poland?
Woodward: No, that’s not quite accurate. During the continuing Soviet occupation of Poland and its neighbors during the 1980s, human rights struggles continued through Solidarność after unsuccessful uprisings in East Germany, Budapest and Prague. At the United Nations, the powerful Soviets had manipulated a voting majority to stop the Solidarność Movement’s voice from being heard at the International Labor Organization (ILO). On closer examination it turned out that Australia, to everybody’s surprise, was one of the countries that had not voted in favor of Solidarność so we all wondered why? Cleverly, a small clique of hard-line Stalinists had successfully infiltrated a train yard of union workers’ “representatives.” So I went to that train yard—Chullora in Sydney—on the back of a truck with a piano and played Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata to the workers to try and convince them to change their minds. On the back of the truck with me was a magnificent Hamburg Steinway model D, and we drove together with Solidarność representatives into the train yard where migrant workers were cleaning the faces of trains and engines. It was a first but there were further surprises to come. Soon after the vote was carried by a majority of one at the ILO, and Solidarność‘s voice was heard by the United Nations committee in Geneva at the ILO. So from an obscure rail yard in Sydney, Australia, it was possible to reach out to those who had been imprisoned in Poland and to spur the movement on at a crucial time in its history.
Q: Was it your music career that led you to become actively interested in human rights, or do you see the two as unconnected?
Woodward: Nothing could ever be more important than cultivating and protecting that loftier part of human thought that we so often now refer to as “human rights.” Such precious concepts were painstakingly developed over centuries before being handed down to us by colleagues whom we have never met in Alexandria, Athens, Rome, Paris and more recently, Gdansk and Berlin. Whether my first lessons in learning to live with others and looking out for this sacred and caring part of ourselves began with the Solidarność movement or not, I’m not entirely certain. But I do remember sitting next to a boy in kindergarten back in Sydney, Australia, just after the Second World War, who had been born in Auschwitz and who by some miracle, survived together with his mother Clara Kraus (née Halevy). Peter arrived from Budapest and when I met him at the age of six, he hardly spoke a word of English, but somehow we found a way of communicating and ended up becoming lifelong friends. His family, another Russian family who had fled Habin, and Latvian friends in London taught me about the value of reaching out to others. In Australia I also had friends from the magnificent, ancient, Aboriginal culture where very sadly, many brutal atrocities were committed by the allegedly more “civilized” white culture, which taught me a thing or two about racism. By the time I studied in Poland, I was therefore ready for Solidarność, perhaps without knowing it.
But at the end of the day, let’s not confuse basic matters of human compassion of which we are all capable with the inspirational courage of leaders like Lech Walesa, Mstislav Rostropovich, Andrei Sakharov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Anna Politkovskaya, and the latest Nobel peace prize winners Leymah Gbowee, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and Tawakkol Karman, who celebrate the finest aspects of modern-day freedom and compassion.
Q: You have had some recently lauded studio and live performance successes, such as your Gramophone Editor’s Choice for the Bach “Well-Tempered Clavier” and recent reviews from the Reims festival. Do you prefer studio over live performances, or are they just too different to compare?
Woodward: Live performance is always the most meaningful yardstick by which art, at least for me, is measured whether it be in performances recorded by artists of the stature of Cecil Taylor, Julian Joseph, Andrew Speight or recreated by Wanda Landowska, Ralph Kirkpatrick, Jascha Heifetz, Gustav Leonhardt, Edwin Fischer, Daniel Barenboim, Sviatoslav Richter, Jassen Todorov, Wiliam Corbett-Jones or the Alexander or Arditti String Quartets. Recordings simply document the life of the creative artist and make interesting reference points. No sooner do I walk out of the studio however, than I feel dissatisfied with most of that which I have just recorded and wish to heaven that I could go straight back and record it all over again. My best recordings are not necessarily those that were awarded prizes although I’m not entirely ashamed of the live performances that went well that were issued as recordings: Xenakis’ “Keqrops” with the Mahlerjungendorchester at the Wienerkonzerthaus directed by Claudio Abbado (for DGG/Universal); the live performance of the world premiere of Morton Feldman’s “Piano and Orchestra” from the Metz Festival, France, directed by Hans Zender that won Germany’s Goethe Prize (on CPO records); and the thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas from Melbourne.
Q: As you’ve been on sabbatical from SF State, are there any particular projects or future challenges that you’ve been working on during this time?
Woodward: I have just recorded a series of projects for the Celestial Harmonies recording label, the first of which was works by the repressed Russian-early Soviet avant-garde of the first part of the twentieth century with works by Obukhov, Roslavets, Mosolov, Pasternak and others of the time who are better known such as Skryabin, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. I am currently completing my first publication for Harper-Collins that is mainly autobiographical. I am researching the music of Xenakis for a further publication for the Pendragon Press, New York. I am working with Rohan de Saram and Arturo Tamayo, and preparing the other two piano concertos of Xenakis (“Evryali” and “Synaphai”), the three Bartok Piano Concertos, chamber music by Chopin, Brahms, Cage, Feldman and Xenakis. I am about to tour Australia in 12 concerts with works by Chopin and then Germany with works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann, Debussy and Bartok where I will also work with James Creitz, Winfried Rademacher and a phenomenally talented new young Israeli clarinetist named Teddy Ezra.
Q: How do you approach a specific piece, and what do you have in mind when you are exploring it and creating your performance?
Woodward: My students and I always look at works of art music as a whole before considering any fragmentation process or appropriate performance practice. It is crucially important for one’s sense of well being to approach a work of art as a living and spiritual entity on a completely inspirational plane before dissecting it for mere structural or technical reasons. Once the work is heard with our musician’s inner ear, its inner pulse becomes part of our souls; only then is it possible to engage the more temporal process of considering how it might have been conceived, structured and how its compositional processes operate. Above all, music celebrates the inspirational part of our lives that elevates and transforms our most wonderful thoughts and feelings as well as the most tender and caring part of ourselves.
—University Communications
Review Sunday October 2, 2011 Taunton UK JS Bach, The Well Tempered Clavier (Book 1) http://www.seen
Review Sunday October 2, 2011, Taunton UK
JS Bach, The Well Tempered Clavier (Book 1)
http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2011/10/05/bach-with-muscles-comes-to-somerset-%e2%80%93-a-memorable-%e2%80%9848%e2%80%99-from-roger-woodward/
http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/culture-et-loisirs/flaneries-remarquable-roger-woodward
Remarkable Roger Woodward!
An Flawless, Personal and Daring Interpretation!
Interpreting the works of J-S Bach on a modern instrument such as the piano is always a difficult exercise. So, choosing to play the entire First Well-Tempered Clavier is an eminently audacious decision on the part of Roger Woodward.
The temptation to dedicate this ‘carte blanche’ to the Cantor of Leipzig can, though, appear quite natural. It has to be recognised that Bach is very inventive in his writing, notably in his Preludes, which range from a simple accompanied melody (beginning of the Prelude in E Minor), traverse the varying speeds of improvised cadenzas (rhythmic improvisations?) (Prelude in B Flat Major) and go as far as the accelerated toccata (Prelude in F sharp Minor). The Fugues equally assume a host of intentions through the expressiveness of their themes. Last night, Roger Woodward’s performance succeeded brilliantly. In one single surge, the pianist successfully interpreted, in an almost full concert hall, the 24 Preludes and Fugues of this work. His interpretation was faultless, personal and daring: delicate ornamentations, great handling of sound levels in the fugues where the bass notes play a dominant role, differences of timbres and colours according to tonalities, non-legato playing which allowed the mechanics and the implacable technique of the interpreter to be in evidence. In a word: remarkable!!
Of course, the famous Prelude in C Major opened the concert. Roger Woodward proposed an interpretation highlighting the song-like nature of the bass notes. Thematically, they conferred a profound dimension to this piece which, because of its popularity, tends to get distorted. From this initial Prelude to the last Fugue in B Minor, whose theme seems to explore the limits of tonality (is this not, to some extent, the challenge Bach issued?), the inventiveness of the interpreter could be measured with every piece.
An exercise brilliantly executed by the artist: Bach magnified by 88 keys and 3 pedals!! For nearly two hours, Roger Woodward succeeded in reminding us in this concert that the genius of Bach is not affected by the passage of time.
Cecilia Bazile.
Roger Woodward, Perfection at his Fingertips
A critic must always question whether a concert is worthy of being showered with praise. This evening, it was a joy to answer this question.
Even before the pianist emerged, the programme impressed: three ‘estampes’ and 12 pieces comprising book 2 of the Debussy Preludes, followed by the six suites of the 6th Partita in E minor BWV830 by Bach. Suffice to say, the audience was expecting to be wowed!
The first part of the concert in Debussy’s honour was remarkable, insofar as Roger Woodward’s playing attained perfection. Remaining imperturbable throughout, he seemed to let the pieces follow with childlike ease. The notes flowed, imbuing the music with an image of harmonic mistiness, which was illustrated by the simple melodic lines he created with consummate ease. More than a contrasting rendering, the artist gave each note a precise intensity, letting us glimpse the contours and perspective the composer wanted to give to his Preludes. Although Roger Woodward is an Australian, this evening he seemed to be French music’s worthy heir.
His dazzling, transcendant touch appeared again in Bach’s work. His mastery of this music enabled him to offer it to us nakedly and deprived of artifice. His impartial playing allowed gusts of emotion to be released, particularly when the fugue themes began: each time the subject appeared, it found its identity throughout the entire Partita. This is the extraordinary talent of the artist: to give life and careful attention to each musical segment so that we’re kept in suspense for two whole hours!
If this concert was unified by the precious gem that epitomises his playing in the service of absolute art, the artist’s talent was his masterly handling of two periods in time, totally distinct one from the other. The small audience can rejoice at having finally been a privileged elite this evening. Their ovation and enthusiasm prompted an encore and, by overwhelming us with Debussy’s ‘La Cathedrale engloutie’, here again, and perhaps most symbolically, Roger Woodward proved he knew what constitutes a complete concert.
Jade GODART
Bastille Day concert of Xenakis “Keqrops” with l’orchestre national de Lille, Centre des Congres, XXII Reims International Festival.
“...Le toucher de Woodward fut aussi séduisant dans les envolées lyriqueset les emportements dionysiaques de Xenakis que dans le contrepoint deBach. Un grand seigneur du clavier…!”
http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/culture-et-loisirs/flaneries-xenakis-a-la-conquete-de-reims
Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Claudio Abbado
Live recording from Wien Konzerthaus, 1992
Roger Woodward track:
Iannis Xenakis: Keqrops (1986)
for piano and orchestra (16’48’)
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Apr11/wienmodernIIIxenakis_dg447115.htm
A prestigious release of a collection of major works: “Iannis Xenakis - Alpha & Omega” 4CD ACCORD 4804904. The collection includes “Keqrops” with soloist Roger Woodward performing with the Mahlerjungendorchester directed by Claudio Abbado live from the Wienerkonzerhaus, Wien Modern III, Vienna.
Roger Woodward will be giving master classes in:
Australia: Coffs Harbour, at the Art Gallery, Tuesday May 31st, 2011, at 10.30am
France: Reims Festival, at the Conservatoire de Musique on Saturday mornings July 9th and 16th, 2011, at the Conservatoire
UK: Taunton, at King’s College, on Sunday, 2nd October, 2011
Germany: Trossingen, in the early new year
Süd-Deutscher Zeitung
Verspielter Tonmonteur
24.09.2010 05:10
Roger Woodwards Entdeckung eines anderen Schostakowitsch
Im Jahr 1950, die Musikwelt feierte den 200.Todestag Johann Sebastian Bachs, war Komponist Dmitri Schostakowitsch in Leipzig, als Jurymitglied des ersten Internationalen Bach-Wettbewerbs. Da hörte er auch - Dmitri war begeistert - die erst 26-jährige Tatjana Nikolajeva mit dem Wohltemperierten Klavier, und diese Erfahrung, die jeden anderen eingeschüchtert hatte, entfesselte in Schostakowitsch einen wahnwitzigen Schaffensrausch: Er schrieb seinerseits und in wenigen Monaten 24 Präludien und Fugen, die dann ebenfalls von Nikolajeva uraufgeführt wurden.
War es Hybris, sich mit dem Vollkommensten unter den Komponisten zu messen? Die Frage wurde jahrzehntelang allenfalls hinter vorgehaltener Hand beantwortet und sie lief meist auf ein vorsichtig gehauchtes ‘Ja’ hinaus. Das liegt zum einen an dem für Schostakowitschs Verhältnisse geradezu heiter harmlosen Tonfall in vielen dieser Stücke, die sich zudem jener typischen Form eines religiös esoterischen Tonfalls
osteuropäischer und westasiatischer Musik bedienen, der von Peter Tschaikowsky über Sergej Rachmaninoff bis hin zu Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt und Gija Kantscheli anzutreffen ist.
Also ist es nicht weiter verwunderlich, dass dieses Opus 87 von wenigen Ausnahmen abgesehen, ein recht russisches Refugium geblieben ist. Schostakowitsch selbst hat ein paar Stücke eingespielt, Nikolajeva hat den ganzen Zyklus aufgenommen, Svjatoslav Richter und Wladimir Ashkenazy folgten ihr und gerade sind Einspielungen von Konstantin Scherbakow (Naxos) und Alexander Melnikow (Harmonia Mundi) erschienen. Ansonsten interessieren sich vorzugsweise Außenseiter für diese Musik,
der Jazzer Keith Jarrett oder der alle Konventionen sprengende Querdenker Olli Mustonen, der Schostakowitsch mit Bach verquickte.
Und vor allem Roger Woodward, dieser Teufelspianist, der eine aberwitzige Technik mit einer vulkanisch ungezügelten Klangphantasie so zu bündeln weiß, dass seine Interpretationen an keinerlei Aufführungstradition erinnern, vielmehr aus einem zu einhundert Prozent selbstgebastelten Elysium zu kommen scheinen. So auch und vor allem im Fall von Schostakowitschs Opus 87.
Nun ist Woodwards Einspielung bereits 1975 entstanden, wenige Wochen vor Schostakowitschs Tod. Doch wenn sich je eine Wiederveröffentlichung auf CD gelohnt hat, dann diese (Celestial Harmonies). Denn Woodward erlöst Schostakowitschs Präludien & Fugen von jeder Esoterik und von allem Russischen. Hier wird kein Exerzitium absolviert und keine Bekenntnismusik verhandelt, die raunend unbestimmt von etwas Großem, Unausdrückbarem kündet. Denn Woodward besinnt sich sehr viel starker als all seine Kollegen auf den Notentext und seine scheinbare Naivität.
Er nimmt die Partitur spielerisch ernst und weist gerade dadurch nach, dass Schostakowitschs Kosmos sich durchaus mit demjenigen Bachs messen kann - was Formenreichtum und Stimmungen angeht, Strategien und Ökonomie, Farben, Erotik, Hintersinn, Hinterlist und Länge des Atems.
Woodward legt die vermutlich schnellste Aufnahme des Zyklus vor, diese Geschwindigkeit hat zwei entscheidende Vorteile: Das Opus 87 kann so als stimmiger Zyklus wahrgenommen werden und sein Reichtum erschließt sich ganz mühelos dem Hörer. Und dieser Reichtum wird auch dadurch ermöglicht, dass Woodward sich konsequent verweigert: dem esoterischen Klangdenken des Ostens genauso wie urrussischer Klangfärbung oder dem bis in die achtziger Jahre hinein lebendigen romantischen Bach-Bild genauso wie einer kalt ausgedünnten Lesart polyphoner Strukturen.
So wird hörbar, dass Schostakowitsch hier sein Fazit nicht nur aus Bach zieht, sondern auch aus Claude Debussy und Igor Strawinsky, aus Bela Bartãk und Gustav Mahler. Eine ganze Welt wird da vermessen, das Klangphantasiereich Schostakowitschs und dessen Grenzen sind weiter gesteckt als vielleicht in all seinen anderen Stücken. Denn hier
herrschen nicht nur Dunkel, Nihilismus, Verzweiflung und sinnentleertes Treiben, sondern es kommt auch der kindliche Schostakowitsch zum Vorschein, der verspielte Tonmonteur, der Meister filigraner Zwischentöne.
Wie aber kam es, dass diese pralle Fülle Schostakowitschs unbemerkt blieb? Vielleicht braucht die Musikwelt einfach mehr solch unkonventionell eigenwilliger Musiker, wie Roger Woodward einer ist.
REINHARD J.BREMBECK
Pendragon Press, New York : September, 2010, “Performing Xenakis” edited by Sharon Kanach, ISBN 978-1-57647-191-3, with a chapter by Roger Woodward “Conquering Goliath: Preparing and Performing Xenakis’ ‘Keqrops’ ” (pages 129-155) in The Iannis Xenakis Series No.2
KLASSIC COM “THE GLORIOUS FIVE”
….. Their interpretation turned out to be a masterpiece through the use of lean, but colorful sound effects, the finest agogic and an intimate understanding of the possibilities of musical rhetoric.
This makes the extensive essay in English written by Roger Woodward even more informative. It is unusual for a performer to provide such a well informed and intelligent discussion of the interpreted pieces, and equally unusual for the underlying performance principles to be discussed in such a straightforward and sensible fashion….
Moreover, the unusual instrumentation, at least from current perspectives, is not out of line with the performance practices of Chopin’s time. By creating a rich and highly nuanced sound spectrum these glorious musicians have taken it on themselves to rehabilitate Chopin and, respectively create the most translucent sound effects.
Given that Chopin’s most exceptional accomplishment lies in the fact that he somehow manages to transmit the sound of the Italian bel canto opera, especially Bellini’s, to the keyboard——interpreters. This applies to both phrasing these are the ideal Chopin, and articulation, and as far as the strings are concerned, to sparing, but yet powerful vibrato openings. ….. it is a remarkable level of technical mastery that is displayed by the performing musicians.
Dr Daniel Krause, klassik com
FRANKFURTER ALLEGEMEINE ZEITUNG 21 JANUARY 2010 CLASSICS OVERVIEW
COOL CHOPIN
….. But before it is again relegated to the odd storage cabinet, the following exceptional interpretation of Chopin’s f-moll piano concerto, opus 21 is most memorable. A refined piece of chamber music with brilliant sound stripes well suited to more intimate settings. Roger Woodward’s clear, if not cool, keyboard sound (he plays a Bosendorfer) mixes suspensefully with the well balanced sound of the Alexander String Quartet. To top it all off Beethoven’s Piano Quartet follows.
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL
Roger Woodward is entirely sensitive to the setting however, and, while giving plenty of the usual pianistic fireworks where the music demands, fills his chamber-music role with a fine balance and synergy between solo instrument and string quartet accompaniment. …... You can discover the work anew, and have a wonderful performance and recording into the bargain.
This is one of those CDs which feels ‘right’ from start to finish, and one which I can imagine playing endlessly without feeling the slightest fatigue. Throw in the superb booklet notes and that dreamy painting by J.M.W. Turner on the cover, and you have a package to treasure for very many years to come. Dominy Clements
CHOPIN Complete Nocturnes (Celestial Harmonies)
What Roger Woodward does so well is preserve the illusion of line, working on the imagination by drawing us in and making us ‘believe’ – something which all pianists have to do, a true legato line not being in the nature of an instrument for which every separate note has its own set of levers and countless other mechanical bits and pieces. . These qualities are built into the way the music is written, but it takes a true master to turn a true masterpiece.
These recordings are the kind which grow on one,… but the more I return the more I want to hear…
Dominy Clements
CD tip for Klassik-Zeit (Classic time)
Thursday, 21/09/2006 Edited: Gisela Walter
TRANSLATION
Admittedly Woodward plays these familiar pieces in a very individual way. Some people might find his interpretation even a bit daring: nevertheless it is based on decades of serious contemplation of this music. In quiet introversion a mature musician is searching here for the essence of the work and interprets Chopin’s Nocturnes in his very own way.
Woodward’s interpretations of Chopin’s nocturnes are mature and mellow. He provides unusual stresses and surprising accents. He completely avoids special effects or rubati
Review (translation) BR-TV
This CD is a masterpiece; you can play it differently but not better. I recently heard a concert with the Munich Philharmonic and Thielemann; they played Debussy’s Images. It sounded somewhat good but boring with
no end in sight. I could not understand what it was that they were trying to tell me. How different this CD is: every note, every sound,every use of the pedals were put to good use and served a clear purpose, the purpose being to define the musical intentions of the composer. A musician cannot possibly be more humble and more sincere. A pianist cannot play more excitingly and more intelligently. I am entirely won over by this CD. Even before the concert with the Hamel premiere, I was convinced of Roger Woodward’s artistry - now I am enthusiastic and I want to celebrate the feeling. The sensational aspect of the concert on Monday was to experience his interpretation of
the Hamel cycle live. He played for us, with us, with the space, withthe instrument - what a blessing to have been able to be present.
—Wiedemann BR-TV.
THE INDEPENDENT 26 March 2010
In this masterful series of Debussy’s Preludes, RW perfectly evokes the composer’s intuitive musical spirit and his inimitable sense of quiet, measured exploration….
A matchless recording.
Andy Gill
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL
RECORDING OF THE MONTH – MARCH 2010
I find myself in difficulties when writing about recordings which are so very good, it is hard to find a balance which describes a believeable truth as I hear it, without making a text which just ends up turning into sycophantic hyperbole.
Roger Woodward does not make me feel in any way sad and soulful though his playing – on the contrary, his performances are life affirming, a spiritual journey indeed and one which at times may move you to tears, but one which ultimately lifts one beyond the clouds
Roger Woodward breathes life into the notes at every turn.
The sonorities of the Bösendorfer suits La cathédral engloutie particularly well. Just listen to the notes from about 00:40 in: the most evocative distant bells I think I’ve ever heard in a recording. The build-up to the great bass chime at 2:38 is a truly cathartic moment, and the whole experience is a remarkable monument to Debussy’s pictorial imagination and modernist thinking.
Woodward takes 7:22 here compared to Ousset’s 5:46 but the difference is no indulgence, the sustaining power of the Bösendorfer strings making a lengthier exploration of this music all the more powerful.
What Woodward is prepared to do is allow Debussy’s curtains of sound full expression with his pedalling in something like Brouillards which begins Book II of the Préludes. His clarity is faultless to my mind, but washes of sound are allowed to grow and swirl like the spread of watercolours over damp paper.
This performance has everything: those washes of colour, and the sharp contrast of clarity in those notes which rise and sparkle through those improbably rich textures, those harmonic progressions pushed strongly by that chunky Bösendorfer resonance.
I’ve heard this piece on innumerable different instruments and in more than one hemisphere, but I’ve never heard it in as spectacularly a breathtaking performance as this.
This recording has been something of a revelation for me, crammed full with new discoveries in the potential of these pieces and of the piano as an implement for pure musical expression. I’m left lacking superlatives, and can only urge you to try this recording for yourself.
Dominy Clements
18 / 20 Georg Henkel OHRENSCHMAUS Musik an Sich Frankfurt
Die Préludes von Claude Debussy kann man bei Roger Woodward nicht zuletzt Dank des sensiblen Pedaleinsatzes in ungewohnter, aber faszinierenden Klang-Räumlichkeit erleben.
Auf seinem Bösendorfer 275 und unterstützt durch eine exzellente Klangtechnik (Radio Bremen) produziert der Künstler weitgestaffelte, fein austarierte Klänge, deren Spektrum von schwarz-samtig bis metallisch-glühend reicht, so dass die inneren Sinne auch ohne Kenntnis der Titel sofort anfangen, Bilder zu produzieren.
In der gleichsam „offenen“ Form der Stücke lässt der Pianist Landschaften, Szenerien, Personen oder Objekte erscheinen, die für einen Moment Kontur gewinnen, sich in etwas anderes verwandeln oder wieder verschwinden. Ganz organisch und frei von Hast entwickeln sich bei Woodward die hochverfeinerten Texturen der Musik. Deren zukunftsweisende Momente werden herausgearbeitet, ohne dass der einnehmende Traditionsbezug dafür geopfert würde. Die enigmatischen Feen tanzen einen zarten Reigen, der Charme des Mädchens mit den Flachshaaren nimmt für es ein. Die Nebel wogen in subtil artikulierter Harmonik, die Versunkene Kathedrale ruht geheimnisvoll in profunder Düsternis. Ein Ohrenschmaus, der Geist und Fantasie gleichermaßen anregt.
THE GRAMOPHONE FEBRUARY 2010 – EDITOR’S CHOICE
Perahia’s Partitas. Woodward’s wonderful Bach. Horowitz celebrated.
Imaginative performances by Woodward that rank alongside the very best
A five-disc Well-Tempered Clavier usually signifies measured tempi and all repeats observed, and that’s mostly true of Roger Woodward’s recording. Yet nothing drags, because the pianist’s superb contrapuntal acumen, imaginative ornamentation and quietly strong sense of inner rhythm keep the music alive and moving forward.
Woodward’s extensive and problem booklet-notes discuss the music and its performing traditions in depth, and prove just as articulate and provocative as his musicianship and pianism. A fascinating antipode to Hewitt (Hyperion, 10/9. 9/99), Koroliev (Tacet, 6/00) and Ashkenazy (Decca, 3/06), among standout recent piano versions of the “48”.
Jed Distler
THE INDEPENDENT Friday, 19 March 2010 (rated 5/5)
There has been almost as much of a glut of Well-Tempered Claviers recently as commemorative Chopin editions, including interpretations from Daniel Barenboim and Maurizio Pollini; but this 5CD set of both Books I and II by Roger Woodward may well be the most significant since Glenn Gould’s revolutionary completion of the sequence.
The size of the set suggests unusually slow tempi, but Woodward is simply being scrupulously attendant to the demands of the music. Indeed, his thorough sleeve note In Search Of A Performance Practice, analysing the different approaches employed on various cembali, clavichords, organs, etc, may constitute the last word on this subject, as too may his performance. Remarkable. 5/5 Andy Gill
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL REVIEWS
This has to be one of the most sumptuous CD releases I have ever seen. My congratulations go to Celestial Harmonies for their sense of design and taste.
My own desert island choice for The Well Tempered Clavier in a complete edition has…..been that of Sviatoslav Richter. For the first time in nearly 30 years I am faced with a conversion: the next time I am asked which recording of this music I want to take with me onto my desert island, I won’t instantly say Sviatoslav Richter, and I might not even mention him at all. …..Roger Woodward’s impressive approach bears the kind of fruit which rivals all comers…. there are too many wonderful moments and movements in this recording to list everything…
Such is the music in Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier, (that)… Roger Woodward reinforces all of my feelings about this as pure music, as well as making it vibrant and alive and in some intangible way bringing it right up to date – as music for now, not as a beautiful but extinct fossil to be preserved under glass in a museum.
Even without these superb recordings, this release would be worth the asking price just for the extensive two-part booklet notes by Roger Woodward, “In Search of a Performance Practice”, and those autograph facsimiles of both Books. These are the kinds of CD releases which you feel you should bequeath separately in your will, such is the feel of worth and value they have.
Dominy Clements (reviewing RW’s CDs)
(reviewing Pollini’s WTC CDs)
Roger Woodward’s recording has taken on something of the character of a benchmark for me in this repertoire… Do I have a favourite? If we’re talking the entire cycle of both books then it’s Roger Woodward and Sviatoslav Richter still at the top……
Dominy Clements
Hearing Woodward, it sounds as though he’s been playing Bach all his life - … and it sounds like he “gets” Bach. His use of legato is balanced and attractive, and his phrasing sounds natural. …. Woodward seems to avoid trying to stand out, but the sum of all the parts make something that excels.
… this recording should stake out a place at the summit of piano recordings of this masterful work. We can only hope that Roger Woodward will record more Bach in the future.
Kirk McElhearn
MUSIK AN SICH, FRANKFURT REVIEW
PROFOUND 20/2O One of the first fruits of Woodward’s encounters with Bach is a recording containing amongst others works, the Chromatic Fantasie and two Partitas from the first part of the Clavier-Übung, which received the 2007 special prize, awarded by the critics of the German recording industry. ….But above all it is the level of musicianship that is responsible for this first class production . Woodward is an exceptionally reflective artist. …. The refined performance techniques thus used allow us to forget the restrictions of instruments with limited resonance.
With this opulent medium (Steinway D) at his fingertips he produce(s) a synthesis of different sound effects and interpretative models without being caught in one extreme or another. It is not Woodward’s mission to imitate the dry and transparent It is undeniable that Woodward Bach’s clavier music foretells not only the spirit of the Romantic and the Impressionist periods, but also of modern constructivism.
Woodward’s interpretation incorporates the organic structure of counterpoint, the exploitation of bold well- tempered harmonics, and a contemplative concentration on sound along with flashing virtuosity, and a clarity of musical lines and orchestral effects.
Is this due to Woodward’s flawless technique or the instrument’s acoustic properties? Both contribute to the successful interplay of those forces which together have the makings of a new standard. 20/20 Georg Henkel (Translated by Adriana Schuler)
SUBLIME WTC - January 31, 2010
(Audio CD) Source: http://www.amazon.com This is a lovely piano performance of the great Well-Tempered Clavier. The best one I recall hearing. Best of all, he really makes everything sing. Every piece is characterized individually; there is a wonderful variety of tone colours and articulation. A must-have performance. By David Cates (Berkeley CA USA)
SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, MUNICH
April 17, 2010… SHIVA MEETS BACH ...These recordings resulted in four-and-a-half stellar hours of the Bach discography. Because Woodward approaches the two cycles fluently and briskly as one unified work, because, as a graduate of the avant-garde he doesn’t need to shy away from any technical challenges, because he knows how to courageously take full advantage of the possibilities of the modern grand piano, because he relies less on interpretation than on fierily incendiary presentation, Woodward removes anything historical, elitist or alienating from this music; he understands Bach as a contemporary of innovators such as Xenakis, Cage, Feldman, and Ligeti. No looking back, no nostalgia, no more educational high-browism, no more old Europe. Never before did Johann Sebastian have such a future head of him. Reinhard J. Brembeck
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 28 December 2009, Classical
“The best recordings by an Australian artist were Roger Woodward’s Debussy Preludes and Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier with the American label Celestial Harmonies.”
Peter McCallum
AND…. another Bach recording….
J S Bach Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue, BWV 903; Partita No. 2 BWV 826 and Partita No. 6 BWV 830 Celestial Harmonies 13280-2
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD October 27-28, 2007
I first heard Roger Woodward play Bach’s Partita No. 6 in E minor more than 30 years ago in the Sydney Town Hall and recall that, in the Sarabande, the work’s musical and expressive centre, he seemed to stress its modernity to create a sense of transformation.
…this beautiful recent recording …. is deeply personal playing, recording a lifetime of musical thought about these masterpieces, after the complicating aspirations of youth have fallen away.
Peter McCallum
When? Wednesday 10 March 2010
Where? BBC Radio 3, In Tune, 5pm, or listen via the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tp0c
Who? Roger Woodward, prelude to 11 March performance for Tait Memorial Trust
What? Interview and performances
When? Tuesday 17 November, 9.05pm
Where? Bavarian Radio BR-klassik
Who? Roger Woodward, solo piano
What? Bach, Well Tempered Klavier, Celestial Harmonies new release
http://www.br-online.de/br-klassik/cd-box/index.xml
When? Monday 23 November, 9pm
Where? KALW, 91.7FM, or online at http://www.kalw.org
Who? Roger Woodward with the Alexander String Quartet
What? Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat, op.44
When? Sunday 30 November, 3.05pm
Where? Bavarian Radio BR-klassik
Who? Roger Woodward solo piano
What? Bach 6th Partita, Chopin Nocturnes, Takemitsu.
b>2014
Tuesday 11 March, 8pm
First Congregational Church of Berkeley, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley USA
World Premiere, Bob Greenberg Piano Quintet
with the Alexander String Quartet
29 May
Coffs Harbour Art Gallery, Australia
Beethoven Recital - final Sonata trilogy Opp.109, 110 and 111
31 May
Joan Sutherland Arts Centre, Penrith Australia
Beethoven Recital - final Sonata trilogy - Opp.109, 110, 111
Friday 1 August, 7.30pm
Wellington School Great Hall
Wellington, Somerset, England
Recital of Bach, Chopin, Beethoven
in aid of ANIMALS ASIA’s campaign to end the cruel practice of bear bile farming
Tickets Pds 20, including refreshments.
2013
January
9 January, Germany, Trossingen Academy of Music
Recital Debussy and Chopin
10/11 January, Trossingen Academy of Music
Masterclasses
15 January, Germany, Mulheim
Chamber music recital with Winfried Rademacher (violin), James Creitz (viola) , Teddy Ezra (clarinet)
Mozart Kegelstaat Trio K.498 (viola, clarinet and piano), Schumann Marchenbilder Op.113 (Fairy-tale Pictures) (viola and piano), Bartok Contrasts (violin, clarinet, piano).
REVIEW OF CONCERT:
http://www.schwaebische.de/region/sigmaringen-tuttlingen/tuttlingen/rund-um-tuttlingen_artikel,-Vier-hochrangige-Musiker-brillieren-in-Muehlheim-_arid,5377983.html
January/February
Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar and Festival 2013
Jan. 29-Feb. 3, 2013
Concerts:
Feb. 1, 8:00pm, Feb. 2, 8pm, Feb.3, 7pm
All concerts in Knuth Hall, San Francisco State University
Faculty Artists:
The Alexander String Quartet is delighted to announce that joining us on the faculty and in performance will be distinguished violist and violinist Toby Appel from the Juilliard School faculty, Bay Area native David Requiro, cellist, winner of the Naumberg Prize and first prize in the Irving M. Klein Competition, Roger Woodward, internationally renowned concert pianist and SFSU School of Music and Dance colleague and Kindra Scharich, brilliant young mezzo-soprano.
Participants:
Extraordinary young ensembles from the greater San Francisco Bay Area, London, UK, Washington State, as well as ensembles from the Morrison Chamber Center at SFSU School of Music and Dance, Affiliate Ensembles from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and Young Chamber Musicians.
Concert Repertoire:
Repertoire highlights from the 2013 Festival will include favorite collaborative works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Bartok, Shostakovich and many others.
Public Master Classes:
The afternoons of Feb. 2 and 3 will be filled with public coaching and master classes featuring the participating ensembles (come hear the best of tomorrow’s chamber music talent in performance and working sessions with our distinguished faculty artists).
Roger Woodward performance details:
February 1, 8.00pm Debussy Cello Sonata with David Roquiero
February 2, 8.00pm Schumann Piano Quintet with Arkadas String Quartet
+ Schumann Liederkreis Op.39 and Brahms Songs Op.91 with Kindra Scharich (mezzo soprano) and Paul Yarbrough (viola)
February 3, Bach D minor Concerto, BWV 1061
March
Thursday 14 March 2013, 7.30pm
England, Bradnich EX5 4NN
St Disen’s Church, Fore Street
Recital - Debussy, Chopin
in aid of Bradninch Arts Group.
Tickets from Bradninch Spar Shop (£8 adult, under-18s free).
For school parties ring Simon Tytherly on 01392 881825
Saturday 16 March 2013, Oxford University, England
Recital Debussy, Sheldonian Theatre.
Thursday 21 March 2013, San Francisco, German Consulate
Schumann and Brahms Lieder Recital with Kindra Scharich and Paul Yarborough
Schumann Maerchenbilder Op 113
April
Friday 5 April 2013, San Francisco
Mozart Violin and Piano Sonatas due recital with Jassen Todorov
Knuth Hall, SFSU, 1.10pm
May
Wednesday 1 May, San Francisco
Recital, Debussy Images I and II; 12 Chopin Etudes.
Knuth Hall, SFSU, 1.10pm
Thursday 16 May, Coffs Harbour, Australia
Art Gallery Recital - Chopin
Saturday 18 May, Brisbane Australia
Medici Piano Series - Chopin Recital
Brisbane Conservatorium of Music
Friday 24 May, Danebank College, for Katoke Trust
Recital, Debussy Bach Beethoven
Sunday 26 May Sydney Australia
Debussy Recital
Hunter Baillie Church, Annandale, 3pm
Thursday 30 May - Newcastle Australia
Mozart Piano Concerto no 25 in C, KV503, with Christchurch Camerata
June
Saturday 1 June, 2.30pm - Burradoo NSW Australia
Recital, Debussy, Bach, Beethoven
Performing Arts Centre at Chevalier College.
566 Moss Vale Road, Burradoo.
Saturday, 15 June, Lille Conservatory, France, 6.45pm
Recital:
JS Bach Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor BWV 903
Xenakis “Mists”(1980) composed for and dedicated to Roger Woodward
Beethoven No.32 in C minor, Op.111
b>2012
May 11,
Bach D minor Concerto BWV 1054 with Alexander String Quartet
Knuth Hall, San Francisco
Thursday June 7, 7:30pm
Recital, works by Debussy, Mozart, Bach and Chopin
Canberra Theatre Centre
http://www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au/site/what-is-on.php?detail=roger-woodward-0316
Bookings enquiries at Canberra Theatre Centre, (02) 6275 2700.
June 9, Masterclass 3.30pm
June 10, Recital, 2.00pm
Works by Chopin, Debussy, Mozart and J.S.Bach
Manning Entertainment Centre, Taree, NSW Australia
June 16, 8pm
with Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Directed by Eivind Aadland
JS Bach Concerto 1, D Minor
Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane, Australia
Saturday November 17, 2.30pm
Chopin Piano Concerto No.1, with Ryde Hunters Hill Symphony Orchestra
and
Saturday November 17, 8,00 pm
Gala Recital, Chopin
Concert Hall, The Concourse, Chatswood NSW
in association with Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children
2011
February 27, 5.00 pm
Jury of the San Francisco Conservatory Piano Competition
- 4 March (Finals)
April 3, Sunday
Jury Member, Piano Competition
Music Teachers’ Association California
San Francisco
Thursday, June 2, 7.30pm
Recital: Debussy, Mozart, Bach
Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia
Saturday, June 4, 3pm and 8pm
Sydney, St.Ives Uniting Church
Flâneries Musicals de Reims, France
http://www.flaneriesreims.com/a-47-roger-woodward-flaneries-musicales-de-reims.html
As well as giving the following performances, Roger Woodward will conduct masterclasses during this period.
Sunday, July 3, at 8.30pm, Reims Conservatoire
Recital of Debussy “Estampes”, Preludes Book 2 and J.S.Bach Partita no.6 in E minor, BWV 830
Read concert review:
http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/culture-et-loisirs/flaneries-roger-woodward-la-perfection-du-bout-des-doigts
Wednesday, July 6, at 8.30 pm, Reims Conservatoire
Recital of J.S.Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
Read concert review:
http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/culture-et-loisirs/flaneries-remarquable-roger-woodward
Saturday, July 9, Masterclass, Reims Conservatoire
Wednesday, July 13, at 7.30pm, Centre des Congrés
Xenakis “Keqrops” for piano and orchestre with the Orchestra National de Lille directed by Arturo Tamayo
read concert review:
“...Le toucher de Woodward fut aussi séduisant dans les envolées lyriques et les emportements dionysiaques de Xenakis que dans le contrepoint de
Bach. Un grand seigneur du clavier…!
http://www.lunion.presse.fr/article/culture-et-loisirs/flaneries-xenakis-a-la-conquete-de-reims
Saturday, July 16, at 11.00 am, Maison diocésaine Saint-Sixte
Xenakis “Paille in the Wind” for cello and piano, with cellist Rohan de Saram
Monday, July 18, at 8.30 pm, Reims Conservatoire
Xenakis “Akea” (piano quintet) with the Jack Quartet (New York).
Sunday, September 25, 3.30pm
Masterclass
Woodard Hall, King’s College, Taunton
Sunday October 2, 3.30pm
JS Bach, The Well Tempered Clavier (Book 1)
The Woodard Room, King’s College, South Road, Taunton TA1 3LA; Tickets £15.00 (under-18s £5.00) at door and from Reception at Kings (01823 328200) during office hours on weekdays.
http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2011/10/05/bach-with-muscles-comes-to-somerset-%e2%80%93-a-memorable-%e2%80%9848%e2%80%99-from-roger-woodward/
Australian Tour:
Sunday 6th November 2.30pm
Dubbo Regional Theatre
Tickets : Regional Theatre 155 Darling Street ph.6801 4378 http://www.drtcc.com.au
Monday 7th November 8.00pm
Narrabri Crossing Theatre
Tickets : Crossing Theatre 117 Tibbereena Street ph. 6792 4654 http://www.crossingtheatre.com.au
Tuesday 8th November 8.00pm
Tamworth Capitol Theatre
Tickets : Capitol Theatre Centrepoint ph. 6767 5300 http://www.capitoltheatretamworth.com.au
Wednesday 9th November 8.00pm
Newcastle City Hall
tickets : Civic Ticketek all outlets ph. 4929 1977 http://www.civictheatrenewcastle.com.au
Monday 21st November 8.00pm
Port Macquarie The Glasshouse
tickets : The Glasshouse cnr. Clarence and Hay Streets ph. 6581 8294 http://www.glasshouse.org.au
2010
January 19, 7.30pm
The Xenakis Project of the Americas
launch of book Performing Xenakis (Pedragon Press) combined with all-Xenakis concert performed by artists whose essays appear in the new publication.
Elebash Hall, Graduate Center of City University of New York, NYC
January 30, 10.00am
Dvorak Piano Quintet, with Alexander String Quartet and Bob Greenberg
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, California
March 11, 7 for 7.30pm
Recital: Debussy Estampes, Twelve Preludes Book II; Bach Partita No 6 E minor, BWV830
49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7, England
Tickets from the Tait Memorial Trust, info@taitmemorialtrust.org; London 020 73852719
April 21, 1.10pm
Recital with Tony Clarone (Chief Clarinet, SFSO) and Jassen Todorov
works by Bartok, Milhaud and Schubert
Knuth Hall, SFSU
May 3
Address & performance on the occasion of Poland’s Constitution Day
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
June 23
Goulburn Conservatorium of Music, Australia
Chopin Recital
June 25
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith Australia
Masterclass
June 26
Joan Sutherland Perforing Arts Centre, Penrith Australia
Chopin Recital
June 27
Sydney Opera House, Utzon Recital Series, 2pm and 5pm
Chopin Recitals
July 3
Melbourne Recital Centre, Elizabeth Murdoch Recital Hall
Chopin Recital
July 4
Scotch College Melbourne
Masterclass
October 11, Monday
MTAC (Californian Music Teachers’ Association)
master class 10.00 am - 12.00 noon
Crowden Music School, North Berkeley
November 15, Monday
Lecture/recital, J.S. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
Crowden Music Center 10:00-12:00
1475 Rose St. Berkeley 94702
Contact person: Joel Tepper (510) 530-8345
November 21, Sunday
Chopin Recital, 3pm
Two Nocturnes op.27, Fantazja op.49, Third Scherzo, op.39, First Ballade op.23, 12 Etudes op.25
Hunter Baillie Church, Johnson Street, Annandale, Sydney, Australia,
November 24, Wednesday
Bach Recital, 7.30pm
J.S.Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Scotch College, Melbourne, Australia,
Friday, November 26
Chopin Recital, 8pm
Two Nocturnes op.27, Fantazja op.49, Third Scherzo, op.39, First Ballade op.23, 12 Etudes op.25
Winthrop Hall, University of Western Australia, Perth
December 11
Berkeley, California, USA, St John’s Presbyterian Church, 10am
Dvorak Piano Quintet with Alexander String Quartet and Robert Greenburg
December 16, 1715pm
Listen on BBC Radio 3 In Tune for live performance and interview
December 21, Tuesday
Bach Recital, 7.30pm
J.S.Bach Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Wellington School Great Hall, Somerset, UK
In aid of the Kingsmead Trust for International Schools
(tickets Reuben Katz 01823 401 454)
2008
October 22, 7.30pm
Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor op.34; Brahms String Sextet No.1 in B flat with Alexander String Quartet
Knuth Hall, San Francisco State University, USA
November 17, 7.30pm
Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor op.34; Brahms String Sextet No.1 in B flat with Alexander String Quartet
Baruch Performing Arts Center, Marvin Antonowsky Performing Arts Complex,
55 Lexington Avenue (entrance on 25th between 3rd and Lexington Ave), New York City, NY
Sunday December 6, 3pm
Duo recital with Jassen Todorov, violinist,
Bach Sonata in C minor BWV 1017; Beethoven Sonata in G major Op.30 no.3, Schubert Grand Duo
in A major, D.574; Ravel Tzigane.
Knuth Hall, San Francisco State University USA
2009
January 19
Peter Michael Hamel Piano Etudes, Vom Klang des Lebens
Gasteig, Munich Germany
February 9, 10.30pm
Chamber performances for opening new venue - Feldman Why Patterns? (1978) and Rothko Chapel (1971)
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, City Recital Centre, Melbourne Australia
February 11, 10.30pm
Meale: Sonata for flute and piano (1960) and Coruscations (1971)
Boyd: Book of Bells III for piano (1998) and Angklung for piano (1974)
Xenakis: Mists (1980)
with Geoffrey Collins, flute
The Salon, City Recital Centre, Melbourne Australia
http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/collins-woodward-at-the-mrc
March 14, 10am
Schumann Piano Quintet, with the Alexander String Quartet
San Francisco Performances
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, USA
April 30
J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, 24 Preludes and Fugues
Knuth Hall, San Francisco State University
May 7
Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues
Knuth Hall, San Francisco State University
May 16/17
Mendelssohn Festival, The Cathedral of Christ the Light, Harrison
Street, Oakland, May 16th at 8.00pm and Grace Cathedral, California
Street, Nob Hill, San Francisco, May 17th at 3.00pm.
http://www.sfcv.org/events-calendar/previews/felix-means-happy-br-so-he-must-be
May 28, 8pm
J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, 24 Preludes and Fugues
Elder Conservatorium Hall, Adelaide, Australia
May 30, 6.30pm
Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues
Elder Conservatorium Hall, Adelaide, Australia
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25569957-16947,00.html
June 6
Beethoven, Debussy
Kincoppal Chapel, Rose Bay, Sydney
October 28, Weds. 12 noon
Stanford University, USA, Campbell Recital Hall, Braun Music Centre
works by J.S.Bach, Toru Takemitsu and Maurice Ravel
2010
January 19, 7.30pm
The Xenakis Project of the Americas
launch of book Performing Xenakis (Pedragon Press) combined with all-Xenakis concert performed by artists whose essays appear in the new publication.
Elebash Hall, Graduate Center of City University of New York, NYC
January 30, 10.00am
Dvorak Piano Quintet, with Alexander String Quartet and Bob Greenberg
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, California
March 11, 7 for 7.30pm
Recital: Debussy Estampes, Twelve Preludes Book II; Bach Partita No 6 E minor, BWV830
49 Queen’s Gate Terrace, London SW7, England
Tickets from the Tait Memorial Trust, info@taitmemorialtrust.org; London 020 73852719
April 21, 1.10pm
Recital with Tony Clarone (Chief Clarinet, SFSO) and Jassen Todorov
works by Bartok, Milhaud and Schubert
Knuth Hall, SFSU
May 3
Address & performance on the occasion of Poland’s Constitution Day
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
June 23
Goulburn Conservatorium of Music, Australia
Chopin Recital
June 25
Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith Australia
Masterclass
June 26
Joan Sutherland Perforing Arts Centre, Penrith Australia
Chopin Recital
June 27
Sydney Opera House, Utzon Recital Series, 2pm and 5pm
Chopin Recitals
July 3
Melbourne Recital Centre, Elizabeth Murdoch Recital Hall
Chopin Recital
July 4
Scotch College Melbourne
Masterclass
October 11, Monday
MTAC (Californian Music Teachers’ Association)
master class 10.00 am - 12.00 noon
Crowden Music School, North Berkeley
November 15, Monday
Lecture/recital, J.S. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
Crowden Music Center 10:00-12:00
1475 Rose St. Berkeley 94702
Contact person: Joel Tepper (510) 530-8345
November 21, Sunday
Chopin Recital, 3pm
Two Nocturnes op.27, Fantazja op.49, Third Scherzo, op.39, First Ballade op.23, 12 Etudes op.25
Hunter Baillie Church, Johnson Street, Annandale, Sydney, Australia,
November 24, Wednesday
Bach Recital, 7.30pm
J.S.Bach The Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Scotch College, Melbourne, Australia,
Friday, November 26
Chopin Recital, 8pm
Two Nocturnes op.27, Fantazja op.49, Third Scherzo, op.39, First Ballade op.23, 12 Etudes op.25
Winthrop Hall, University of Western Australia, Perth
December 11
Berkeley, California, USA, St John’s Presbyterian Church, 10am
Dvorak Piano Quintet with Alexander String Quartet and Robert Greenburg
December 16, 1715pm
Listen on BBC Radio 3 In Tune for live performance and interview
the project
BACH FOR THE 21st CENTURY
Roger Woodward presents the most exciting Bach since Glenn Gould
BWV Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue d minor
BWV 826 Partita No. 2 c minor
BWV 830 Partita No. 6 e minor
Roger Woodward surprised some by including Bach in his concert performance of Debussy and Chopin at the Radio Bremen concert hall in January 2007. Woodward simply explained that to him Bach was a romantic composer as well. This only sounds daring until one has listened to the recording at hand. And one should also remember that Friedrich Blume, in the authoritative German music dictionary MGG, wrote more than half a century ago that “Bach’s language anticipated much which was later expressed during the German Romantic era”.
This is Woodward’s first recording of works by J.S. Bach although he had played Bach all his life. As one can expect from a musician of Woodward’s calibre this is an interpretation outside the square.
Already in the first part, the Fantasia from BWV 903 - composed in Coethen around 1720 - a deep understanding is shown of what might have caused Bach to place this ‘free’ section ahead of the Fugue. Woodward plays the Fantasia as such. In the ensuing Fugue Woodward shows his complete understanding of the structure, takes all those liberties, however, which Bach had always expected of himself as well as of all performers of his music.
The Partitas No. 2 in c minor BWV 826 and No. 6 in e minor BWV 830 might also go back to the time in Coethen around 1720, chronologically not far removed from the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in d minor BWV 903; they originate from Bach’s most productive stage in his life as far as secular music is concerned, and they show the composer at the height of his creative power. Bach published them himself in Leipzig in 1726.
It illuminates Woodward’s interpretation that he takes three minutes more for the Partita No. 6 on the recording compared to his concert performance. It is a more deliberate, circumspect and more thought-through version revealing fine details which possibly cannot come across in a concert hall compared to the intimacy of the recording studio
Woodward’s recording was produced in Wörthsee, Bavaria, on the same Hamburg Steinway D which he had used for his Chopin Nocturnes (Celestial Harmonies 14260-2). By now he knew the instrument well and felt totally familiar with it.
Of the producer and engineer Ulrich Kraus Woodward remarks that he is a musician rather than a technician; a friendship links musician and engineer who by now have not only co-operated in the recording of Chopin but also in that of the large cycle ‘Of the Sound of Life’ by Peter Michael Hamel (Celestial Harmonies 13256-2).
Woodward speaks with the greatest respect of the interpretations of the past - George Malcolm, Helmut Walcha, Gustav Leonhardt to name just a few. Nevertheless he goes further and beyond anything that might be considered orthodox or conservative. But this is an organically continuing development which uses and incorporates all the possibilities that a first-rate modern instrument has to offer, just as Bach would have done if the available technology in his lifetime had allowed him. From that point of view Woodward continues what Glenn Gould started in the sixties and Alexis Weissenberg continued in the seventies: to understand Bach as an ever-new, always contemporary composer whose unequalled greatness manifests itself in the endless possibilities of an ever-new understanding.
BACH FÜR DAS 21. JAHRHUNDERT
Roger Woodward reüssiert mit dem aufregendsten Bach seit Glenn Gould
BWV 903 Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge d-moll
BWV 826 Partita Nr. 2 c-moll
BWV 830 Partita Nr. 6 e-moll
Als Woodward Anfang 2007 unmittelbar vor der Aufnahme dieser CD bei Radio Bremen Chopin, Debussy und Bach in sein Konzertprogramm aufnahm, waren einige überrascht. Zur Erklärung sagte er nur, für ihn sei Bach eben auch ein romantischer und impressionistischer Komponist. Das klingt nur solange gewagt, bis man die vorliegende Einspielung gehört hat. Und man sollte dabei in Erinnerung behalten, daß Friedrich Blume in MGG schon vor über einem halben Jahrhundert schrieb, daß „Bachs Sprache über die Zeit vorausgegriffen [hat] auf das, was in der deutschen Romantik zum Ausdruck gekommen ist”.
Dies ist die erste Veröffentlichung Woodwards mit Werken von J.S. Bach; und das, obwohl Woodward stets Bach gespielt hatte, ein Leben lang. Wie bei einem Musiker vom Range Woodwards nicht anders zu erwarten, ist es eine Interpretation außerhalb der Schablone.
Schon der erste Teil, die Fantasie, aus BWV 903 – entstanden in Cöthen um 1720 - zeigt ein tiefes Verständnis dessen, was Bach wohl animiert haben mag, diese ,freie’ Werk der Fuge voranzustellen; Woodward spielt die Fantasie eben als solche. Bei der Fuge zeigt Woodward sein vollkommenes Verständnis der Struktur, nimmt sich hingegen alle diese Freiheiten, die Bach schon immer sowohl von sich selbst als auch von seinen Interpreten erwartete.
Die Partiten Nr. 2 c-moll BWV 826 und Nr. 6 e-moll BWV 830 gehen wohl auch auf die Zeit um 1720 in Cöthen zurück, zeitlich nicht weit entfernt von der Chromatischen Fantasie und Fuge d-moll BWV 903; sie stammen aus Bachs wohl produktivstem Lebensabschnitt, was weltliche Musik angeht, und zeigen den Komponisten auf der Höhe seiner kreativen Schaffenskraft. Bach veröffentlichte sie um 1726 in Leipzig im Selbstverlag.
Erkenntnisreich für das Verständnis Woodwardscher Interpretation ist die Tatsache, daß er für die Partita Nr. 6 im Studio ganze 3 Minuten länger braucht als im Konzert. Es ist eine tiefere, bedächtigere, durchdachte Version, in der sich Details zeigen, die im Konzertsaal vielleicht nicht hörbar oder in angemessener Form vermittelbar wären.
Woodwards Produktion entstand im Januar 2007 im bayerischen Wörthsee auf eben dem Steinway D, den Woodward bei seiner 2006 entstandenen Aufnahme der Chopin-Nocturnes (Celestial Harmonies 14260-2) benutzt hatte; inzwischen fühlte sich Woodward mit dem Instrument total vertraut, wenn nicht heimisch.
Über den Produzenten und Tonmeister Ulrich Kraus sagt Woodward, er sei ein Musiker, kein Ingenieur; eine Freundschaft verbindet Musiker und Tonmeister, die inzwischen nicht nur bei Chopin, sondern auch bei der Einspielung des großen Zyklus Vom Klang des Lebens von Peter Michael Hamel (Celestial Harmonies 13256-2) zusammengearbeitet hatten.
Woodward spricht mit größtem Respekt von den Interpretationen der Vergangenheit, George Malcolm, Helmut Walcha, Gustav Leonhardt, um nur einige zu nennen. Dennoch geht er in seinen Bach-Interpretationen weit über alles hinaus, was als orthodox oder konservativ gelten könnte. Aber es ist eine organische Weiterentwicklung, die alle Möglichkeiten eines erstklassigen zeitgenössischen Instruments berücksichtigt und einbezieht, so wie es wohl auch Bach getan hätte, wenn es zu seinen Lebzeiten die existierende Technologie erlaubt hätte. Insofern führt Woodward das fort, was Glenn Gould in den 60er und Alexis Weissenberg in den 70er Jahren begonnen hatten: Bach als immer neuen, immer zeitgenössischen Komponisten zu verstehen, dessen unerreichte Größe sich eben in den stets unendlich vielfachen, immer neu erscheinenden Interpretationsmöglichkeiten dokumentiert.
PREIS DER DEUTSCHEN SCHALLPLATTENKRITIK
Die Zahl der bedeutenden Bach-Interpreten am modernen Klavier ist gro und die Namen reichen hier von Glenn Gould bis Andras Schiff. Nun
gesellt sich mit dem Australier Roger Woodward ein Mann dazu, der erst im Alter von 64 Jahren seine erste Bach-Aufnahme verfentlicht hat. F
das amerikanische Label celestial harmonies hat Woodward jetzt 2 Partiten und die bermte chromatische Fantasie und Fuge von Johann
Sebastian Bach eingespielt. Wilfried Scher er ein spes und beeindruckendes Bach-Debut vom fften Kontinent…
CD-Tipp 7. 11. 07, 10.40 Uhr Roger Woodward spielt Bach (Wilfried Scher)
Als der australische Pianist Roger Woodward im Januar dieses Jahres im Sendesaal von Radio Bremen Johann Sebastian Bachs Partita Nr. 6
spielte, waren nicht wenige im Publikum regelrecht verstt. So ein Bach-Spiel hatte man lange nicht geht: viel Pedal, ein manchmal fast
romantischer Klang und eine Verzierungskunst, die man in dieser Form nur von Cembalisten kennt. Noch nie in seiner mehr als 50-jrigen
Laufbahn hatte Roger Woodward Musik von Bach im Studio aufgenommen, doch nun zieht er mit seiner ersten Bach-CD die Summe unter ein grortiges
pianistisches Lebenswerk…
Musik CD Woodward, Track 11 Beginn, ausblenden
Roger Woodward ist eine lebende Legende am Klavier, ein Mann, der mit allen musikalischen Gren zusammengearbeitet hat und mit allen Wassern
gewaschen ist. Lange Zeit galt er als die Ikone der modernen Klaviermusik, doch auch Beethoven, Chopin oder Debussy begleiten in sein Leben lang. Dieses breite Spektrum und seine riesige musikalische Erfahrung kommen auch Woodwards Bach zugute. Der Australier spielt einerseits mit analytischer Klarheit, andererseits nimmt er sich Freiheiten, die so manchen Bach-Puristen erschrecken dften. Hier spielt ein gror Musiker, der sich nicht um Konventionen schert und gerade deshalb dem Universum von Johann Sebastian Bach besonders nahe kommt…
Musik CD Woodward, Track 8 Beginn, ausblenden
Roger Woodward und Johann Sebastian Bach, das ist eine Paarung von Interpret und Komponist, die reichlich Zdstoff bietet. Woodwards
erragendes und intelligentes Spiel gliedert Bachs komplexe Polyphonie und macht sie beim Hen unmittelbar verstdlich. Aber auch der starke
emotionale Gehalt dieser Musik wird bei ihm so deutlich wie selten. Anders als Glenn Gould vermittelt Roger Woodward auch die Wme von
Bachs Kunst, seine meditative Versenkung und religie Tiefe. Es gibt Stimmen, die das Bach-Spiel von Roger Woodward f das
spannendste seit Glenn Gould halten. Auf jeden Fall ist dem Australier mit seiner Einspielung von 2 Partiten und der chromatischen Fantasie
und Fuge ein ganz gror Wurf gelungen, eine CD, die bleiben wird…
Musik CD Woodward, Track 2, von ca. 440 bis Schluss
…..merely a dry run when compared to his most recent Bach enterprise. Now Woodward has presented us with both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier. They appear in meticulously prepared editions with the limited deluxe version in black-box sets with facsimiles of the original autographs.
But above all it is the level of musicianship that is responsible for this first class production . Woodward is an exceptionally reflective artist. In his two extensive companion essays he offers an overview of the checkered performance history and varied ways in which [Bach’s] collections have been received.
Woodward uses the ‘construct’ of legato cantabile to explain the composer’s musical ideal (and of his contemporaries) on the harpsichord. What this term refers to is a performance that resembles the human singing voice. The refined performance techniques thus used allow us to forget the restrictions of instruments with limited resonance.
From that perspective Woodward examines the performance possibilities of the other keyboard instruments from the time of Bach (clavicord, spinet, organ and early fortepiano). Since the end of the eighteenth century the hammerklavier began to take a central place amongst them. While its ever more voluminous sound makes it easier to maintain the legato playing illusion, offering thereby totally new dynamic and coloristic possibilities, limited touch control does tends to obliterate the contours of the music.
Woodward himself plays the ultimate of modern grand piano construction, the model D Steinway. With this opulent medium at his fingertips he manages to produce a synthesis of different sound effects and interpretative models without being caught in one extreme or another. It is not Woodward’s mission to imitate the dry and transparent sound of a harpsichord, as attempted by Glenn Gould.
Neither does he share Daniel Barenboim’s inclination to interpret these pieces in the spirit of Leopold Stokowski, as the piano version of the romantic orchestral repertoire. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that for Woodward Bach’s clavier music foretells not only the spirit of the Romantic and the Impressionist periods, but also of modern constructivism.
Woodward’s interpretation incorporates the organic structure of counterpoint, the exploitation of bold well- tempered harmonics, and a contemplative concentration on sound along with flashing virtuosity, and a clarity of musical lines and orchestral effects.
Last but not least, the above mentioned portrayal of ‘cantability’ helps to pull it all together. The fact that Woodward further opens up the full sound of his instrument, orchestrating it further with his pedal gives his performance a free flowing, breathing, if not, swinging character. Right at the opening of the first book, the C-major Praeludium flows as if emanating from a larger wave movement.
Besides adding expressive powers, changes in tempo help to clarify the structure of the music. At other points the deep sound of the bass strings, wrenches the guts before the listener becomes completely intoxicated by the rest of the music. Ornamentations that quickly lose their clarity on the piano always sound clear and effortless, providing not mere ornamentation but also color. Is this due to Woodward’s flawless technique or the instrument’s acoustic properties? Both contribute to the successful interplay of those forces which together have the makings of a new standard.
Die Aufnahme erscheint gleichzeitig in verschiedenen Versionen:
I & II m. Booklet + Taschenpartitur in Box: Nr. 19922-5
I m. Booklet + TP in Box: 14281-5
II m. Booklet + TP in Box: 19921-5
I & II m. Booklet 19122-2
I m. Booklet: 14281-2
II m. Booklet: 19121-2
20/20
Georg Henkel
(Translated by Adriana Schuler)
…..I was initially sceptical that a recording using the full sonority of a Hamburg D Steinway would produce an excessively Romanticised WTC but I find it a welcome antidote to other rather dry performances where there has been an attempt to produce a harpsichord effect.
Woodward’s tempi are slower than most but always appropriate and never laboured. He knows where he is going and maintains dynamic drive but there is no headlong rush and he remains firmly in control. There are variations in tempi and dynamics but these are always dictated by the music and there is none of the feeling of instability present in Angela Hewitt’s recent recording. He has achieved Bach’s ideal of legato cantabile performance. I find him particularly impressive in the big Fugues where he never loses direction or sureness of touch. Woodward provides ample justification for his performance in the scholarly notes and this set is further enhanced by providing facsimiles of the autograph scores.
….. of the Bach discography. Because Woodward approaches the two cycles fluently and briskly as one unified work, because, as a graduate of the avant-garde he doesn’t need to shy away from any technical challenge, because he knows how to courageously take full advantage of the possibilities of the modern grand piano, because he relies less on interpretation than on fierily incendiary presentation, Woodward removes anything historical, elitist or alienating from this music; he understands Bach as a contemporary of innovators such as Xenakis, Cage, Feldman, and Ligeti. No looking back, no nostalgia, no more educational high-browism, no more old Europe. Never before did Johann Sebastian have such a future ahead of him.
REINHARD J. BREMBECK
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
April 17, 2010…
Roger Woodwards Einspielung des Wohltemperierten Klaviers
Eine Erinnerung: Roger Woodward sitzt am Klavier, konzentriert kühn die Haltung. Nur die Hände, die sieht man nicht, weil sie, schneller als die Kamera es einfangen könnte, über den Tasten hin- und herfliegen, so dass der Eindruck entsteht, als würde Shiva persönlich Klavier spielen. Dann kommt der 1942 in Australien geborene Pianist kurz zu Wort, und sagt kaum mehr als: “Wenn ich Xenakis spiele, habe ich das Gefühl, ich könnte Bäume ausreißen.” Und wieder werden Shivas Hände sichtbar, die sich durch Xenakis “Eonta” wühlen, die Noten aus der Partitur ausreißen und wie Baumstämme durch den Raum schleudern.
Aber Woodward kann auch das Gegenteil von berserkerhaft. Er hat auch den langen Atem und die spirituelle Freiheit für Morton Feldmans Klavierkonzert. Für Woodward scheint eines entscheidend zu sein: Dass die Musik, die er spielt, radikal und gänzlich subjektiv sein müsse. Auch wenn er so zur Ikone der Avantgarde geworden ist, gar als der würdige Nachfolger des Cage-Pianisten David Tudor gelten darf, hat Woodward sich doch immer wieder auch ganz tief in die Tradition hinein verloren. Für die auf Außergewöhnliches und Außenseiter spezialisierte Plattenfirma Celestial Harmonies hat Woodward Chopin, Debussy, und Bach eingespielt - gerade sind die beiden Bände des Wohltemperierten Klaviers erschienen, denen im Miniaturformat das Autograph beigegeben ist.
Es sind dies viereinhalb Sternstunden der Bach-Diskographie geworden. Weil Woodward flüssig und zügig die beiden Zyklen als Einheit angeht, weil seine an der Avantgarde geschulte Technik ihn vor keiner Schwierigkeit zurückzucken lässt, weil er die Möglichkeiten des modernen Flügels kühn ausreizt, weil er sich weniger auf Interpretation einlässt denn auf furios zündende Darstellung. Woodward tilgt alles Historische, alles Elitäre, alles Befremdliche aus dieser Musik, er begreift Bach als Zeitgenossen von so radikalen Erneuerern wie Xenakis, Cage, Feldman, Ligeti. Keine Rückschau, keine Wehmut, keine Bildungshuberei, kein altes Europa: So viel Zukunft hatte Johann Sebastian noch nie vor sich.
…… This is a lovely piano performance of the great Well-Tempered Clavier. The best one I recall hearing.
Roger Woodward avoids eccentricities - he renders this beautifully, with no attempt to mimic a harpsichord. He uses the tonal palette of the piano, never affected, but full of depth and emotion. The interplay of all the voices, with various parts emerging and receding, is sensitively done. The piano tone is gentle in general, but incisive when needed. Best of all, he really makes everything sing. Every piece is characterized individually; there is a wonderful variety of tone colours and articulation. Most recordings of this cycle have a sameness of interpretation that dulls the mind after a while, but not here. And to top it all off, the set comes with mini-scores as well as very nice reproductions of the facsimile manuscript.
A must-have performance.
….. Their interpretation turned out to be a master piece through the use of lean, but colorful sound effects, the finest agogic and an intimate understanding of the possibilities of musical rhetoric. With Radio Bremen as the co-producer, the accompanying booklet does not offer a translation. But it is ultimately the responsibility of Celestial Harmonies- from Tucson Arizona- that a German text is not supplied. This makes the extensive essay in English written by Roger Woodward even more informative.
It is unusual for a performer to provide such a well informed and intelligent discussion of the interpreted pieces, and equally unusual for the underlying performance principles to be discussed in such a straightforward and sensible fashion, especially the booklet. This allows Woodward to substantiate his claim that the present chamber version may have possibly been the original version: “It is possible that it was in this enlarged string form that the first private
performance was accompanied by a small chamber orchestra form when Chopin first [……]1830”
Moreover, the unusual instrumentation, at least from current perspectives, is not out of line with the performance practices of Chopin’s time: “ The post-Baroque….......... light accompaniment“. The common late baroque practice of a light string accompaniment in the form of a quartet or quintet, had already been adopted by Mozart in his first piano concertos following those of Johann Christian Bach. Therefore, Chopin’s arrangements followed a well-established tradition.
All these doomsday prophets who blast the string quartet version talk about Chopin’s lack of orchestration abilities, being too heavy handed, and the tuttis being too compacted especially because the Alexander Quartet and Roger Woodward selected the sound of the Boesendorfer over that of the more dazzling and powerful Steinway. By creating a rich and highly nuanced sound spectrum these glorious musicians have taken it on themselves to rehabilitate Chopin and, respectively create the most translucent sound effects.
Given that Chopin’s most exceptional accomplishment lies in the fact that he somehow manages to transmit the sound of the Italian bel canto opera, especially Bellini’s, to the keyboard—an instrument that is by no means designed to sing—these are the ideal Chopin interpreters. This applies to both phrasing, and articulation, and as far as the strings are concerned, to sparing, but yet powerful vibrato openings.
A piano quartet composed by a fifteen-year-old Beethoven is included as an extra gift, a piece which in many places resembles either a most professional finger excercise or talent show and in hindsight, may spark thoughts of genius. Here again it is a remarkable level of technical mastery that is displayed by the performing musicians.
….. But before it is again relegated to the odd storage cabinet, the following exceptional interpretation of Chopin’s f-moll piano concerto, opus 21 is most memorable. A refined piece of chamber music with brilliant sound stripes well suited to more intimate settings. Roger Woodward’s clear, if not cool keyboard sound (he plays a Bosendorfer) mixes suspensefully with the well balanced sound of the Alexander String Quartet. To top it all off Beethoven’s Piano Quartet follows.)
…. Even on only a first hearing, taking the music and performance in by osmosis while engaged in another little sideline of translating Dutch into English, the magic of this recording soon established itself. Having heard many of these pieces live and at times being rehearsed frequently, and having examined and worked with them in detail while making arrangements, I do feel a close affinity with this music, even though it will always be way beyond my meagre abilities at the keyboard.
Roger Woodward’s first complete recording of both books of the Préludes by Claude Debussy was made after a highly successful concert at the Chamber Music Hall of Radio Bremen. He clearly felt at home in the location, and one with the Bösendorfer piano used, the instrument having been restored by a factory technician, and tuned and engineered to perfection. The recording brings out the warmth and sustaining power in the piano, which has a notably different sonority to the more bright and brilliant shine of a Steinway. Just listen to the low final notes of the opening Danseuses de Delphes and you will hear where the foundation of the sound sits in the soundboard, the strings encouraging an almost endless field of colour for Debussy’s harmonies.
My own reference in terms of recordings has for a long time been that of Cécile Ousset on her 1986 EMI two disc set 7 47608 8 which is now long out of print, though she does have a recording available on Berlin Classics label. I also lived with Claudio Arrau on Philips for a long time, which is another beautiful set. I found it made me depressed for some reason, in the same way as rainy afternoons when there are no CDs to review. Roger Woodward does not make me feel in any way sad and soulful though his playing – on the contrary, his performances are life affirming, a spiritual journey indeed and one which at times may move you to tears, but one which ultimately lifts one beyond the clouds. Even his Des pas sur la neige have a ‘Scotch snap’ feel to that rhythmic feature of the main theme, something given a certain broad expressive licence by many pianists. In this case it might illustrate someone picking their way over thin ice rather than leaving a trail in deep snow. The massive tumult of the following piece, Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest, is a remarkably powerful statement in Woodward’s hands, and one can hear where Messiaen would have picked up on such a wild image of nature in music.
Contrast, rich imagery and drama are all composed into these Préludes, but Roger Woodward breathes life into the notes at every turn. The sonorities of the Bösendorfer suits La cathédral engloutie particularly well. Just listen to the notes from about 00:40 in: the most evocative distant bells I think I’ve ever heard in a recording. The build-up to the great bass chime at 2:38 is a truly cathartic moment, and the whole experience is a remarkable monument to Debussy’s pictorial imagination and modernist thinking. Woodward takes 7:22 here compared to Ousset’s 5:46 but the difference is no indulgence, the sustaining power of the Bösendorfer strings making a lengthier exploration of this music all the more powerful. Woodward’s timings are by no means excessive in general, and he frequently comes in under Ousset’s durations in the lighter pieces. What Woodward is prepared to do is allow Debussy’s curtains of sound full expression with his pedalling in something like Brouillards which begins Book II of the Préludes. His clarity is faultless to my mind, but washes of sound are allowed to grow and swirl like the spread of watercolours over damp paper. The mysterious dance rhythms which grow out of the music here and there are also particularly piquant in these performances. The Habanera of La puerta del viño works on us like an echo from a lost and distant past, a sound to which ghosts may dance, but which mortals may only witness through sidelong glimpses around the corners of the Alhambra Palace, and a deeply felt awareness of its past peoples. This seriousness of purpose does carry through to the cakewalk of Général Lavine – eccentric, whose asymmetrical gait carries a ruminating frown despite plenty of bounce in the rhythms, and whose quasi-pomposity raises a wry grin rather than a belly laugh. The humour of Pickwick is also pretty much subsumed in marvellous and colourful pianism, though the spirit of fun in this music has perhaps always had a Gallic way of escaping me.
Without wanting to gloss over the marvels to be found in all of these Préludes, I’ll just mention the fireworks of Feux d’Artifice. I hope Roger Woodward’s fingernails didn’t suffer any painful damage, but you can hear them rattle hard against the keys on the downward glissando at 00:25. This performance has everything: those washes of colour, and the sharp contrast of clarity in those notes which rise and sparkle through those improbably rich textures, those harmonic progressions pushed strongly by that chunky Bösendorfer resonance. A favourite of my mate and accompanist Johan the piano, I’ve heard this piece on innumerable different instruments and in more than one hemisphere, but I’ve never heard it in as spectacularly a breathtaking performance as this.
One of an increasing number of recordings of the complete Préludes on a single CD, this disc is not only terrific value in terms of its timing, but also the best performance I have ever heard. There is competition of course. Pascal Rogé on the Onyx label is a single-disc release and has to be a contender, and Steven Osborne on Hyperion also provides good value. Krystian Zimerman comes in at an even more improbable 84:00 on his single Deutsche Grammophon CD. I’m happy to stick with Roger Woodward though. This recording has been something of a revelation for me, crammed full with new discoveries in the potential of these pieces and of the piano as an implement for pure musical expression. I’m left lacking superlatives, and can only urge you to try this recording for yourself.
Dominy Clements
…. His interpretation of “Voiles”, for instance, embodies the Satie-esque poise and mystery which got Debussy compared to the Impressionists. Woodward’s greatest asset here is his restraint: even the direction animé, as for “Le Vent Dans La Plaine”, produces just enough of a breeze to ripple one’s interest, rather than the gusts of less sensitive hands; imagine the profondément calme with which he realises “La Cathédrale Engloutie”. A matchless recording.
Download this: Voiles; Le Vent Dans La Plaine; La Cathédrale Engloutie; Ondine; Brouillards
….. Die Rede ist vom 1942 geborenen Roger Woodward und von Nelson Freire, Jahrgang 1944, die beide die Préludes von Claude Debussy aufgenommen haben, Roger Woodward beim Label “Celestial Harmonies”, Nelson Freire bei Decca. Da drängt sich ein Vergleich auf, und so möchten wir Ihnen heute hier in der “Klassik-Zeit” gleich zwei CDs vorstellen. Lassen wir dem älteren Herrn den Vortritt, hier ist also zunächst Roger Woodward mit einem Feen-Reigen aus dem zweiten Heft der Préludes von Claude Debussy.
“Les Fées sont d’exquises danseuses” - “Die Feen sind erlesene Tänzerinnen”, das kann man sich bei dieser Musik gut vorstellen, Roger Woodward spielte das 4. Prélude aus dem 2. Heft. Das war aber nur das Vorspiel zu unserem Vergleich der Debussy-Aufnahmen von Roger Woodward und Nelson Freire hier in hr2-kultur, denn während Roger Woodward beim Label “Celestial Harmonies” beide Hefte der Préludes aufgenommen hat, hat sich Nelson Freire bei “Decca” auf das erste Heft beschränkt, als Ergänzung aber noch “Children’s Corner” und das berühmte “Clair de lune” aus der Suite bergamasque für die CD gespielt.
Wie spielen zwei Pianisten das selbe Stück? Das ist immer eine spannende Frage und in den seltensten Fällen wird man feststellen, dass sie das selbe Stück gleich spielen. Denn, auch wenn sich die Komponisten sehr bemühen, ihre musikalische Vorstellung möglichst präzise aufs Notenpapier zu bekommen - es bleibt immer ein Rest, den der Musiker selbst entscheiden und gestalten muss, deshalb wird er ja auch “Interpret” genannt. Hören Sie also einmal genau hin, wie Roger Woodward und Nelson Freire die Préludes von Claude Debussy interpretieren, denn zum Vergleich haben wir jetzt zweimal das gleiche Stück aufgelegt:
Diesmal darf Nelson Freire beginnen, und wir wollen für diesen Vergleich eines der wenigen Stücke heranziehen, in denen sich Claude Debussy auf Italien bezieht: “Les Collines d’Anacapri” steht unter dem 5. Stück der Préludes. Debussy wollte die Titel ja nicht über die Musik schreiben, um die Hörer in ihrem Höreindruck nicht gleich festzulegen. Andererseits sind viele dieser Stücke so illustrativ, dass sich Debussy die Mühe der “Unterschrift” wohl nicht hätte machen müssen. Doch zurück zum 5. Prélude, die Hügel von Anacapri werden hier beschrieben, aber nicht nur die Landschaft, sondern auch das temperamentvolle Leben auf der Insel Capri vor Neapel.
Die Hügel von Anacapri - Nelson Freire spielte die Nr. 5 aus dem 1. Heft der Préludes von Claude Debussy. Und jetzt hier in der Klassik-Zeit von hr2-kultur sofort der direkte Vergleich: Les Collines d’Anacapri, diesmal interpretiert von Roger Woodward.
Zweimal haben wir mit Claude Debussy auf die Insel Capri geblickt, genauer: auf die Hügel von Anacapri. Das war Roger Woodward mit dem 5. Prélude aus dem 1. Heft, und davor haben Sie Nelson Freire mit dem gleichen Stück gehört.
Der auffälligste Unterschied zwischen diesen beiden Aufnahmen ist wohl der Klang. Gar nicht unbedingt der Klang des Spiels, sondern der Klang des Instruments und wie es von den Tontechnikern aufgenommen wurde, gerade bei dieser Musik spielt das eine nicht unerhebliche Rolle. Roger Woodwards Aufnahme ist bei Radio Bremen entstanden und er hat sich dort für einen Bösendorfer-Flügel entschieden, auch dies ist ja schon eine Klang-Entscheidung. Bei Nelson Freire ist zwar nicht angegeben, welchen Flügel er spielt, aber es dürfte wohl ein Steinway sein. Wichtiger scheint mir hier aber tatsächlich die Aufnahmetechnik zu sein, denn Roger Woodwards Aufnahme klingt insgesamt klarer und räumlicher. Was diese Tendenz noch unterstreicht, hängt dann mit der Interpretation zusammen:
Roger Woodward lässt sich mehr Zeit, scheint mehr auf die Klangfarben der Musik zu achten, während Nelson Freire einen virtuoseren Stil pflegt und für die meisten Stücke weniger Zeit benötigt. Der Klang, die Farbe hat bei diesen Klavierstücken von Claude Debussy einen eigenen Wert bekommen, Melodien und Akkorde sind nicht musikalischen Formen untergeordnet, sondern die Klangereignisse sind selbst zum konstitutiven Element dieser Musik geworden. Debussy hat hier ganz neue Klangverbindungen gefunden und dabei die Grenzen der Tonalität hinter sich gelassen, auch das zeigt, wie elementar für den Interpreten dieser Musik die klangliche Seite der Préludes ist. Wie Roger Woodward und Nelson Freire dies umsetzen, das möchten wir Ihnen jetzt mit zwei weiteren Stücken vorfühen. Und da es dabei ja nicht um falsch oder richtig, sondern um so oder so geht, wird jetzt nicht von beiden das gleiche Stück zu hören sein, sondern es erklingen zwei aufeinander folgende Stücke aus den Préludes, wobei sich die Pianisten am Flügel abwechseln: Roger Woodward beginnt mit “Des pas sur la neige”, mit den Spuren im Schnee, direkt anschließend hören Sie dann Nelson Freire mit “Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest”, mit dem, was der Westwind gesehen hat.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Jan10/Roger_Woodwardp.htm
When : Monday nights at 9pm - August 1, 2011
Where: on KALW-FM 91.7
Who: Roger Woodward with Alexander String Quartet
What: Dvorak ENCORE! Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81 {EIM 42
Listen to the Monday night series featuring Alexander String Quartet and special guests
When: 16 December 2010, 7.15pm
Where: BBC Radio 3 - In Tune - Live performance and interview
When? Wednesday 10 March 2010
Where? BBC Radio 3, In Tune, 5pm, or listen via the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tp0c
Who? Roger Woodward, prelude to 11 March performance for Tait Memorial Trust
What? Interview and performances
When? Tuesday 17 November, 9.05pm
Where? Bavarian Radio BR-klassik
Who? Roger Woodward, solo piano
What? Bach, Well Tempered Klavier, Celestial Harmonies new release
http://www.br-online.de/br-klassik/cd-box/index.xml
When? Monday 23 November, 9pm
Where? KALW, 91.7FM, or online at http://www.kalw.org
Who? Roger Woodward with the Alexander String Quartet
What? Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat, op.44
When? Sunday 30 November, 3.05pm
Where? Bavarian Radio BR-klassik
Who? Roger Woodward solo piano
What? Bach 6th Partita, Chopin Nocturnes, Takemitsu.
http://schallplattenkritik.de:80/li/2007-4.html
Prestigious German Critics’ Award for Roger Woodward’s Celestial Harmonies CD 13 2802 JS Bach, Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue BWV 903, Partitas Nos 2 & 6. (see Discography Section) Reviews: http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=5481
Hans Otte’s “Stundenbuch / Book of Hours” and Peter Michael Hamel’s “Vom Klang des Lebens - Of the Sound of Life” listed in the February, 2008 issue of nmz-neue musikzeitung in Germany among the best records released during 2007. (See Discography Section)
“one of the truly great pianists” Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm
“Woodward demonstrated a stature as a piano recitalist unrivalled in this country” Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, 1990
“flawless rendition of Tchaikovsky” China Daily, Beijing 1990
“one of the most consistently exciting and convincing interpreters of virtuoso avant-garde music” Financial Times, London
“a pianistic genius” Tom Sutcliffe, The Guardian (Xenakis’ Eonta)
“a genius” Jean Barraqué
“Woodward exhibited an instrumental mastery of virtuosity that took one’s breath away” Trieste Festival 1990
“the greatest living performer of contemporary music” The Listener, NZ
“fingers and nerves of steel” Andrew Porter, The New Yorker
“one of the great Chopinists of our times” Artur Rubinstein
“magical sounds came from every part of the instrument” Sir Yehudi Menuhin
“one of the finest pianists of our time” Iannis Xenakis
“pianist’s pianist” The Scotsman, Edinburgh
“a musician’s musician” Denver News, USA
A genius Toulouse Press
“Woodward played with astonishing calm… in Woodward I sensed the composer’s real intentions… here is a player with real integrity.” Christchurch Symphony, Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto, 1995
The Australian pianist Roger Woodward performs both traditional and contemporary repertoire although his musical training is steeped in church music and the romantic repertory. He rose to international prominence in prestigious collaborations with Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Jean Barraqué, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Toru Takemitsu, Franco Donatoni, Luciano Berio, Leo Brouwer, Iannis Xenakis, Arvo Pärt, Larry Sitsky, Richard Meale, Anne Boyd, Ross Edwards and Barry Conyngham, and worked with such contemporary German composers as Peter Michael Hamel, Rolf Gehlhaar, Hans Otte and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Such collaborations were recorded by the ABC, BBC, French and German Radio and Television and by the EMI, Decca and RCA recording companies, to launch a major career as soloist with orchestras such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus, five London orchestras, Los Angeles and New York Philharmonic orchestras, the Cleveland orchestra under such distinguished conductors as Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt, Erich Leinsdorf, Witold Rowicki et al.
Roger Woodward’s recording of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier was Editor’s Choice for The Gramophone’s February, 2010 publication and German and UK critics described this release as setting a new standard after Gould and Barenboim. He was awarded the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his Celestial Harmonies recording of Bach C-minor and E-minor Partitas and is a recipient of the Goethe Prize and Diapaison d’or by German and French critics for recordings of works
dedicated to him by Morton Feldman. Current recordings for Celestial Harmonies of the Chopin Nocturnes, F-minor Concerto and Debussy Préludes, were released to exceptionally high praise from critics worldwide.
As a chamber musician he worked with Ivry Gitlis, Philippe Hirschhorn, the Tokyo and Arditti String Quartets and is the frequent partner of the Alexander String Quartet. Their recording of the Shostakovich Piano Quintet for the Foghorn label received brilliant reviews as did their recent recording for Celestial Harmonies of the Chopin F-minor Concerto and C-major Beethoven Piano Quartet WoO 36. At the invitation of the late Sviatoslav Richter Roger Woodward performed with the Arditti String Quartet at La Grange de Meslay, Tours, and he has frequently performed at Le festival d’automne à Paris and BBC Promende Concerts.
In 2009, he premiered Of the Sound of Life (a sixty- five-minute collection of twelve etudes) by the contemporary German composer Peter Michael Hamel, at the Gasteig, Munich. His recording of this work for Celestial Harmonies was greeted enthusiastically by the German critics as was his recording of Hans Otte’s Book of Hours and Rolf Gehlhaar’s Diagonal Flying. His live recording with Claudio Abbado for DGG, from the Wienerkonzerthaus received very high praise.
Resident in San Francisco, he is recipient of the Polish Order of Merit, Order of the British Empire, Chevalier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and is a Companion of the Order of Australia.
“Roger Woodward compt parmi les musiciens internationaux du premier plan à notre époque”
(Toulouse)
“Woodward demonstrated a stature as a piano recitalist unrivalled in this country” Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, 1990
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