2.0 out of 5 stars
heavy-handed reading of the Sonata, November 19, 2007
This review is from: Macdowell: Sonata No.2, Op.50/Twelve Virtuoso Etudes, Op.46 (Audio CD)
MacDowell's four Sonatas were composed in close succession, between 1893 and 1901, and the 2nd, subtitled "Eroica", dates from 1895. Its hidden program is the legend of King Arthur, but the Sonata stands on its own without reference to its subtext. Despite MacDowell's German training (he was a pupil of Raff and acquainted with Liszt and his circle), it is Rachmaninoff that comes to (my) mind in the passionate, fiery and sometimes even grandiloquent Romantic gestures of the first and third movements. But the main influence in the two others, it seems to me, is Chopin, especially in the 2nd movement "Elf-like, as light and swift as possible": it is a dazzling etude in right-hand filigree in the style of Chopin's Op. 10/2, 4, 5, 8 but melodically with a bounce reminiscent of Op. 25/3 & 5, and harking back to MacDowell's famous Encore "Hexentanz"; as for the finale it veers between Lizt and Chopin (whiffs of the 3rd Sonata and some of the Polonaises). Don't take these similitudes as a sign of dismission: while I don't find MacDowell's language very personal, I find it quite pleasurable.
That said, I have this same Sonata by James Tocco, as volume 3 of his 4-volume series including the 4 Sonatas of MacDowell and the piano music of Griffes on Gasparo (
MacDowell & Griffes, Vol. 3). Tocco offers admirably fiery readings, both of MacDowell and Griffes magnificent Piano Sonata. By comparison, Fierro seems earthbound and heavy-handed. The timings of the second movement are telling: Tocco zips in 3:04, Fierro plods at 3:24 - his elf must have eaten too much. It is the same with the other movements.
The Twelve Virtuoso Etudes are Lisztian tone poems, well-crafted, virtuosic but of no particular originality and rather hollow. As in the Hungarian composer's Transcendental Etudes, you get a "Wilde Jagd", and also an Elfentanz, Valse Triste, Burleske, Traümerei. The influences are avowed. I have no other version to assess the merits of Fierro's interpretation. But for the Sonata, Tocco is much preferable, all the more so as its companion piece, Griffes' Sonata, is a true masterpiece.
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