Gwendolyn Mok www.gwendolynmok.com was born in New
York and studied at the Juilliard School of Music, Yale University where she
completed her undergraduate studies and State University of New York at Stony
Brook, where she gained her Doctorate. The winner of several piano competitions,
Vlado Perlemuter chose Mok to be the last student to whom he would pass on his
knowledge of Ravel with whom he had studied and played the composer’s entire
oeuvre.
In 1994, the French Ministry of Culture awarded Ms. Mok a
grant to study with Perlemuter for one year. Since 1995, Mok has been
performing Ravel's works in recital and was invited to teach these works at the
Royal College of Music, Welsh College of Music, The Dartington International
Summer School in Devon, and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
In 1996, Mok made her official London debut in two concerts
of Ravel in Somerset House, on a restored Erard grand piano of 1875. She was
also featured in broadcasts of Ravel on BBC Radio 3, Music Matters, Woman's
Hour and the World Service.
Mok has appeared in many of the world's leading concert
halls including The Barbican, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher
Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and The Hong Kong Performing Arts Center. She is also
frequently invited to play and record with major international orchestras most
notably The London Symphony, The Philharmonia, The Hong Kong Philharmonic
Orchestra, The Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra and The Residentie Orkestre of
The Hague.
She is currently the Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at San
Jose State University School of Music and Dance. She has made a number of
recordings for Nonesuch/Elektra, Musical Heritage Society, Cala Records and
EMI. Her highly acclaimed debut CD with The Philharmonia of Ravel's Piano
Concerto in G Major Cala Records) was nominated for an Alternative Edison award
in the concerto category.
MSR Classics www.msrcd.com has just released a recording by Gwendolyn Mok entitled Legacy – The
Spirit of Beethoven where she plays works by Beethoven, Czerny and Mendelssohn
on instruments of the period from the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven
Studies and the School of Music and Dance at San Jose State University www.sjsu.edu/beethoven/collections_exhibit/historical_keyboard
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| MS 1590 |
For Ludwig van
Beethoven’s (1770-1827) Piano Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op.2, No.2 (1795) Gwendolyn
Mok has chosen a reproduction of a Louis Dulcken fortepiano of 1795 built by
Janine Johnson and Paul Poletti www.sjsu.edu/beethoven/collections_exhibit/historical_keyboard/replica_jeanlouis_dulcken_fortepiano/index.html
The Allegro vivace
brings a lively crisp articulation from Mok, her fine fluency bringing out some
lovely textures from her fortepiano, finding so many little details and nuances
that show the instrument to the full.
The Largo appassionato
is really wonderful in the hands of this pianist with passages of fine
dexterity set against restrained, poetic moments. In the second movement she
brings a lovely lightness of touch to the scherzo
through a fluent trio, Mok’s phrasing
and dynamics finely judged.
The concluding Rondo
(Grazioso) has a lovely flow, Mok revealing some lovely textures and
sonorities, revealing the fine lower register of this instrument. She brings
intense feeling to the faster, dramatic section with some lovely fluid moments.
Mok switches to an 1823 Broadwood and Sons fortepiano made
in London www.sjsu.edu/beethoven/collections_exhibit/historical_keyboard/broadwood_sons_grand_fortepiano/index.html
for Carl Czerny’s (1791-1857) Erste
fantasie auf motive aus Beethoven’s werken (First fantasy on motifs works
by Beethoven) (1835). She brings a
dramatic opening that is finely developed through slower, delicate passages of
quite wonderful beauty, bringing out the lighter texture of the Broadwood
fortepiano. She moves quickly and fluently through some terrific passages full
of fine textures. The bolder Beethovenian chords come out well on this
instrument, which is a fine choice for this music in which, throughout, one
hears so many of Beethoven’s themes. Mok shows tremendous fluency and fine
phrasing. It is great fun as all the themes appear (listed in the booklet)
before a coda full of tremendous panache.
Beethoven’s song
cycle An die ferne Geliebte, Op.98 (To
the distant beloved) was transcribed for pianoforte by Franz Liszt (1849-1850) and is played here on the same
Broadwood instrument. The Andante
espressivo reveals a richer side to the Broadwood, full of warmer, lower tones,
with Mok providing some beautiful phrasing. There is a lovely little Poco allegretto, finely shaped before a
rhythmically buoyant Allegro assai
that, nevertheless, is allowed to show moments of more introspection. There is
an Allegro non tanto, con grazia e sentimento
that has some lovely delicate, light phrases before leading into the opening
trills of the Vivace that soon picks
up a pace with a terrific theme that later finds a lovely flow. The concluding
calm and gently flowing Andante con moto,
cantabile, andante espressivo, allegro molto e con brio brings some quite
exquisite phrases before a strong coda.
On returning to Carl
Czerny, Gwendolyn Mok turns to an Erard of 1868 (Paris) www.sjsu.edu/music/discovering_music/academic_programs/instrumental_performance/keyboard_studies/historic_keyboard
for his Nocturne in E flat major, Op.647 (1841) a gently flowing piece that
reveals the Erard has a less bright sound. The music has a lovely rise and fall
with this pianist bringing considerable fluency with a steady underlying
rhythmic flow. The music rises through more passionate passages as well as bars
of limpid fluidity. Mok provides a lovely performance that reveals so many
aspects of her instrument, richer phrases as well as lighter more delicate moments,
surely influenced by Chopin.
Gwendolyn Mok concludes her recital with Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) Variations
sérieuses in D minor, Op.54 (1841), again using the 1868
Erard. She sets out the opening theme wonderfully before developing through the
seventeen variations that follow. This is an ideal way to reveal aspects of the
Erard instrument with a variation 2 that is fast and light on its feet, a
variation 6 that brings staccato phrases with an anguished intensity, a
variation 7 that is fast and furious and fleet of touch, the slow richer variations
of variation 9 that bring a real depth, a vibrant variation 11 with its well
sprung phrases, the lovely textures of variation 14 before a rollicking variation
to end.
This is a terrific disc on all counts. Gwendolyn Mok not
only reveals many fine aspects of the instruments she has chosen to play but,
more importantly brings strong and fresh interpretations.
The detailed recording is well-nigh perfect, bringing the
different tone and texture of each instrument.
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