Brahms • Schubert. Alexandre Kantorow, pianist. BIS-2660.
Some things are just awkward. For instance, titling a CD release "Brahms • Schubert" when about half of the Schubert heard on it is in the form of Liszt's song transcriptions. But I suppose one can hardly name the thing "Brahms • Liszt-Schubert • Schubert," or "Brahms • (Liszt) Schubert," or even "Brahms • Liszt • Schubert". Does this sound picky? Okay, maybe it is. Still, I don't think everyone appreciates just how much Liszt one hears in these arrangements. The title almost works, but not quite. A stone in the proverbial shoe.
Which is kind of a good metaphor for how I view the performances on this release. For me the Brahms sonata really works, and the Liszt-Schubert song transcriptions REALLY work. I can even get behind this Wanderer Fantasy...for the most part. It's Kantorow's take on the third movement thingie (I dunno, do you really call this a movement? More awkwardness!) that hangs me up most. The problem is that he often likes to alter the tempo for expressive effect. Which is fine in moderation. But it's distracting when it happens a lot or disrupts material where one wishes for a consistent rhythm...as in the dance-like third section (there we go!) of the Wanderer Fantasy. The thing really just needs to move, but instead Kantorow ends up making it feel more pent-up than poetic. Occasionally I get this in the Brahms, too, though in the sonata setting it's a bit less problematic. But this is all unnecessary for Kantorow. He has a SPLENDID array of tone colors, not to mention a lovely sotto voce sound and breathtaking virtuosic dash. Over-reliance upon rubato to distinguish his performances is just gilding the lily.
A smaller quibble over Kantorow's Wanderer Fantasy is the way he plows through the closing Allegro, in what is an opposite interpretive extreme from the previous section. I can understand this to a point; it's a big, showy finish. But we really need to hear those wondrous harmonies and other materials in better relief. Some restraint would be good here. Again, I crave just a bit more consistency.
The Brahms First Sonata performance is, tiny quibbles aside, magnificent. Kantorow captures all of its epic sweep and youthful passions without losing sight of the work's sinews. There's a structural command here that is missing in the Wanderer Fantasy performance, "Fantasy" though it be. Maybe most of all, Kantorow is adept at balancing the different voices. Not only does he ALWAYS KNOW WHERE THE MELODY LIES, but he also shades those other lines in gossamer hues. This isn't something that just any pianist can do well. It's a special gift, which Kantorow further deploys in his well-chosen Schubert-Liszt offerings. This is some of the best playing of these pieces I have heard. (Included is Der Wanderer, D. 489, upon which the Fantasy is based.)
Sometimes a recording will make you feel torn. You may not like everything on it, or how everything on it is done. But you're certain that it's worth enjoying and revisiting all the same. Some of Kantorow's decisions here aren't my favorite, but I like what he does well considerably more than I dislike those [poorer] decisions. And so I'll gladly live with my quibbles.
Verdct: Highly Recommended, especially for the Brahms sonata and Schubert • Liszt (sorry • not sorry) song transcriptions
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