Recording Review #64: Influences, I Guess

Influences. Mariam Batsashvili, pianist. Warner Classics 2173253517.

One way to repackage various but frequently recorded pieces is to claim some connection between them. In the case of Mariam Batsashvili's third Warner release, the idea is that these sonatas "and extras" are presented chronologically by composer in a way that shows connectiong threads. Or something. Here is Batsashvili's explanation: 

"Even though there are so many other sonatas which are fantastic, I chose these ones because they speak to me. The idea of Influences is that the listener will make links between the sonatas, and whilst hearing the character and signature of each composer, the evolution of sonata form and the development of music is audible." (See here for her entire interview discussing the recording.)

Okay, I guess. I think we can all agree there are many possible connections between Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt. But Batsashvili speaks a bit broadly, if not vaguely, when it comes to identifying some. I kinda think she just chose these specific sonatas (and extras) mainly because she likes them. Which is fine, but it makes the Influences theme come across more as a marketing ploy than anything else. She's performing stuff she wants to; theme-wise, maybe we should just leave it at that and be content.

Of course, what matters more than the packaging is the playing. Here we have somewhat of a mixed bag to go along with the repertoire choices. We start with Haydn's sprightly D-Major Sonata, Hob. XVI:37. This is played well if not remarkably. Anyone merely wanting a solid performance will be entirely pleased. A slightly-too-staccato articulation at times goes against my taste, but this isn't a huge deal. Similar things could be said for Batsashvili's interpretation of Mozart's D-Major Sonata, K. 576, though I liked this performance a bit better because of a suitably rousing finale.

Given her propensity for Liszt (more on this in a bit), it's maybe surprising that Batsashvili's Appassionata Sonata by Beethoven isn't more fiery. I found it fairly well played, but too tame. The finale especially is sluggish and lackluster. Furthermore, if "influences" encompasses how galant-like she makes passages like the one starting at Measure 145 sound, perhaps this is a connection to Haydn (or before) we didn't need! Usually I'm glad when companies don't skimp on their discs' playing times. But at 83 minutes, this recording could have left out its Appassionata and elevated the whole business in so doing. 

But now we come to the best reason to purchase Influences: Batsashvili's Liszt. The winner of both the 10th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition (2014) and the International Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists (2011), she amply backs up her credentials as a Lisztian here. We get excellent performances of the first and famous third Liebesträume, as well as a solid La Campanella. However, the real prize is her Dante Sonata. This isn't the easiest work to bring off convincingly, but Batsashvili supplies the vividness, cohesion, and absolute sympathy required to do so. That alone is worth the purchase price. 

Verdict: Highly Recommended for the Liszt; Recommended for the Haydn and Mozart

New Review at Classical Candor

 My review of the new Sony Liszt disc, featuring Leif Ove Andsnes in Via Crucis and some assorted piano works, is now up at Classical Candor: https://classicalcandor.blogspot.com/2025/04/liszt-via-crucis-solo-piano-works-cd.html

Recording Review #60: Quibbles for Kantorow

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

Recording Review #30: A Lovely Lisztnomer

 

Majestic Liszt. Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, pianist. Navona Records NV6632. 

The title of this strikes me as something of a misnomer. Call it a "Lisztnomer." Majestic Liszt? Certainly one or two pieces in this offering can be called "majestic," and there are perhaps some majestic moments in some of the rest of them. (Decide for yourself: here's a Liszt. Sorry, a LIST.) But overall? Ehhh. I don't know if I'd choose the word "majestic'; there's a lot of rather dreamy stuff included. A description at the label website (found here) does little to support the appellation. (I'll admit that I haven't read the liner notes.) Anyway, on the surface it seems like kind of a strange situation. 

Far more important are the album's performances. Notwithstanding one or two quibbles, they're fantastic. We'll start with the quibbles and save the best for last. At over 18 minutes, Erdely-Sayo's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude is too slow for my taste. I know, I know: plenty of performances stretch for longer than that. (This includes the recent one by Emmanuel Despax that I reviewed last month here and praised.) But Erdely-Sayo doesn't get the tone colors out of this piece that Despax does, and while her interpretation is perfectly fine in other respects, the chosen tempo is a hang-up I couldn't quite shake in this particular case. I really don't think the Bénédiction needs to last much longer than 15 or 16 minutes. If it does, we maybe risk having too much majesty. 

The only other problem I perceived is that Erdely-Sayo very occasionally underplays some melodic notes. I caught at least two instances. The first happens later in the Bénédiction when the tune sits atop some thick chords – it got obscured for a bar or two. Then in the first Consolation one or two of the melodic pitches barely get touched during a soft passage. (This is admittedly hard to bring off.) 

But none of that matters much next to some really fine playing. All of the Consolations are beautifully rendered. The well-known Third is suitably, silkily magical; I don't know that it's possible to play it much better. Erdely-Sayo brings an earnest passion to the famous Liebesträume No. 3, and easily holds her own in comparison with celebrated performances. Her En rêve and Schubert-Liszt Ständchen are absolutely resplendent...a real joy to listen to. 

Navona's above-quoted description suggests that this recording may be ideal for those new to Liszt's music. Questionable title aside, I will prescribe it to such listeners without hesitation. Erdely-Sayo is clearly a capable advocate, and I look forward to her next release. 

Majestically Recommended 

Recording Review #20: Luminous Liszt

Liszt: Après une lecture du Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (from Années de pèlerinage, Deuxième année: Italie); Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude (from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses); Funérailles (from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses); Nuages gris; Piano Sonata in B Minor. Emmanuel Despax, piano. Signum Classics SIG CD798. 2 CD. 

Emmanuel Despax is an avid Lisztian. Being one myself, it's easy for me to cheer such people on nowadays, especially when Liszt seems to be needing friends more than ever. Happily, there is much to recommend in Despax's latest offering, which features a generous helping of Liszt's greatest music. Frankly, I get tired of defending Liszt to people who turn their noses up at him and should have the taste and imagination to know better. But ultimately good performances of his best stuff will change hearts and minds more than anything people like me can say. 

We start with an extremely good Dante Sonata. This is a difficult work to approach interpretively. The form is winding and there are plenty of opportunities for miscalculation. But Despax forges a path that somehow elucidates this complex, problematic score. The agitated material starting at the first Presto is very hard to bring off without it sounding noisy. Despax succeeds brilliantly. But where he is at his best both here and elsewhere is in the quieter, more visionary passages. The F-Sharp Major theme at the Andante is a case in point, and even more so in its repetition to come in the higher register. 

Despax's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude is almost as good. My preference is for more passion in its moments of intensity, and Despax's tempo is slower in many places than I'd like. But never mind. The sounds and colors he gets from Liszt's scrumptious harmonies are some of the best I've ever heard. Maybe the slower tempo even works to an advantage, because practically all you can think about while you hear some of these passages is how much you want to savor them like Despax clearly does. The middle section presents some of the most poetic music Liszt composed, and Despax's tone color throughout it is just lovely. 

I was similarly impressed with Funérailles, which some pianists ruin by "over-banging" the grief-stricken climaxes. Despax keeps things controlled in the best sense, never overdoing loud passages while maintaining a delicate sound in the tender ones. By contrast I thought there could be a bit more grey mystery in Nuages gris. But Despax delivers a fine interpretation all the same. 

Of course the elephant in this room is the B-Minor Sonata, which Jim Svejda has adroitly described as being one of the few Romantic-era piano sonatas equal to any of those Beethoven composed. There is accordingly a huge recording catalogue for this work, with a nice share of legendary outings. The interested pianist therefore has to contend both with formidable technical and interpretive difficulties, and with an intimidating performance history. Despax's is one of the slower run-times I have encountered, clocking in at just under 35 minutes. I was apprehensive when I saw this, but you shouldn't be. Most of that extra time is again used up in the slower passages where Despax very deliberately relishes the gorgeous melodies and thoughtful moments. But he doesn't shrink from the many virtuosic passages, which are dispatched with an admirable mixture of control and élan. The attenuated conclusion is perfect. I don't know where you'll rank Despax's B-Minor Sonata in the Pantheon of Liszt B-Minor Sonatas, but there's enough that's special here for me to place it firmly in good company.

Warmly Recommended