Schubert - Impromptus; 'Wanderer' Fantasy; Moments musicaux; Drei Klavierstücke (1996)

Disc: 1
1. Fantasy In C Major, 'Wanderer', D760, Op. 15
2. Six Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 1 In C Major
3. Six Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 2 In A Flat Major
4. Six Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 3 In F Minor
5. Six Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 4 In C Sharp Minor
6. Six Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 5 In F Minor
7. Six Moments Musicaux, D780: No. 6 In A Flat Major
8. Four Impromptus, D899: No. 1 In C Minor
9. Four Impromptus, D899: No. 2 In E Flat Major
10. Four Impromptus, D899: No. 3 In B Flat Major
11. Four Impromptus, D899: No. 4 In A Flat Major

Disc: 2
1. Four Impromptus, D935: No. 1 In F Minor
2. Four Impromptus, D935: No. 2 In A Flat Major
3. Four Impromptus, D935: No. 3 In B Flat Major
4. Four Impromptus, D935: No. 4 In F Minor
5. Drei Klavierstucke, D946: No. 1 In E Flat Minor
6. Drei Klavierstucke, D946: No. 2 In E Flat Major
7. Drei Klavierstucke, D946: No. 3 In C Major

Nikolai Demidenko – piano

Schubert is often the province of more technically limited pianists, who sell themselves on their "poetry". Russian pianists, however, have contested that tradition. Demidenko's performances in this set capture the Russian approach to Schubert without in any sense being caricatured. The disk opens with a superb Wanderer -- fiery, searching, at times, desolate, at others, resolute. It must be one of the best on disk, and forms a wonderful trinity with the performances by countrymen Richter and Sofronitsky.

The opportunities for Lisztian display are somewhat attenuated in the works that follow, but Demidenko's concentration does not slip. I often avoid the Moments Musicaux, but this is an excellent set, with strong characterisation in every piece, closing with a searching, slow rendition of the a flat piece. The Impromptus are excellent. D899 could hardly be bettered; the c minor piece has dramatic defiance, and the g flat is beautifully sung. The rippling figures in e flat and a flat are a joy. Demidenko treats D935 as a cohesive, sonata-like structure. Again, these are performed with intensity and concentration, but Schubertian lyricism remains uppermost. Textually, the Klavierstuecke are differentiated from the normal versions we here; scholarly research has been used to reconstruct material excised from the normal editions. This alone makes the set worth buying, and Demidenko performs them with the same virtues as his Impromptus. I rate this set as very strongly recommendable for these works. --- Michael Whincop, amazon.com

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