Jean-Yves Thibaudet is one of the few pianists on disc who manages to make Brahms’ Paganini Variations both scintillating and sonorous. The basses ring out with weighty yet never ponderous presence, cantabiles are shapely and always vocally informed, while the gnarliest double notes and most ungrateful chordal jumps couldn’t be clearer. There’s none of Kissin’s devil-may-care impetuosity, nor Katchen’s ribald sense of play, but Thibaudet’s determination to put Brahms first arguably pays off better in terms of consistent satisfaction. Incidentally, he launches directly from Book 1’s coda into Book 2’s first variation, bypassing the theme statement.
Similarly, Thibaudet’s rock-solid virtuosity, direct musicianship, and well-thought-out tempos throughout Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes add up to one of this work’s finest recordings. It differs from the broader, freer live performances I heard him play on his 2005/06 recital tour, where he inserted the five posthumous variations at various points between the so-called “standard” text. Here the five appear together as an appendix. A fleet, beautifully shaded Arabeske bridges the larger works. If you missed this 1995 release the first time around, don’t pass it up again: it’s a beauty.
