Rudolf Buchbinder’s second Sony Classical CD features live performances of several Schubert works that he has previously recorded in the studio. Audiences seem to inspire Buchbinder to take chances, and indeed, the D. 899 Impromptus reveal a wider degree of dynamic contrast, tempo fluctuation, and dramatic inflection than in his earlier EMI and Telefunken accounts. For example, the left-hand accompaniments in the C minor and A-flat Impromptus emerge closer to the fore, with more intense accentuation. In contrast to the pearly elegance with which pianists like Murray Perahia and Maria João Pires shape the E-flat’s long right-hand triplet lines, Buchbinder’s more angular, diversified articulation emphasizes the music’s harmonic tension and melodic asymmetry. And while the G-flat’s expansive tempo benefits from Buchbinder’s textural variety, I prefer the relative directness and slightly faster tempos of his earlier traversals.
The freedom and rhetorical license Buchbinder brings to the Impromptus spills over into the B-flat sonata’s long first movement without pulling focus from the music’s narrative flow—and he doesn’t hold back in the quirky first ending; the fortissimo bass-register trill takes on quite a menacing, even violent tone. Buchbinder begins the Scherzo with coy hesitancy, then gradually accelerates to tempo, acknowledging the Trio section’s offbeat bass accents with understated bite. However, there’s nothing understated about the Allegro ma non troppo finale in Buchbinder’s urgent, forward-pressing treatment. His timbre slightly hardens at loud moments (the dotted chords, for instance), but that might be due to the clear and close-up sonics.
While there are more tonally luminous and more expressively proportioned D. 960 recordings to be had from Leon Fleisher, Stephen Kovacevich, Leif Ove Andsnes, and possibly Buchbinder himself, whose 1988 EMI version I have not heard, the present release nonetheless offers engaging, attention-worthy Schubert playing.
