Collectors who’ve appreciated Jenö Jandó’s stylish authority throughout the first six volumes of Naxos’ Bartók solo piano music cycle will find no surprises with Volume Seven. The pianist begins with a masterful account of the Op. 6 Bagatelles. He characterizes No. 1’s folk-like melodic line and deadpan descending scales with timbral distinction, and assiduously gauges the tiny ritards in the mainly motoric Nos. 2 and 5. The lyrical No. 12’s repeated notes don’t quite evoke a cimbalom to the effect of György Sandor’s old recording, but the harmonic tension hits harder than in Zoltan Kocsis’ suaver, slower reading, while Jandó’s swinging vehemence in the No. 14 Valse arguably provides a more dramatic conclusion than the composer intended. And why not, it works!
His solid rhythmic sense and forceful linear projection help color and contour the Nine Little Pieces; listen in particular to his punchy and vivacious way with the Allegro Vivace (No. 4). The disc’s remaining selections all date from Bartók’s youth, and we can hear the budding composer working Brahms’ full-bodied textures out of his system in the Adagio and Scherzo. Listeners familiar with the Op. 1 Rhapsody in its final extended incarnation for piano and orchestra will be curious to hear an earlier, shorter solo version packed with massive chords and cascading octaves that suggest a mutation of Franck and Liszt. Jandó’s bravura performance casts inhibition to the wind without losing the slightest control. As with previous releases in this series, the sonics are on the boxy side, and turn strident during loud moments.
