Portuguese pianist Pedro Burmester first came to my attention through his fine recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, issued in Portugal by EMI. However, his Schumann and Liszt leave uneven impressions. In relation to Pollini’s symphonic rigor and Kissin’s improvisatory skywriting, Burmester’s conception of Schumann’s Fantasy treads an uncomfortable middle ground. The pianist’s fondness for dynamic surges in the first movement often cause the long melodic lines to splinter, while his speeding up of certain sequential sections reflect impatience rather than propelling the narrative forward. Less fidgeting over the obsessive dotted rhythms and more attention to linear interplay would have made the central movement more shapely and forceful. At first I thought I was in for a plodding, unpoetic final movement, yet Burmester’s steady deliberation and sober reserve generate a hypnotic momentum that causes the climactic chords to make a shattering impact.
The Liszt sonata’s first half suffers from heavy-footed articulation and a dragging overall pulse that cannot support the pianist’s rhetorical gestures (his distending of the repeated-note motive in the manner of Arrau or Horowitz). Fortunately, Burmester lightens up for a crisply characterized Fughetta, and from here on his playing gathers strength, sweep, and finger power. In both multi-channel SACD and conventional two-channel CD manifestations Avanti’s close-up engineering grows increasingly monochrome and aurally fatiguing.
