Sergey Koudriakov’s highly sectionalized treatment of Schubert’s D major sonata fastidiously pours over details at the expense of organic flow, spontaneity, and lyric simplicity. Consider his contorted parsing of the first movement’s second subject, the earnestly accurate scales that lack a sense of line, the Rondo’s rigidly held dotted rhythms and overly calibrated dynamic hairpins, and you’ll probably agree. For all of the pianist’s beautiful tone and caressing nuance in the second movement, his rounded-off phrasing pacifies the undulating urgency of the left-hand accompanying patterns. Still, you cannot dispute the pianist’s uncommonly clear diction in the Scherzo, especially in regard to the turns and trills. Similar criticism befits the D. 946 E-flat minor piece in regard to Koudriakov’s superfluous mooning over the repeated-note subject, although No. 2 in E-flat major’s natural, singing trajectory and unusually fleet basic tempo gave me great listening satisfaction. So did Koudriakov’s supple, light-fingered, astutely accented account of the concluding C major piece. Some good moments, granted, but in general, this exceptionally well-engineered SACD delivers less than it promises.
