Abendmusik, of course, is German for Evening Music, but the real theme of Claire Désert’s recital is the intense musical and personal dynamics between Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. The disc opens with Robert Schumann’s Bunte Blätter Op. 99, which is more a collection of short pieces than an integral cycle. Désert’s innate sensitivity and ear for tone color give welcome translucence and variety to Schumann’s inner counterpoints and tendency toward chord doublings in both hands. This also allows her to hold your attention in pieces where she takes very slow tempos, such as the third of the Albumblätter and the Marsch.
Her interpretation of Clara Schumann’s Op. 20 variations seems comparatively inward and rounded off in the context of other recordings, yet she surprises with her rather vehement sprint through Variation 5 (more “molto” than “poco” animato, to be certain!).
Power and finesse admirably characterize Désert’s performance of Brahms’ Op. 9 variations. The pianist’s well-sprung detaché articulation offsets Variation II’s dotted rhythms against the sustained legato writing to nearly three-dimensional effect, and also defines her incisively dispatched Allegro capriccioso Variation V. Variation IX’s swirling figurations (did Rachmaninov subconsciously appropriate these for his Op. 23 No. 7 Prelude?) are as lithe and supple as could be, while Variation XII’s short-breathed phrases contain subtle surges of nervous energy that are more Schumann-esque than Brahmsian, and that’s exactly the point. Mirare’s warm, resplendent engineering further enhances my recommendation.
