There’s no question that Carl Petersson’s fingers can efficiently dispatch the elaborate intricacies of Leopold Godowsky’s Java Suite; yet his literal, texturally monochrome, frequently unimaginative playing is stylistically alien to the coloristic implications and sensual undertones that Godowsky’s atypically modal, impressionistic harmonic language suggests. For example, the chattering monkeys depicted in No. 5’s rapid repeated chords appear not so much to playfully converse as to shoot metal BBs at each other. The alluring shimmer characterizing the group of Three Dances (Nos. 7-9) recedes in the face of Petersson’s dry touch and square phrasing. He walks through The Gardens of Buitenzorg (No. 10) without communicating the unusual and inviting fragrances that Esther Budiardjo and Konstantin Scherbakov convey in their complete Java Suite recordings.
Although a modicum of sensitivity and nuance emerges within Petersson’s softer playing, loud climaxes are frequently ugly and steel-edged. Is it the pianist, the engineering, or both? Similarly, Petersson’s performance of the Liszt/Horowitz transcription of Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre serves up all of the notes with impressive accuracy yet doesn’t come close to Horowitz’s dynamism and playful diablerie. A disappointing disc.
