Once again Sony/BMG and Arkivmusic.com’s on-demand reprint program pool their resources, this time in making these long-out-of-print Busoni and Reger performances available for the first time on CD. Much as I’ve admired the beautifully thought out and refined Peter Serkin/András Schiff ECM interpretation of Busoni’s Fantasia Contrappuntistica, these qualities emerge with more energy, rhythmic incision, textural leanness, and forward momentum in the present 1964 recording.
Although the unusually close miking results in an overly dry and dynamically constricted ambience, you still can tell that the pianists are technically confident and fiercely together, yet allow for flexible repartee in fugal passages. They know when to press ahead as well as when to bend and shape Bach’s original lines in Busoni’s spirit. That this performance stands the test of time so well is all the more amazing when you consider that the pianists hadn’t yet turned legal: Peter Serkin was 16, Richard Goode was 20!
The young Serkin’s sensitivity and mature musicianship equally manifest themselves throughout an absorbing collaboration with cellist Mischa Schneider in Reger’s A minor cello sonata. They unfold the music in considerably broader, more massive terms when compared alongside the brisker, more transparent Gerhardt/Becker recording for Hyperion. For example, Gerhardt/Becker bring out the Allegretto con grazia finale’s almost balletic lightness, whereas Schneider/Serkin’s deliberation allows the dense chromatic movement more breathing room and tonal inflections. Similarly, in contrast to Gerhardt’s classic reserve in the Largo, Schneider’s full-bodied tonal elegance benefits from a more expansive tempo, not to mention the intimate, beautifully balanced engineering.
The CD booklet preserves both the original jacket art and David Johnson’s excellent annotations included on the vinyl edition’s back sleeve. A most welcome and rewarding reissue. [7/29/2011]
