The Canadian-born, Juilliard-trained, Washington, DC-based pianist Audrey Andrist boasts a resume packed with competition victories, recital tours, and distinguished chamber and concerto collaborations. So it comes as no surprise that she plays these oft-recorded Schumann works with impeccable technical poise and a beautiful, full-bodied tone that never splinters, even in Carnaval’s giddy climaxes or in the gnarly, obsessive counterpoint of the Fantasy’s middle movement. However, her interpretations are overly careful.
In Carnaval, for example, Andrist embraces the Preambule squarely and gingerly. The Papillons are too conscientiously articulated to take wing, Paganini’s skips are tackled with caution and without addressing the composer’s cross-rhythmic phrasing, while Reconnaissance’s rigidly dispatched repeated octaves and left-hand accompaniment don’t lilt at all. On the other hand, lyrical movements like the Valse Noble, Eusebius, and Aveu elicit far more poetry and nuance from this pianist.
Happily, the C major Fantasy fares better. The first movement may not match Arrau’s theatrical breadth or Kissin’s volatile dynamic surges, yet Andrist’s smaller-scaled conception has plenty of animation and singing impulse. Her intelligent, texturally varied voice leading keeps the central movement afloat, while the finale unfolds and builds with long-lined ebb and flow. I also ought to acknowledge Andrist’s well-written and informative booklet notes, Terry Fenton’s beautiful landscape cover art, and Judith Sherman’s first-class production values.
