Unlike most performances of Bach’s A minor Organ Prelude that basically adhere to a steady tempo, Alain Lefèvre’s slows down and speeds up in the manner of an improvised toccata. He’s right to do so, for that’s exactly the music’s nature, and his forceful articulation of the subsequent fugue carries the momentum further. The pianist also is in his element throughout the Weinen, Klagen variations, where his ample tone intensifies the composer’s restless chromatic harmonies (so different from Brendel’s steel-engraved textures and nervous energy). But it’s all downhill from there, sad to say.
Lefèvre stretches the Wagner/Liszt Liebestod out to 11 very long minutes. The music’s surging line loses shape and rhythmic definition through Lefèvre’s overly languid phrasing. Horowitz, by contrast, metes out rubato in more judicious, proportioned doses. The same criticism can be leveled throughout the Song to the Evening Star from Tannhäuser. Lastly, Lefèvre fusses with the Wagner/Liszt Tannhäuser Overture’s opening section, which hints at the pianist’s sluggish, undertempo dispatch of the Bacchanale. All told, a very mixed bag.
