Oh, the pain, the pain! Here we have an absolutely great Paganini Rhapsody yoked to a less than fabulous version of the less popular Third Symphony. I would have suggested that you go to iTunes and simply download the Rhapsody, but the problem there is that it’s divided into 26 individual tracks costing 0.99 each, which is patently insane, so you’re stuck with the entire disc, or nothing. Not that the performance of the symphony is bad—it isn’t. In fact, the second and third movements are very good, the former nicely flowing, the latter rhythmically sharp and exciting, with a really dazzling coda. The problems all concern the first movement, which is stiffly phrased and, at nearly 18 minutes with the exposition repeat, simply too slow. For purposes of comparison, I have put together a sound clip of Shui’s handling of the opening orchestral eruption as compared to a good reference version: Mackerras’ on EMI. The issue isn’t just Shui’s initial stodgy tempo, but also the variations between phrases and sections. Mackerras is only a bit quicker overall, but substantially richer in contrast.
So back to the Rhapsody. This is dazzling: swift, virtuosic, and full of imaginative detail in both the piano part and the orchestral accompaniment (listen, for example, to the chattering woodwinds behind the solo in the third variation). Sudbin is one of those pianists with the ability to shape a phrase at high speed, keeping the melody firmly in view despite the cascades of notes surrounding it. In the latter stages of the work (after the famous eighteenth variation, beautifully shaped here), he uses this gift to characterize each section, building to an imposing and glittering final climax. The actual ending, a witty flick of the wrist, is just right. He’s helped by engineering, slightly dry in the bass, that perfectly balances the solo within the orchestra. Sudbin fans will want to hear this as a matter of course, but we can only hope that BIS finds a way to recouple this performance, or release it in a downloadable format more rational than that currently on offer. [Update: a timely message from BIS guiding spirit Robert von Bahr advises me that the Paganini Rhapsody is indeed available intact from www.eclassical.com, where you can download all those 26 tracks – in 24-bit – for $5.58 or in 16 FLAC/mp3 320 for $3.47.]
