In the main, Steven Osborne channels his considerable technique and velvety sound toward textual integrity throughout Rachmaninov’s Etudes-Tableaux. In Op. 33 No. 1, for example, Osborne’s measured basic tempo underscores Rachmaninov’s “non troppo” directive, while the pianist shapes the long sustained melodic line and asymmetrically marching marcato bass octaves with meticulous dynamic gradations (pianos are distinct from pianissimos, fortes are distinct from fortissimos, and so forth). He also plays the last five bars in tempo, without a “traditional” ritard. Osborne keeps No. 2’s soaring line and flickering accompaniment in uncommonly clear textural perspective, albeit without Horowitz’s coruscating edge.
The pianist’s supple calibrations of touch and timing lend an air of mystery to No. 4, while he dispatches No. 5’s vertiginous virtuoso writing with an effortlessness bordering on the transcendental. No. 6’s ricocheting chords always land dead of center, each note fully voiced, while No. 8’s thick writing emerges like a newly restored old master painting: clear and well-defined.
So do Op. 39 No. 1’s arpeggiated waves, although I prefer a harder-hitting approach that emphasizes the music’s agitato subtext. Similarly, Osborne puts an unorthodox lyrical spin on No. 3 in F-sharp minor that will surprise listeners used to faster, more demonic accounts (Sviatoslav Richter and Andrei Gavrilov, for example). He downplays No. 4’s rhythmic snap and forward thrust by focusing on its contrapuntal trajectory, and transforms No. 8’s right-hand double notes into a string of shimmering pearls.
Some listeners, to be sure, may lean toward more overtly scintillating and emotive performances, such as the best moments in Rustem Hayroudinoff’s Chandos Etudes-Tableaux cycle, the more subjective and captivatingly capricious Zlata Chocieva on Piano Classics, and John Ogdon’s 1971 reference set. But there’s no question that Steven Osborne takes Rachmaninov seriously, realizes his conceptions to the nth degree, and has something to say in this repertoire. Geoffrey Norris’ informative annotations and Hyperion’s superb sonics add all the more value to a release well worth hearing.
