Just when you think that the Richard Strauss 150th birthday year (2014) had run its course with new releases, reissues, and rarities, along comes a disc containing mostly previously unrecorded solo piano works that he wrote up to the age of 10 or so. You’ve got to credit the young prodigy’s fluidity and spunk, but these pieces are mostly kid’s stuff, sounding like bad fake Mozart with patches of semi-bad Weber or half-bad Hummel. Still, a few charming moments catch your ear. For example, the Sonate No. 1’s brief Presto begins with Chico Marx-like clusters and suddenly veers off into an unexpected key before stopping in midair. By the time the 18-year-old Strauss composed the five Op. 3 Klavierstücke that close this disc, his own voice and sophisticated harmonic palette had begun to emerge.
Dario Bonuccelli’s brash and energized readings of the childhood pieces no doubt reflect the impetuous spirit in which one suspects they were composed, while his masterful Op. 3 performances are as good as any others, particularly in the broadly paced, tonally ripe Largo. Sadly, Dynamic’s unpleasantly dry, lackluster ambience and claustrophobic microphone placement undermine Bonuccelli’s achievements. As such, I can only recommend this release with caution.
