Motherland
see end of review for track listing
Khatia Buniatishvili (piano),
*Gvantsa Buniatishvili (piano)
rec. Jesus-Christus Kirche, Berlin, 15-19 April 2013
SONY CLASSICAL 88885 734622 [63.45]
This pianist has already recorded two albums for Sony, one consisting of
selections from the piano music of Liszt and the other of Chopin, including
the Second Piano Concerto. Here she presents a very wide-ranging
collection of what appear to be her personal favourites. These extend from
the baroque to the present day. It comes furnished with a very gushing
booklet note by Hannah Dübgen, which refers to the works included as "quiet,
intimate pieces that imply a quest rather than a sense of blatant
triumphalism." This highlights the problem with the disc: the lack of any
contrast of mood, despite the wide historical net that the selection casts.
As such it seems designed to address the pianist's own admirers, or to act
as background music to a quiet soirée, rather than to illustrate
the range of Khatia Buniatishvili's considerable talents. There is no
evidence here of the barnstorming virtuosic approach that occasioned
complaints from several critics at her Queen Elizabeth Hall recital in
London during June 2014 - although not at Seen and Heard. The same
critics also however complained that she has been overly enthusiastically
promoted by her record company. This complaint is given some substance by
the booklet notes provided with this issue.
Then again this review should not be coloured by the hype that Sony have
provided. We should simply address what we are given in musical terms. The
pianist begins promisingly with a laid-back and not over-romanticised
delivery of Egon Petri's Bach arrangement - not the slightest hint of
barnstorming here. By the fourth track, when we reach Debussy's Clair de
lune, we get a suggestion of the pianist being simply too
relaxed. She begins at a very slow speed, gradually picking up pace in the
middle section and delivering some beautifully poised arpeggiated chords;
but there is a sense of the impressionistic mistiness distancing the
listener from the music. Debussy can be more clearly delineated than this
without ruining the atmosphere. The Ravel Pavane too could have
done with more contrast.
On the other hand, Buniatishvili shows a most commendable desire to
introduce her audience of fans to some modern music which they might
otherwise avoid. Few of them will have heard the music of her
fellow-Georgian Kancheli, and his little piece When almonds
blossomed - drawn from his score for the eponymously entitled film -
will win him legions of new admirers. The track from Ligeti's Musica
ricertata, which follows far too quickly on from the dying fall of the
Kancheli, displays a sense of quiet bravura. It is good to hear this music
in the context of more popular pieces.
In the later stages of this disc there are some tracks which enable
Buniatishvili to demonstrate her bravura technique. She is well up to the
demands of the two études by Chopin and Scriabin. We are given another more
upbeat item in the shape of one of Dvořák's Slavonic dances, in
which Buniatishvili and her sister make a strong impression. The pianist's
own arrangement of the Georgian folksong Vaguiorko ma is charming.
The Pärt Für Alina which concludes the recital makes for a very
quiet ending indeed.
By and large then this disc, except for the pianist's fans, is largely a
recital for relaxing and chilling out. It might be advisable not to play it
right through at one sitting. Rather longer gaps between items might have
helped, too.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Track listing
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750)
Sheep may safely graze, BWV208/9 (arr. Egon Petri) [4.50]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
The Seasons: October, Op.57b/10 [4.51]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Song without words in F sharp minor, Op.67/2 [1.44]
Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
Suite bergamasque: Claire de lune [5.35]
Giya KANCHELI (b. 1935)
When almonds blossomed [2.08]
György LIGETI (1923-2006)
Musica ricertata: No 7 [2.49]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Intermezzo in B flat, Op.117/2 [5.10]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Wiegenlied, S198 [3.09]
Antonín DVOŘÁK
(1841-1904)
Slavonic Dance in E minor 'Dumka', Op.72/2* [3.18]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937)
Pavane pour une infante defunte [5.55]
Frederick CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Étude in C sharp minor, Op.25/7 [4.39]
Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915)
Étude in C sharp minor, Op.2/1 [2.24]
Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
Sonata in E, K380 [2.52]
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Lyric Pieces: Homesickness, Op.57/6 [3.44]
Traditional arr Khatia BUNIATISHVILI (b. 1987)
Don't you love me? [2.36]
George Frederick HANDEL (1685-1759)
Minuet in G minor, HWV 434 (arr. Wilhelm Kempff) [3.50]
Arvo PÄRT (b. 1935)
Für Alina [5.03]
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