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Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano)
Carte Blanche
rec. May 2021, Zipper Hall, The Colburn School, Los Angeles
DECCA 4852081 [79:09]

I discovered that being treated on a significant birthday is one of the joys of getting older; the messages gathered from family and friends old and new for one thing and enjoying far, far, far more cake and confectionery than was good for me for another; knowledge of my sweet tooth was evidently much more widespread than I imagined. For the same significant birthday, just shortly after mine, French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet has been granted virtual carte blanche to record this wonderful album of works that all reflect a special moment for him as he tells his friend Renée Fleming in the booklet's conversation style notes. In a way, and even though there is plenty of emotional depth here, I feel that I been treated to even more sweet treats, though thankfully these are dentally friendly.

I say virtual carte blanche; the only caveat to the choice of repertoire was that he record nothing that he had previously recorded, obviously leaving plenty of scope even with a discography as large as Thibaudet's. So he plays even standard repertoire like Brahms' sublime Intermezzo in A major, Liszt's third Consolation or Granados' Maiden and the nightingale, the latter played here as a tribute to Alicia de Larrocha. There are rarities by well known composers as well including Chopin's charming Waltz in A minor, one of the first pieces that Thibaudet heard when it was played by his mother and sister. It is coupled with another triple time dance, the Kupelwieser waltz by Schubert. This started out as a theme written on a napkin and given to Leopold Kupelwieser's bride on the occasion of her wedding. Fast forward 117 years and we find Richard Strauss visiting the Kupelwieser family and, upon hearing a descendant play it, asking permission to create a finished work out of the fragment. The result is a gently lilting waltz with just a hint of Straussian harmony as the minor section draws to a close. This was a favourite encore of Thibaudet's teacher Aldo Ciccolini and along with Ciccolini's transcription of Elgar's salut d'amour it serves as a loving tribute to the teacher who meant so much to him. The mood changes dramatically after this relatively slow section of the recital, which began with Scarlatti's wonderfully melancholic Sonata in F minor. Gabriel Pierné's piano music holds some real treasures and deserves to be better known; what better way to demonstrate this than with his Étude de Concert, a virtuosic and exciting showstopper played here with great energy and sparkling panache.

Thibaudet pays homage to other great pianists; Alicia de Larrocha as has already been mentioned through a warm hearted and passionate performance of Granados' Maiden and the nightingale and Shura Cherkasski, who is remembered through one of his favourite encores, Morton Gould's Boogie-Woogie etude, and the impassioned Prélude pathétique that he wrote at the age of 11 and which he played in many of his later recitals. Thibaudet studied briefly with Pierre Sancan (who was Yves Nat's successor at the Paris Conservatoire) and plays his Music box, which I have heard turning up more often as an encore of late. Its delicate charm is clear even if the frantic wrong note ending suggests the mechanism has seen better days. Staying with French music Thibaudet plays his own delicious transcription of Hôtel, Poulenc's languid homage to smoke induced indolence. This fits in very nicely with the penultimate items on this disc, displaying yet another side of Thibaudet's wide tastes; an ardent jazz fan Thibaudet has recorded albums devoted to Duke Ellington and Bill Evans and I have heard him play the latter as encores in recitals of Debussy and Ravel - very successfully I feel. Bill Charlap's version of I'll be around neatly inhabits Evan's soundworld and calms matters after the lyrical but note-filled arrangements by Earl Wild, Alexis Weissenberg and Thibaudet himself. Throughout this album one is aware of Thibaudet's capacity for vocal characterisation, whether in the melodic lines of Liszt, the passion and melancholy of Granados or here in his adaption for solo piano of Jesse Kissel's version of When you wish upon a star - I will unashamedly admit that this is one of my favourite melodies in any genre and with its deep and heartfelt connection between Thibaudet and Fleming I am evidently not alone. Thibaudet also adds some little textural touches to the Earl Wild transcription, minor but effective and he revels in the sheer indulgence of Weissenberg's glorious transcription of Charles Trenet's magical paean to the French capital.

The bookends of this wonderful collection are a suite of five movements adapted by Dario Marianelli from his soundtrack to the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice on which Thibaudet had played. It was written specially for this album and includes Dawn, Leaving Netherfield – with its references to Purcell's famous rondeau – Georgina, playful and sprightly, the pensive Living sculptures of Pemberley and Mrs Darcy. To close Thibaudet chooses what is for me the least successful item of the recital and I can't say this is through any fault of Thibaudet's. His transcription of Barber's elegiac Adagio for strings is masterful and the performance is all that one could hope for if you wanted a piano version of this and there is the rub; much as I adore the piano I feel its limits here. The playing is beautiful with Thibaudet giving as much colour as he can; the slow chords after the big climax are warm and melting and all the melodic lines are sung to the extent the piano is able, just as Thibaudet hoped when he tackled this work. It is the sense of searing pain and yearning loss that I miss and the climax when it arrives sounds sounds anticlimactic and a little empty. The playing is so good that it may grow on me but I imagine I will always reach for the greater colour and atmosphere provided by strings or voices.

This is a delightful album and one which I will return to again and again. The playing is first class and that these pieces mean so much to him shines through every note. Happy birthday J-Y.

Rob Challinor

Contents
Dario MARIANELLI (b. 1963)
Pride and Prejudice Suite (2005) [9:00]
François COUPERIN (1668-1733)
Le Tic-Toc-Choc No 6 from Ordre 18éme de clavecin (1722) [2:18]
Domenico SCARLATTI (1685-1757)
Sonata in F minor Kk.466 [5:19]
Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828) transc. Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Waltz in G-flat D Anh.1/14 Kupelwieser-Walzer (1826) [2:21]
Frédéric CHOPIN (1810-1849)
Waltz in A minor No 19 Op.posth (1847-49) [2:26]
Franz LISZT (1811-1886)
Consolation S.172 No 3 (1849-50) [4:43]
Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897)
Intermezzo Op 118 No 3 (1893) [5:35]
Edward ELGAR (1857-1934) arr. Aldo CICCOLINI (1925-2015)
Salut d'amour Op 12 (1888) [3:37]
Gabriel PIERNÉ (1863-1937)
Étude de concert Op 13 (c.1887) [3:31]
Enrique GRANADOS (1867-1916)
Quejas, o la maja y el ruiseñor No 4 from Goyescas (1911) [6:13]
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959)
O Polichinelo No 7 from A prole do bebé (1920) [1:33]
Francis POULENC (1899-1963) arr. Jean-Yves THIBAUDET (b. 1961)
Hôtel No 2 from Banalités (1940) [1:45]
Pierre SANCAN (1916-2008)
Boîte à musique [1:39]
Morton GOULD (1913-1996)
Boogie Woogie Etude (1943) [2:16]
Shura CHERKASSKY (1909-1995)
Prélude pathétique (1920) [3:02]
Earl WILD (1915-2010) after George GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
Embraceable you No 4 from 7 Virtuoso etudes after Gershwin (1975) [3:00]
Leigh HARLINE (1907-1969)/ Ned WASHINGTON (1901-1976)
arr. Jesse KISSEL arr. for piano Jean-Yves THIBAUDET
When you wish upon a star (1938) [3:41]
Charles TRENET (1913-2001)/Walter EIGER (1917-1991)
arr. Alexis WEISSENBERG (1929-2012)
En Avril à Paris (by 1956) [3:06]
Alec WILDER (1907-1980) arr. Bill CHARLAP (b. 1966)
I'll be around (1942) [5:52]
Samuel BARBER (1910-1981) arr. Jean-Yves THIBAUDET
Adagio for strings (1936) [8:03]