Rating: 5/5
Review:
An excellent disc
I like this disc very much. This is not a repertoire in which I can claim great expertise, but I think I know great music and fine playing when I hear it, and both are well in evidence here.
The disc contains the final piano works of Beethoven and Schumann, and six of Brahms's Chorale Preludes Op.122 - his final works - arranged for piano by Busoni. Each is a sequence of miniatures by and as a programme it works excellently, giving variety and real depth throughout.
What makes it special is the quality of Ivo Varbanov's playing. The notes by Malcolm MacDonald point out that these last works are less about some final testament to posterity by each composer than an expression of his own preoccupations, and Varbanov seems to me to take the music itself and to lay it out for us rather than to try to invest it with over-intense, possibly spurious meaning. There is plenty of intensity where necessary, but here the music seems to speak for itself with a refreshing clarity and beauty. I find it a real pleasure to listen to - and I can't say that of all recordings of late works by these composers, by any means.
The recorded sound is excellent. ICSM set out to be an audiophile label, and certainly this sounds wonderful. It was recorded in large venues with no extra reverb added, and the result is a warm, naturally rich sound which sounds wonderful through my studio-quality headphones. The notes are full and interesting, if a little over-cooked in places for my taste, and the presentation is attractive.
I may not have come across this disc if ICSM had not sent me a copy for review but I am very glad I have. It has been something of a revelation for me and I can recommend it very warmly.
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