CD Reviews

For the Russians, Pushkin is Shakespeare and Byron combined, the founding father of literature in the native language and the originator of its literary forms from folk tale to historical drama, from cynical dandyism to social protest and passionate love lyric.

His poetry’s proverbially musical, but unlike some great verse it both inspires and repays musical settings. Just about every major Russian composer has set some of his work, from operas like Eugene Onegin to the lyrical songs in this recital. 

Live sampling, where a performer captures a recorded snapshot of their playing or that of others in real time and stirs the results back into the music, is a much-abused process too often used to paper over gaping cracks in the performers’ musical thinking, as are other forms of electronic augmentation.

In 1641 Monteverdi made this masterpiece based on Homer’s Odyssey for a public opera house in Venice. It has more characters than you can shake a stick at – presumably one reason why William Christie chose to direct it from the harpsichord – so it needs a cast that has strength in depth.

The pianist that his admirers have long wanted to hear in Iberia delivers a cultivated and probing performance that seems destined to grow greater with familiarity. In this he’s at one with several colleagues.