TWO PANDEMIC PIANO ALBUMS: ANGELA HEWITT & JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET

LOVE SONGS

ANGELA HEWITT, Piano

Hyperion 68341 / TT: 75’57”

 

CARTE BLANCHE

JEAN-YVES THIBAUDET, Piano

Decca 485 2081 / TT: 79’09”

 

The Covid pandemic wreaked havoc on concert schedules worldwide, but has provided many artists time for reflection and thoughtful programming ideas for recital discs. A glorious result is this pair of delightful albums from two great pianists who are as different as night and day.

 

Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt has gathered some of the repertoire’s most beloved songs in transcriptions, and these are not just limited to Lieder. The immortal Schumann-Liszt Widmung opens the disc, and there are further lieder by Schumann, Schubert and Richard Strauss by way of Liszt, Godowsky, Reger, Gieseking and Gerald Moore (the faithfully understated An die Musik). An unexpected pleasure was Ernesto Halffter’s transcription of five of seven Popular Spanish Songs (as collected by Manuel de Falla), Grieg and Grainger song transcriptions. Hewitt’s main focus is on songfulness.

 

French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s album is more wide-ranging, encompassing encore pieces (from Couperin/Scarlatti to Morton Gould/Shura Cherkassky by way of Chopin/Liszt/Brahms), popular tunes and film music from Dario Marianelli’s score for Pride and Prejudice to the Walt Disney tune When You Wish Upon A Star (by Harline-Washington, transcribed by Thibaudet himself). Some rarities are Gabriel Pierne’s  Étude de Concert, Pierre Sancan’s Music Box and Aldo Ciccolini’s transcription of Elgar’s Salut d’Amour. By contrast, Thibaudet aims for sonority and digital brilliance.

 

Both pianists have also included their own transcriptions of beloved orchestral string works.  Hewitt’s take on the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony and Thibaudet’s version of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings coincidentally run past the 8-minute mark. The piano does not have the sustaining quality of strings, hence running the risk of sounding threadbare. On this count, Hewitt’s Mahler works better as a listen than Thibaudet’s Barber. Hewitt writes her own programme notes, including texts of love songs and translations, while Thibaudet is interviewed by no less than Rénee Fleming. Both albums are worthy additions to any pianophile’s collection.