4.5 stars -- deeply felt and moving interpretations
Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 11/17/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Born 1947, Irish pianist John O'Conor is a specialty pianist and instructor at the Irish Royal Academy of Music. He recorded Schubert's Impromptus and Waltzes for Telarc in 1994 to virtually no international acclaim or review. I could not find a review of this recording in any American or European online database.
O'Conor is a Beethoven expert that has gradually moved into recording broader repertoire including Schubert, Gershwin, Mozart and a few others. He made his name as a Beethoven expert and, since Beethoven and Schubert were born and died at almost the same time, one would think the transfer from expertise in one composer to the other would be automatic.
I think you hear the footprints of Beethoven often in this recording, especially in the Beethovanian Op. 90 No. 1 impromptu -- written in one of Beethoven's favorite keys of C minor -- and the first impromptu from the Op. 142 group. Yet, O'Conor shows another side of his imagination in the Op. 90 No. 3 impromptu with its Chopinesque right hand melody against the dominant left hand thematic material.
These are all engaging and beautifully performed compositions that sometimes come at a slower pace than recrodings from accliamed Schubert practitioners like Brendel Schubert: The Complete Impromptus, Perahia Schubert: Impromptus; Schubert/Liszt: Song Transcriptions, Pires Maria João Pires - Le Voyage Magnifique ~ Schubert Impromtus, Demidenko Schubert: Impromptus D899, Op 90, Lupu Schubert: Impromptus D 899 & D 935 / Radu Lupuor the more individualistic and mercurial Zimerman Franz Schubert: Impromptus D899 & D935.
One notable shortcoming I noticed when I played this was the sound. Telarc is generally considered a high end product for sound but this recording required a lot of fiddling with my manual controls to get what I considered good piano sound. I sometimes had to turn the treble way up, the bass down, and the midrange up or down to get what I wanted. This may be an eccentricity for me that does not bother you, of course.
Without suggesting this being a first or only recording in this repertory, I'd say this can stand aside the more popular recordings mentioned above. This is no dullness or lack of imaginative devices herein, as is often the case when people step from academia to the recording studio, and this is a good collection of some of Schubert's best piano music. The notes are pretty good, too, concentrating on the compositions and not ego worship of the performer. Best, I've found this recording to be better the more I play it, meaning there's something behind the notes I discover anew with each succeeding hearing. Considering you can purchase this for $3 or $4 around these parts, it makes it an inviting proposition.
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Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
