Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano – “Aria” – Opera Without Words – Music of SAINT-SAENS, R. STRAUSS, PUCCINI, KORNGOLD, J. STRAUSS II, BELLINI, GLUCK & WAGNER – Decca

by | Apr 2, 2007 | Classical CD Reviews | 0 comments

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano – “Aria” – Opera Without Words – Music of SAINT-SAENS, R. STRAUSS, PUCCINI, KORNGOLD, J. STRAUSS II, BELLINI, GLUCK & WAGNER – Decca B0008431-02, 60:53 ****:

Thibaudet – who has devoted previous solo recordings to the music of not only Satie, Debussy and Ravel, but also Bill Evans and Ellington – has something quite different for us this time around. The album is dedicated to the operatic singers the pianist has accompanied, and was occasioned by his lifelong love of the human voice and the operatic repertory. 

Wanting to make transcriptions of operatic arias the theme for his new album, Thibaudet was dismayed to find that two of his favorite arias had never had adequate piano arrangements made of them, so he outlined these and commissioned composer Randy Kerber to complete them for this album. While the results are in the grand Romantic style, they don’t sound nearly as dated as some of the parlor-piano transcriptions popular around the late 19th century and early 20th. Of the others which are arrangements from past composers, Yvar Mikhashoff turns in four of his superb translations to solo piano of operatic material. The aria from Bellini’s Norma is cast in the style of a Chopin nocturne – Bellini and Chopin were close friends.  Australian Percy Grainger did some serious transcriptions, and one of them is a seven-minute “ramble” on the love duet at the conclusion of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. The wrap-up for the recital is Louis Brassin’s rip-roaring version for piano of the Ride of the Valkyries from Wagner’s Die Walküre. Thibaudet scores again with a most listenable collection of ten fascinating tracks.

 – John Sunier

Related Reviews
Logo Pure Pleasure
Logo Crystal Records Sidebar 300 ms
Logo Jazz Detective Deep Digs Animated 01