Two big sonatas in the post-romantic tradition, framing two case studies in radical modernism: it takes piano-playing of a very high order to make the mixture as rewarding as Garrick Ohlsson does here. He blends Prokofiev’s most hyperactive textures as sensitively as if they were by Schubert; he finds euphony even where Bartok, at his most extravagantly speculative, seems to have purged it; he brings to Webern the kind of scrupulous weighting of nuance notated in Peter Stadlen’s edition of the piece (Universal Edition: 1979); and he sails through the Barber Sonata with no hint of the fuss and bluster that normally accompany it.
If you’re allergic to over-dramatized piano-playing, this may be just what the doctor ordered. Personally I crave more temperament, especially in the sonatas. Underneath the beautifully controlled surface of Ohlsson’s playing I find little of the foreboding which I feel should give Prokofiev’s lyricism its edge, likewise little of the excruciating pain at the heart of both outer movements. A mere three seconds’ gap before the Andante allows no time to absorb the colossal first movement, but in this interpretation there is in any case less to absorb emotionally than there might be.
Barber can perhaps take Ohlsson’s unrhetorical approach rather better, and with Van Cliburn’s classic account of the Sonata out of the catalogue at present we can’t be too choosy. But if you like the outer movements urgent as well as fast, and if you look for emotional penetration in the 12-note passacaglia slow movement, you’ll be conscious of a missing dimension here. It’s not by any means inexpressive playing, but the abiding impression is of a slight stand-offishness.
The Mason and Hamlin instrument has an attractively flutey treble and yields a fine range of quiet nuance. The recording is close and clear without ever being overbearing.DJF