Just when you think that you have heard all of Marc-Andre Hamelin’s very considerable interpretative and pianistic faculties, along he comes to surprise us yet again with something completely unexpected. Thus far we have had, among others, the heady and intoxicating delights of Sorabji (Altarus, 5/91) and Scriabin (Hyperion, 6/96), the towering and formidable edifices of Alkan (Music & Arts, 8/93 and Hyperion, 8/94, 3/95 and 12/95) and the challenging complexities of Ives (New World, 9/89). He now turns his hand to the piano music of Percy Grainger, and brings what is perhaps one of the most riveting and satisfying anthologies of this music to date. Yes, the catalogue does sport a number of very fine collections of the piano music (including Martin Jones’s excellent survey of the complete piano music on Nimbus, 4/90, 7/90, 10/90 and 2/91), but Hamelin’s superb control and artistry just about sweep the board if you’re looking for a disc that not only brings you all the old favourites but also explores some of the less familiar music such as Grainger’s arrangements of two of Stanford’s Irish Dances, the Cakewalk Smasher, In Dahomey or some of the less familiar folk music settings such as The Merry King – the latter a delightful discovery.
The deceptive ease with which Hamelin presents these pieces is quite breathtaking. The Irish tune from County Derry, for instance, contains some exacting problems which call on the pianist to play ppp in the outer fingers and mf with the middle in order to bring out the melody which Grainger places almost entirely in the middle register of the piano, and yet Hamelin makes it sound incredibly natural. His subtle control of melodic voicing can also be heard in, among others, the marvellous Scotch Strathspey and Reel and the Jutish Medley and in the gorgeous Ramble on themes from Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier”, Hamelin’s mastery of the pedal (especially the seldom used middle pedal) is a real delight.
All the power, subtleties and nuances of Hamelin’s playing are faithfully and naturally captured in Tony Faulkner’s excellent recorded sound and Barry Peter Ould’s notes are most informative. All in all a very desirable Grainger anthology.'