Where in the framework of this year’s Bruckner bicentenary many labels have graced the classical music community with yet another version of one of his symphonies, comes Pentatone with a somewhat belated but nonetheless exceptional release of Bruckner’s seldom played and scarcely recorded piano works in versions that will fade the competition however limited it is.

Against the small number of existing recordings (I know of only 3 more or less complete) Pentatone offers a double advantage: A first-class recording in high-resolution and an eminent soloist, Mari Kodama. Ever since I discovered her readings of Beethoven's 32 Piano Sonatas, I’ve been impressed with the way she combines all the features that make a great pianist: Pure sensitivity (call it feminine if you like, though some of her male colleagues have the same hard-to-define characteristic), poetic elegance, technically skilled virtuosity, well-balanced introvert and extrovert intelligence mark her ravishing readings from Beethoven to Poulenc.

One may argue that Bruckner’s piano oeuvre remains at the surface of musical art. Most, if not all, were written before he composed his first un-numbered (die Nullte) symphony. But the apparent ‘simplicity’ is at the same time its biggest pitfall. Many of the short pieces will fall apart if treated mechanically by inexperienced hands, churning them out one after the other. They can only come to life by a soloist who treats the scores of a 26-year-old soul with due respect and full understanding of a searching, often insecure talent that stands at the dawn of symphonic creativity. Mari Kodama fits that bill with grace, charm and conviction.

As she projects it, one regrets that Bruckner’s Sonata, with which the programme opens, hasn’t been finished. It has an air of Schubert around it. Under her capable hands, it becomes much more than what Bruckner modestly (or insecurely?) has labelled ‘Entwurf” (draft). The only one of the three competitors that comes close is the late Fumiko Shiraga, but her recital is only available in RBCD (BIS). Wolfgang Brunner (CPO) is, in my view, a disaster. The rest of the recital pieces have been carefully selected and put into order by Mari to give a coloured and diverse survey, though one must in all honesty say that not all are at par. Some are reminiscent of Schubert, Schumann and even Chopin (Mazurka). But what struck me most, is how Mari Kodama takes the listener so intensely and lovingly by the hand, walking together in what may be called Bruckner’s compositional nursery.

Not for Brucknerian, what it of course is, but for a much wider field of classical piano enthusiasts. I was, furthermore, pleased to note that Erdo Groot has handled the recording console. The piano sound is pleasing and realistic with ambient surround. Pentatone quality gets by the day harder to come by. This is one, recorded in DSD 64. Don’t miss it.

Blangy-le-Chateau, Normandy, France.

Copyright © 2024 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio.net

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