****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I have to start by confessing to some kind of (arguable) bias, insofar Ian Hobson is one of my most respected teachers, a man from whom I have learned a lot about piano and about music.To those fortunate enough to have had him as a teacher, and not only to them, Ian Hobson is an exemplary "Renaissance" musician, of tremendous width and breadth of knowledge and mercurial adaptability. His hearing is almost legendary among his students - one can play for him a late 20th century piece, with 11-12 notes clusters in odd registers, and Ian Hobson will unerringly hear the "wrong" note one's never suspected one's (mis)read. Hobson's knowledge of styles, his ability to play almost literally anything, even reading directly from an orchestra score, remind one of the musicianship of some famous, all-rounded musicians of the past.However, natural (and confessed) "biases" apart, I am also confident I have enough objectivity and listening experience/acumen to assert that this Schubert-Godowsky disc brings an invaluable service to piano lovers who want to know how Godowsky's treatment of Schubert songs sounds, in more than capable, rather illuminating hands.(I will confess I am not a fan of the Passacaglia, no matter who would perform it. In my view, it is not the best of Godowsky, perhaps too much musical complication without authentic musical depth, ornamentation without substance. That being said, Ian Hobson makes as good a case for it as anybody else I've heard - there aren't many versions of this difficult music around - and, even as sheer "curiosity," the piece is well worth hearing by sophisticated, Romanticism-embracing pianophiles.)I was lucky to hear Ian Hobson playing the Schubert-Godowsky songs in recital years ago, and I can testify that his stellar technique is not based on patching - his live performances sounded about as clean, live, as these studio-recorded documents sound.Godowsky's harmonic/polyphonic treatment of Schubert's evergreens is at once predictable (from the point of view of those familiar with other Godowsky transcriptions), and unexpectedly lovely and fresh, as when Godowsky accentuates, in a particularly felicitous voice-leading nicety, a Schubertian gem of subtle, if somewhat "raw," originality. Ian Hobson shows in his performances that he is a consummate musician, way beyond the constrictions of a mere keyboard. His experience as a conductor and as a chamber-musician, including accompanying substantial singers in recitals, seems quite beneficial in this repertoire. (The whole set of 12 makes for some very pleasant listening.) This experience can be detected especially in what regards the mellifluous, yet flawlessly cultivated "lied"-like phrasing, and in the subtle detachment of the "voice" element from the "piano" element, within the complex Godowskian texture.All in all, yet another one of Ian Hobson's highly recommendable CD's, even within his remarkably rich discography (both as a pianist and as a conductor).
