Alexei Lubimov remains a bit of an enigma – at least for British audiences. His occasional appearances here, mostly in concertos, have never attracted much attention. But his recordings have been unfailingly impressive, and demonstrate that few other pianists today command as wide a repertory as he does. Lubimov has recorded Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Debussy on instruments of the composers’ time, as well as a range of 20th-century music from Debussy and Satie to Cage and Pärt. The performances on this disc, taken from recitals that Lubimov gave in Germany and Russia in the late 90s, extend that range even further. It’s a provocative mix: Charles Ives isn’t often juxtaposed with the Second Viennese School, and the contrast between the exuberance and sheer density of his great Concord Sonata, and the crystalline austerity of Webern’s Variations, especially, is about as extreme as it could be.
That’s underlined here by Lubimov’s account of the Ives, which is rugged, uncompromising and often thrilling. (He omits the optional part for a viola in the opening Emerson movement, but does include the flute solo in the finale, Thoreau.) Other performers have attempted to tame its wildness much more than he does; there’s no sense here of disguising any of the rough edges, or of making its welter of references to other music – to Beethoven especially, but also to Brahms, Bach and a host of American popular songs – seem less haphazard. On the contrary, Lubimov seems to delight in that roughness, and his playing celebrates the complexity and technical challenges as much as it does the moments of poetry that unfold when the welter dies away.
After the Concord Sonata, Webern’s Variations provide the briefest of reposes before Lubimov plunges into the Berg, with playing that matches his Ives performance for intensity. The sense of expressive impulses barely held in check by the musical form that’s containing them is irresistible. It may not be the way one always wants to hear Berg’s only piano work, but it’s an utterly valid and highly revealing one.
