(+++) OLD-FASHIONED AND NEWFANGLED

Idil Biret Archive Edition, Volume 24: Bach—Concertos for One, Two, Three and Four Keyboards. Idil Biret, Ayşegül Sarıca, Hande Dalkıhç, and Erol Erdinç, pianos; Bilkent Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gürer Eykal and Erol Erdinç. IBA. $19.99.

Stephen Sondheim: Music reimagined by Anthony de Mare, Christopher Cerrone, Conrad Tao, Jeff Beal, Jon Batiste, Kevin Puts, Marc Schubring, Mark Bennett, Max Richter, Meredith Monk, Paola Prestini, Stephen Hough, Ted Hearne, and Timo Andres. Anthony de Mare, piano, with Conrad Tao, piano. AVIE. $19.99.

     The long-running Idil Biret Archive Edition is as much for fans of the Turkish pianist as for listeners enamored of the music she performs on the CDs. These are, in the main, older recordings by Biret (born 1941) that do not always conform to more-recent scholarship about performance practice or more-recent expectations regarding sound quality. They are certainly worth hearing for insight into the exceptional talent that Biret has shown throughout her long career, but often their value is more historic than musical. That is the case with Volume 24 in the series, which offers Biret and colleagues performing four of Bach’s harpsichord concertos – which are often, as here, called “keyboard concertos” to distract attention from the fact that they were not written for pianos even though they are often performed on them. Biret is the soloist for the solo concerto in D minor, BWV 1052. The dual concerto in C minor, BWV 1060, features her and Ayşegül Sarıca. BWV 1064, in C, adds Hande Dalkıhç; and BWV 1065, in A minor, also includes Erol Erdinç – one of the two conductors under whom the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra accompanies the soloists. The recordings are actually among the more-recent ones in this IBA series: BWV 1052 was recorded in 1998, the other three concertos as recently as 2002. The sound, unfortunately, is rather subpar, especially in the 2002 recordings, which were transferred to CD from VHS originals – indeed, the accompanying booklet draws attention, rather apologetically, to the situation. As a result, the main attraction of this CD is the chance to hear Biret’s way with Bach – whose music has not previously appeared in the Archive Edition. BWV 1052 has been a staple of Biret’s concerts since she was a remarkable five-year-old prodigy, but the other concertos are not ones she has played frequently – indeed, the performance of BWV 1064 heard on this disc is the only one in which she has ever participated. So while Bach is in a sense foundational in Biret’s career, his music has not been a major, ongoing part of it – and that shows in the interpretations heard here. Everything is in its place, all the pianists perform accurately, the tempos are fine, and the balance between soloists and ensemble is as it should be. But there is nothing historically informed about these performances, no attempt to downplay the differences between an instrument whose sound comes from hammers striking strings and one whose strings are plucked; nor is there diminution of pedal use (although the pedals are not overused) or any hesitation in making the slow movements of the concertos somewhat over-expressive (although none of these pianists indulges in sweeping Romantic gestures and sounds). These are pleasant performances, in other words, and they are old-fashioned in the sense that they employ the piano’s resources as if Bach had written for the piano rather than the harpsichord. This CD is a welcome addition to the Archive Edition and will certainly be of interest to listeners appreciative of Biret’s considerable skill. But these readings will scarcely be anybody’s first choice for the music itself: the disc serves Biret well enough but does less credit to Bach.

     The credit goes to Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) for a new AVIE disc that looks back on Sondheim’s 20 full-length musicals and offers interpretations and reimaginings of some of his music. Pianist Anthony de Mare is the driving force behind this retrospective-plus-reinterpretation project, which he began in 2012 as a tribute to Sondheim and which has now metamorphosed into a tribute-cum-memorial. De Mare himself contributes one piece to this collection: All Things Bright and Beautiful, which de Mare plays at the end of the CD as a sort of summation. There is one other work here played by its composer: Move On by Conrad Tao. The rest of the music is a mixture of piano arrangements of Sondheim songs (Another National Anthem by Ted Hearne, Kiss Me by Christopher Cerrone, Not a Day Goes By by Jeff Beal, etc.) and rethinkings of specific Sondheim numbers (Marc Schubring’s Rhapsody in Red is based on Goodbye for Now, Meredith Monk’s Dialogue on Poems, Paola Prestini’s Always on I Wish I Could Forget You, etc.). All the music is nicely played in what is mostly a pop-music vein, transforming theatrical experiences into something akin to a Sondheim salon selection. Sondheim was expert at writing music that fit specific theatrical purposes, but less so at crafting memorable standalone material; indeed, nothing on this CD was designed for the recital space, much less the concert hall, and bereft of their theatrical trappings, the pieces come across as rather thin and unidimensional. Pleasant wistfulness pervades many of the selections: nothing here has real depth, or claims to have it. In the context of entertainment that wears its heart proudly on its sleeve, as so many Sondheim musicals do, these 14 little works – mostly in the four-minute range – make sense and produce their desired effects. As piano arrangements/tributes, however, they come across rather less well: the CD will be of strong interest only to people already familiar with the original tunes – or, better still, with the works in which the original tunes appear. Those listeners will find this disc to offer some pleasant meandering through territory they already know well, and will find the “memorial” aspect of this recording especially emotive. For people who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Sondheim fans, there is less to enjoy here: the music, shorn of its original reasons for being, is for the most part pleasantly vacuous without being, on its own, especially gripping or involving. De Mare is a strong and consistent advocate for this material, in which he clearly believes, and certainly the contributing composers are duly respectful of Sondheim while putting their own stamps on his tunes. There is, however, a certain amount of navel-gazing going on here: for de Mare himself, for the contributors to his project, and for like-minded listeners, this is something of a Sondheim feast; for others, it is rather thin gruel.