Inferno

"Aside from Liszt's Dante Sonata, I can't see what's so 'Inferno'-driven about the balanced and well-contrasted programme-building behind Behzod Abduraimov's latest release, especially when, for the most part, his playing is pretty heavenly!

Pianists who take on Czerny's La ricordanza Variations inevitably have to reckon with Vladimir Horowitz's 1944 world-premiere reference recording. Yet Abduraimov goes his own way, bringing more rhetorical bel canto-orientated leeway to the table. Despite his outward poise and elegance, I prefer Antonio Pompa-Baldi's more playful approach (Danacord, 10/18), especially in the scintillating verve he brings to the Vivace third variation. However, Abduraimov serves up one of the noblest and most intelligently shaped Dante Sonatas in the catalogue. He orchestrates the music from the very first bars, voicing the chords in just the right dynamic perspective, where each note can be ascertained, even in the lowest register. You hear long lines and narrative paragraphs instead of pounded-out octaves in an Olympic event, while the central section's lyrical writing features legato cantabiles whose luminosity stems from sophisticated finger control with only discreet help from the sustain pedal." Gramophone Editor's Choice June 26