Jenö Jandó,
a fine 'house pianist' for the Naxos
label, currently has more recordings
on the market than any other pianist.
In fact, the only performers with more
recordings are the vocalists Placido
Domingo, Maria Callas, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau,
and Luciano Pavarotti. Although Jandó
hasn't recorded a great deal of baroque
music, he has put on record Bach's complete
Well Tempered Clavier. I am very
familiar with those performances and
many others from Jandó, and I
tend to find that he offers excellent
interpretations that don't quite hold
up to the best alternative versions.
Overall, Jandó has been a steady
guide for those who are looking for
super-budget recordings of piano music.
In recording Bach's
Goldberg Variations, Jandó enters
a huge field with over 100 alternative
versions. On piano, we have exceptional
interpretations from Glenn Gould, Rosalyn
Tureck, András Schiff, Tatiana
Nikolayeva, and Charles Rosen. On harpsichord,
the stellar recordings come from Kenneth
Gilbert, Pierre Hantaï, Igor Kipnis,
Trevor Pinnock, Gustav Leonhardt, and
the legendary Wanda Landowska.
Sad to say, Jandó's
new version not only doesn't compare
well to the above recordings, it is
one of the least rewarding performances
in the catalogs. Problematic aspects
abound, and these are the few that head
the list:
1. There is little
lift to the playing as his penchant
is to flatten notes and perform in a
'metronome-like' fashion with minimal
regard to the subtleties in Bach's music.
2. Another habit exhibited
is a preference for rounded notes that
reduces the impact of Bach's sharp contours
such as in the 10th and 22nd Variations.
3. The bleak variations,
Nos. 15, 21, and 25 (Black Pearl) only
get a light dusting of negativity.
4. Inflections and
accenting are often weak, depleting
both the strength and poignancy of the
music.
5. Dialogue among the
musical lines is undernourished, a major
failing in a Bach performance. Much
of this is caused by a lack of balance
among voices, making effective communication
difficult. Actually, there are a few
times when Jandó's playing sounds
rather clumsy.
6. To top things off,
Jandó seems to have a formula
to playing Bach's repeats - soften the
tone and add short trills in the upper
melody lines. This isn't a bad approach
when heard in one or two variations,
but Jandó's steady diet of it
becomes tiresome. The trills are particularly
hard to accept because of their contrived
and cute nature.
Moving on to comparison
piano versions, the excitement and precision
of the three Gould versions on Sony
is sorely lacking in Jandó's
account. Rosalyn Tureck (Philips and
Deutsche Grammophon) always probes into
the music's depth, but Jandó
appears content to skim all surfaces.
Schiff's vibrancy and joy of music has
no place in Jandó's flat world.
I could go on, but suffice to say that
the best features of alternative recordings
are 'missing in action' when Jandó
is at the helm.
Having been hard on
Jandó, I do have to say that
the performance is serviceable and soundstage
acceptable. But the fierce competition
puts this interpretation into the unnecessary
and unwanted grouping. Those who have
and enjoy his account of the Well Tempered
Clavier are cautioned to expect a less
rewarding experience from his Goldberg
Variations. I have tried my best to
appreciate the performance, but I keep
finding new problems each time I listen
to the disc. When additional listening
reduces one's enjoyment, it is time
to close up shop and move on to other
recordings.
Don Satz
Jenö Jandó, piano 
