The 12 Transcendental Etudes are the ultimate test of quasi-orchestral virtuosity and of the capacity to achieve nobility and true eloquence. Jandó perhaps lacks diabolic frisson in the more ferocious numbers but his performances, overall, aren't disfigured by willful, sensational attributes or hysteria. No-1 is an impressive, dramatically pointed, curtain-raiser, and he can hell-raise with assurance in 'Mazeppa'. His 'Feux follets' hardly sparks with the brilliance of, say, some of the full-blooded accounts of certain Russian artists, but even when it hardly modulates from study to tone-poem it's still more than capable (higher praise than you might think where such intricacy is concerned). He flashes an impressive rapier at the start of 'Eroica' and there's plenty of swagger and facility in the so-called 'Appassionata' étude. 'Chasse-neige', too, proceeds with a fine sense of it's menacing start to a howling, elemental uproar before returning to distant thunder. Jandó is less assured in introspection, yet it has to be said that all-encompassing versions of the Transcendental Etudes are hard to come by. Jandó is impressively recorded.
1 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: I. Preludio in C Major: Presto
2 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: II. Etude in a Minor: Molto Vivace
3 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: III. Paysage (Landscape), in F Major: Poco Adagio
4 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: IV. Mazeppa in D minor: Allegro
5 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: V. Feux Follets (Will O' the Wisps) in B Flat Major: Allegretto
6 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: VI. Vision in G minor: Lento
7 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: VII. Eroica in E Flat Major: Allegro
8 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: VIII. Wilde Jagd (Wild Hunt), in C minor: Presto Furioso
9 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: IX. Ricordanza (Remembrance) in a Flat Major: Andantino, Improvisato
10 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: X. Etude in F minor: Allegro Agitato Molto
11 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: XI. Harmonies Du Soir (Evening Harmonies) in D Flat Major: Andantino
12 Etudes D' Execution Transcendante, S139-R2B: XII. Chasse-Neige (Snow-Whirls) in B Flat minor: Andante Con Moto
The 12 Transcendental Etudes are the ultimate test of quasi-orchestral virtuosity and of the capacity to achieve nobility and true eloquence. Jandó perhaps lacks diabolic frisson in the more ferocious numbers but his performances, overall, aren't disfigured by willful, sensational attributes or hysteria. No-1 is an impressive, dramatically pointed, curtain-raiser, and he can hell-raise with assurance in 'Mazeppa'. His 'Feux follets' hardly sparks with the brilliance of, say, some of the full-blooded accounts of certain Russian artists, but even when it hardly modulates from study to tone-poem it's still more than capable (higher praise than you might think where such intricacy is concerned). He flashes an impressive rapier at the start of 'Eroica' and there's plenty of swagger and facility in the so-called 'Appassionata' étude. 'Chasse-neige', too, proceeds with a fine sense of it's menacing start to a howling, elemental uproar before returning to distant thunder. Jandó is less assured in introspection, yet it has to be said that all-encompassing versions of the Transcendental Etudes are hard to come by. Jandó is impressively recorded.