Brahms Variations in F sharp minor on a Theme by R. Schumann, Op. 9. 25 Variations and Fugue on a Theme by G. F. Handel, Op. 24. Variations on a Hungarian song in D, Op. 21 No. 2. Theme and Variations in D minor (1860). Mikhail Rudy (pf).

EMI (Full price) (CD) CDC5 55167-2 (64 minutes: DDD).

We're not told if Rudy intends to complete his journey through Brahms's keyboard variations on a second disc. But on the strength of the first I certainly hope so. Earliest in date is the rhythmically arresting Hungarian set, reminding us of Brahms's first encounters with that country's folk-music as accompanist to the violinist, Remenyi. Here I enjoyed the continuity Rudy imparts to a work which because of the brevity of each mood-switch could easily sound inconsequential. Though following only a year later, the Schumann set (based on an F sharp minor Albumblatt, Op. 99 No. 4, embodying his falling five-note Clara motto) reveals a totally different Brahms, at 21 struggling to contain growing love for Clara. Here Rudy stresses the note of heart-searching introspection in his choice of a very slow (sometimes even questionably slow) tempo for all the more personally expressive numbers. But contrapuntal cunning (including themes interwoven from other pieces by both Schumanns) is never overlooked, while arresting outbursts of temperament reaffirm the work's underlying intensity.

The Handel Variations and Fugue of 1861, written as if to uphold the composer's recently (and misguidedly) published attack on the New German School, caused even that arch-romantic Wagner to concede that they "showed what could still be done with the old forms provided someone appears who knows how to treat them". Rudy certainly knows how to combine richly contrasted characterization with respect for the composer's masterly classical discipline. The reading has an underlying stability that I missed in Lubimov's undeniably brilliant but capricious recent version. Finally, the solo piano arrangement (made for Clara Schumann only a year or two before) of the D minor variation movement from the String Sextet, Op. 18 – music in which enough passion glows through its Bach-like dignity to have made it an inspired choice as background music for that unforgettable old French film, Les Amants. Here I marvelled at the sonority Rudy draws from his piano alike in opulent fullness and (finally) delicacy; and equally, at the inexorability he imparts to it all through unflagging rhythm. The recording, made in the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud, rings wholly true.

JOC