Idiosyncratic American pianist
Andrew Rangell has been at it for decades, and he continues to draw new fans because, although he antagonizes listeners with willfully unorthodox interpretations, he manages to string them together into sequences that sometimes yield genuinely transcendent moments. Here's a typical
Rangell release that's greater than the sum of its parts. There are many better choices for the great variation set of
Haydn's old age, the Variations in F minor, Hob. 17/6, than this odd reading by
Rangell with its overemphasis on the ornamental arpeggio figures throughout. Yet in the sequence of events on the album it makes a certain amount of sense: the
Haydn variations offer a quirky introduction that lead into a group of five keyboard variation pieces that proceed from concupiscently virtuosic (the Variations chromatiques de concert of
Bizet, composed in 1868 and ever since then sorely underrated) to rigorously economical (the even less well-known Chaconne, Op. 32, of
Carl Nielsen), to broadly serene (the
Brahms Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 21/1, and
Schubert Impromptu in B flat major, Op. 142/3, here presented as Variations on a theme from "Rosamunde." The program has an arc that develops from playfulness to muscle to, in places, ecstasy. Does it all work? That depends on your perspective, but
Rangell remains an original, and this is a good place to get an idea of his very recital-oriented approach to recordings. Engineering is strong, and the rather personal notes, by
Rangell himself, are in English only.