Pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, praised by The New York Times for “the sweep and freshness of his readings,” offers a richly pictorial recital on his first-ever recording of Russian masterworks for solo piano. Mussorgsky’s original piano setting of his popular Pictures at an Exhibition anchors a program that includes Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata and Romeo and Juliet Before Parting, plus Shostakovich’s Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in D minor. ‘Russian Recital’, the pianist’s sixth Cedille Records album, joins a distinguished discography that includes releases on several different labels.

REVIEW:

Jorge Federico Osorio is a fine artist and he deserves the opportunity to venture outside the Spanish and Latin American repertoire on which he has built his reputation on disc. This Russian recital is well-planned, and by and large quite successful. In Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata, you won’t hear the fleetness and steel that Matti Raekallio (Ondine) brings to the piece, or Richter’s heightened textural definition between right hand and left, particularly in the daredevil finale, but taken on its own this is an intelligent and affecting performance in which the work stands out all the more for not being lumped in with the other “War” sonatas. 

Romeo and Juliet Before Parting, in its piano arrangement, almost never fails to please, and it doesn’t here. The last and grandest of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes and Fugues, the D minor, also benefits from being heard as a stand-alone work. At nearly twelve minutes in this by-no-means unusually slow performance, the piece is as long as several Scriabin sonatas and other independent piano pieces, and its stature shows under the inexorable tread of Osorio’s fingers.

Osorio’s promenade though Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is remarkable for its naturalness and coherence. Much of its success arises through effective pacing, particularly in the concluding Great Gate of Kiev, with its massive chordal writing perfectly laid out to achieve the grandest possible effect. Prior to that Osorio achieves plenty of the necessary lightness (and virtuosity) in Tuileries, the Ballet of the Chicks in their Shells, and Limoges. Bydlo, the oxcart, lumbers along but never drags. Ultimately perhaps the best thing that can be said about this version is that it always sounds like real piano music, and not a piano reduction of an orchestral work.

The only issue I can see with this very well-engineered production is that there are now so many recordings of all of this music available that it’s difficult to offer an unqualified recommendation to collectors, many of whom will already have multiple versions. As is so often the case with Cedille’s productions, the programming is thoughtful and different enough from everything else out there to make this release distinctive. On the other hand, and especially when it comes to Pictures, there are many, many versions available that are equally fine (or perhaps more imaginative in one respect or another), starting with Richter’s Sofia recital and continuing with (more recently) Bronfman (Sony), Osborne (Hyperion), and if you want something really different, Pogorelich (DG). None of this, however, diminishes Osorio’s genuinely enjoyable achievement here. So if you’ve got room, feel free to give it a shot.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com