Tamayo Ikeda: Schubert: Impromptus D. 899; Liszt: Schubert Song Transcriptions
Ulysses Arts

While there are countless recordings of Schubert's piano music available, a more perfect realization would be hard to imagine than Tamayo Ikeda's. On this stellar presentation of 4 Impromptus, op. 90 (D. 899) and lieder transcriptions by Franz Liszt, the pianist, born in Japan in 1971, demonstrates a deep grasp of the composer's material. Every piece is executed with the utmost attention to tempo, pacing, and dynamics, and her treatments are distinguished throughout by nuance, tenderness, and delicacy of touch. His is a language with which she is clearly fluent.

Her decision to devote an entire album to Schubert (1797-1828) crystallized during the pandemic and in response to the physical confinement and feelings of isolation it imposed. In her own words, she needed his music for its sincerity, its consoling quality, and directness of expression. She discovered him as a twelve-year-old through the second Impromptu and lieder recordings by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore; it makes sense, then, that she would return to that repertoire for her solo album, which she describes to as her ‘Schubertiade,' a term that refers to the informal get-togethers arranged by Schubert's friends that featured his music. As formal as the presentation is, Ikeda's intimate performances similarly exude the feel of a warm invitation.

Six songs precede the 4 Impromptus, four of them derived from the song cycles Winterreise (Winter Journey, 1828) and Die schöne Müllerin (The Fair Maid of the Mill, 1823). Ikeda smartly begins the set, however, with “Ständchen” (Serenade) from Schwanengesang (Swan Song), a fourteen-song collection written near the end of his life and published posthumously. “Ständchen” unfolds slowly and dreamily, its sultriness intensified by the restraint of Ikeda's execution. The song ruminates at a hush for much of it, with subtle modulations in dynamics and tempo making the performance swoon all the more entrancingly. Adding to the impression, a graceful call-and-response emerges halfway through before a dramatic swelling and lovely ascending run guide the piece to its resolution.

Ikeda follows that transfixing opener with a treatment of “Der Lindenbaum” (The Linden Tree) from Winterreise that's by turns haunting, majestic, and ornate and from the same cycle “Wasserflut” (Flood). Two from Die schöne Müllerin come next, the carefree “Wohin?” (Where to?) and brooding “Die Müller und der Bach” (Thanksgiving to the Brook), the lyrical latter another superb illustration of Ikeda's consummate control. The first group of Liszt transcriptions concludes with a rendering of “Ave Maria,” its lilting loveliness not blunted by familiarity when delivered by the pianist with such care.

As a title, 4 Impromptus might suggest improvisation, but the material, composed in 1827, is, on the contrary, meticulously constructed. The regal first, in C Minor, unfolds across ten minutes like a scenic travelogue dotted with captivating sights; dazzling runs in the radiant E-flat Major second call on Ikeda's virtuosic command; her graceful interpretation of the well-known G-flat Major third veritably sings; and the trilling ripples of the A-flat Major fourth pour forth as gloriously.

For its last four songs, the album returns to Liszt transcriptions, the first “Auf dem wasser zu singen” (To be sung on the water, 1823) arresting for its repeated modulations between A-flat minor and major, the towering second “Erlkönig” (The Erlking, 1815) for its tempestuousness. In contrast to the Sturm und Drang of “Erlkönig,” “Meeres Stille” (Calm sea, 1815) engages for its soothing stillness and time-suspending character and the closing “Die forelle” (The Trout, 1817) for its lighthearted, life-embracing tone.

January 2023