In the balance

"Make an effort to play easy pieces well and beautifully, it is better than performing difficult ones mediocrely." Robert Schumann's tip from his Musical house and life rules could be a guideline for this wonderful CD released by the Austrian label Gramola. The 28-year-old Georgian pianist Giorgi Iuldashevi, who studied in Zurich and also lives there, not only played Schumann's well-known pieces from the Album for the youth but also many other pieces that might be familiar to the piano student: Excerpts from For Children by Belá Bartók, from the collection Játékok by György Kurtág or pedagogically motivated pieces by Sergei Prokofiev or Peter Tchaikovsky. Less common, but no less attractive to the ear and fingers, are the 12 pieces by composer Nodar Gabunia, born in Tbilisi in 1933: From the diary of a pupil.

Yes, it sounds child's play - and not at all suited to a trained professional pianist who made his debut as a 12-year-old with Mozart's difficult Piano Concerto K. 466 in D minor. But, keyword Mozart: simplicity has its pitfalls. And Giorgi Iuldashevi not only masters these, but also demonstrates a rare range of musical expression in these very different pieces. Even the familiar appears fresh in his interpretations - also because he never lapses into superior distance or unnecessary romanticizing. Iuldashevi keeps the balance, and always in an exciting way. He garnishes Bartók with wit, Tchaikovsky with the necessary seriousness in places, and above all the tempi and the natural flow in Robert Schumann's pieces are inspiring.

If you are (or were) a pianist, you will immediately feel the urge to try out many a pretty miniature again. But this CD is also simply good for the listener: in its unobtrusive tone, in this expression that has nothing at all of the tense muscle play that is unfortunately common among piano virtuosos.

Simplicity. Giorgi Iuldashevi plays works by Gabunia, Bartók, Kurtág, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Schumann. Gramola 99291