Knowing Gábor Csalog’s expert prowess on behalf of new music and his special affinity for Gyorgy Kurtag’s works, I assumed he’d bring similar sensitivity and imagination to Schubert. Never assume. Frankly, this disc offers some of the most dour, prosaic, dry, and colorless Schubert playing I’ve ever heard. I’d go so far as to subtitle Csalog’s performances of the D. 780 cycle “Moments Unmusicaux”. His picky detaché articulation reduces No. 1’s subtle assymetrical phrases to static, disconnected notes. The rhythmic liberties he imposes throughout No. 2 are such that if you transcribed his playing into notation, the results would read differently from what Schubert originally wrote. Csalog bears down on No. 3 to the point where Horowitz’s garish caricature sounds supple and direct by comparison. Nos. 4 and 5 are heavy-handed, under tempo, and hopelessly square. In this context, Csalog’s flowing and flexible No. 6 comes as a surprise–a shock, in fact.
As for the D. 935 Impromptus, compounded instances of fussy detail (No. 1’s overworried dotted rhythms, for example), slack sense of line (No. 2), uneven finger work (No. 3’s unfolding variations), and lack of dynamism (No. 4) prevent the music from taking wing. At least the concluding A major Piano Piece D. 604 gets a relaxed, ruminative reading. But this really isn’t repertoire that Gábor Csalog should be recording.
