From the title
Songs Without Words, one might guess that
Julius Drake's 2011 album of piano music was either a) all
Mendelssohn or b) all Romantic miniatures with a similar mood. It is something close to answer b, but actually is more than that.
Drake's choices are mainly of the dreamy, slow ilk, but because he expands his choices beyond the Romantic era, there is a wider variety of harmonies and textures than most collections of adagios. He also includes some unexpected and well-suited excerpts of suites not often heard outside of collections of those particular composers' works, such as the "Berceuse" from
Poulenc's L'histoire de Babar and "Night" from
Britten's Holiday Diary, Op. 5. Putting his program into a very rough chronological order,
Drake begins with
Schumann,
Brahms, and
Mendelssohn, three giants of 18th century German music who knew their way around Lieder composition, which is
Drake's objective here: to bring out the song-like qualities of piano works.
Drake spends most of his performing and recording time collaborating with vocalists, so he also knows the ins and outs of melody and accompaniment. The outer sections of the
Brahms' Intermezzo are truly like a lullaby, while his reading of the darker middle section is much slower and less dramatic than most pianists'. His use of rubato in Clair de lune may also be unusual, but his touch is incredibly graceful and nuanced. Even in the dramatic chords in "The Madonna of Frydek" and in the percussive
Bartók,
Drake still has poise and depth of color in his playing. The
Britten is particularly evocative. For anyone looking for a collection of piano adagios that stands out from the rest, this is the one to choose.