Russian Piano Concertos

The box set Great Piano Concertos has been produced to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Naxos and draws on their extensive catalogue of concerto recordings. The recording quality varies from the older 1980’s recordings but there are some good things to enjoy in the 10 CD set particularly Idil Biret playing the two Chopin piano concerts with the Slovak State Philharmonic under Rubert Stankovsky. The two Liszt concertos with Eldar Nebolsin and the RLPO under Petrenko are also very enjoyable as is Jenő Jando playing the Grieg and Schumann concertos with the Budapest Symphony under András Ligeti.

It has been clear for some time that Evgeny Kissin is a Beethoven player of rare pedigree and distinction, the finest Russian-born Beethovenian since Emil Gilels. Twelve years ago he recorded the Second and Fifth concertos in performances of flair and élan with the Philharmonia under James Levine (Sony, 9/97 – nla). His own playing was vital and fluent, the technique awesome, not least his ability to refine tone and taper dynamics in those high-lying passages where Beethoven’s expressive powers are at their most rarefied.

Listening to the thousand-and-one tinkerings that Mikhail Pletnev makes in the simple Concerto #1 of Beethoven, I was reminded that this quirky artist feels free to embellish any composer at will. One finds this trait either irritatingly intrusive or delightfully imaginative. There are days when I can't decide which. Here the overall results are undeniably appealing. We know that Beethoven improvised freely at the keyboard, and although Pletnev doesn't add new notes, he improvises the feeling of the music, tending toward a romantic sprightliness, if I can put it that way. He makes a phrase erupt, then whisper.

The label Pan and the HR (Hessischer Rundfunk) present the first issue of their recently started collaboration with a new recording of Shostakovich’s piano concertos Opp. 35 & 102. Alexander Toradze is universally recognised as a masterful virtuoso in the grand Romantic tradition. With his unorthodox interpretations, deeply poetic lyricism, and intense emotional excitement, Alexander Toradze lays claim to his own strong place in the lineage of the great Russian pianists.

Oddly enough, while the sleeve-notes are comprehensive, especially where these two concertos are concerned, there isn’t actually too much background on the composer himself. All this is despite this being a Norwegian label. Pianist and composer Thomas Dyke Acland Tellefsen was born in 1823, and died in 1874, contributing some forty-four opus numbers, including solo piano works, chamber music, and these two piano concertos. He dedicated many of his compositions to the Polish, Russian and French aristocracy.

Frederic Chopin - Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Bella Davidovich / Sir Neville Marriner / London Symphony Orchestra
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 324 MB | Full Artwork: 27 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Philips "Eloquence" # 462 459-2 | Country/Year: Europe 2002, 1982
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Piano

Bella Mikhaylovna Davidovich (born July 16, 1928) is a Jewish Soviet-born American pianist…

The outstanding young German pianist Joseph Moog makes his debut on ONYX with a superb disc of two great Russian piano concertos that have had very different fates.

Anton Stepanovich Arensky and Sergei Eduardovich Bortkiewicz are hardly household names. Arensky’s delicious Piano Trio in D minor continues to keep its place on the fringes of the chamber repertoire, and the Waltz movement from his Suite for two pianos receives an occasional outing; otherwise nothing. Who has even heard of Bortkiewicz other than aficionados of the piano’s dustier repertoire?