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On this CD:
On this CD:
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| 1. Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 Composed by Sergey Rachmaninov Performed by Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra with Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter Conducted by Stanislaw Wislocki 2. Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 Composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky Performed by Vienna Symphony Orchestra with Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter Conducted by Herbert von Karajan |
A performance that will live as long as recorded music, January 19, 2006
By Santa Fe listener
There is nearly unanimous consensus that Richter's 1959 recording of the Rachmaninov 2nd rises to a height challenged only by the composer himself. Richter's ability to play the fastest passagework while moving from soft to loud and back again is breathtaking--speed doesn't change his control over dynamics one bit. But that's to pick out a single aspect of a performance that is by turns noble, lyrical, passionate, and poetic. One could spend the whole performance marveling just at the independence of Richter's two hands. He rescues this thrice-familiar work from its fulsome reputation. Rowicki conducts well, but the recorded sound is thin, and the Warsaw Phil. decidedly provincial. None of which matters a bit.
Reviewers here echo the Amazon critic in disparaging the Tchaikovsky First from 1963, although it is in better sound than the Rchmaninov and played better by the orchestra, too--Karajan had a special relationship with the Vienna Sym., a sorry ensemble under most conductors. I like this performance a great deal. Richter isn't highly individual--he plays for strength and dignity in the first movement, not for Horowitz's burn-down-the-house virtuosity, and in the last movement he applies restrained delicacy. Since the Tchaikovsky First is the deadest of dead horses to me, I liked hearing such thoughtful musicality. As for Richter and Karajan being on different pages, they sound together to me. Taste, what can you say? Five stars for both performances.
