Customer Reviews

Alexander Budyonny Performing Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff & Liszt

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

This recording has force, originality and technique. If you are used to a wimpy, toned-down "Pathetique," this disc is not for you. The renditions here are full of energy and raw emotion that are typically found in good live piano recordings of this type. Even if you own multiple recordings of this Romantic repertoire in your CD library, I suggest you get this disc as a fresh point of comparison--you won't regret it. And, if this is your very first time being exposed to these pieces, definitely add this CD to your collection--it will provide you with a good point of departure.

This pianist plays these relatively well-known pieces with much conviction and attack. It's a pleasure to hear someone take up such a refreshing approach--may not be perfect, but convincing, and honest, and definitely worth giving it a listen.

This disc plays like a nice, live studio recording. Great touch, great artistry, awesome spontaneity! If you like classical live recordings with all their raw power and surprising ability to make you feel like part of the live audience (a few minor technical imperfections put aside), I'd give this album a try. Why not?

Alexander Budyonny is an interpretive genius, especially in Rachmaninoff, but it is not really evident in this recording. To hear the wonders of music that Mr. Budyonny can truly produce on the piano, hear his more recently recorded Rachmaninoff: Etudes-Tableaux and Rachmaninoff: The Complete Preludes for Piano.

Unfortunately, there are just too many flaws in his playing on this recording, just basic stuff, and I'm really not at all sure why he released it. Not only are there simply too many botched notes, he seems unable to maintain a consistent meter, for example, taking a repeat faster than he started it in one of the Beethoven sonatas. There are certainly flashes of brilliant playing in it, but the overall feeling I got from it was disappointment, especially after having heard his two Rachmaninoff recordings, which are so far superior. This was his debut recording in the U.S., but I cannot help thinking some unacknowledged extra-musical problem had beset this effort from the start.

The musical problem is that had I heard this recording first, I probably never would have bought his magnificent Rachmaninoff recordings at all, and what a shame that would have been--and may still be for others who happen upon this particular CD.

On the other hand, I can't recommend his more recent Rachmaninoff highly enough. It is entirely different from better known, and brilliant, performances by the likes of Richter and Ashkenazy. Unlike the present CD, everything in his Rachmaninoff CD's is superbly controlled, especially his meter, which ebs and flows with perfection, and his layered tonal attack, which yields a resplendent quality that envelops the listener in both richness and detail. Most everything in these etudes and preludes is given its full weight in relation to everything else in what seems a perfect balance. His passage work is certainly not all perfect, but unlike the flaws in the present recording, he manages to suffuse his later Rachmaninoff with such musicality that the minor flaws seem almost welcome companions to the music he is making.

A comparison is also worth making between two Rachmaninoff preludes he plays on this debut recording and the same preludes he performs with so much greater assurance and substance on his more recent CD. It is hard to imagine that the same pianist could have performed both, even though we know a pianist will often radically change his or her approach to the same music over the course of a even a few years. Still, the order of his concentration alone seems on an entirely different plane.

In short, Mr. Budyonny's more recent Rachmaninoff is of such a unique and compelling character that I would recommend buying this CD on only one condition, and that is if you also buy his two Rachmaninoff CD's. Only then might you appreciate both his full genius and the peculiar mystery behind the making of the all too flawed recording offered here.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Mr. Budyonny's performance. I am not a great aficionado of 19th century piano music, so I was very happy to discover that the selections on the recording are very accessible. But this is not to say that the performances are in any way run-of-the-mill. On the contrary, I found Mr. Budyonny's playing to be quite captivating, and I look forward to listening to this recording again soon. Very highly recommended!