Customer Reviews

Primakov Plays Mozart Concertos Vol. 1

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Here is a first CD volume of what appears to be a pending complete cycle of the recorded Mozart piano concertos. This set has 2 CDs. It is basic PCM stereo, but as with other recordings by Primakov from similar venues, the sound is really all that one could ask, except possibly for the subtle presence and envelopment that an SACD surround sound master would have made possible.

Primakov and partners show no hesitation in taking on the four late piano concertos, right off the bat in their first release. Our band is the Odense Symphony. Their work in Mozart is simply stellar - such playing as comes across while getting out of the way of the deft and deep composer's message. In other Primakov releases with the OdenseSO, commenters have said that the band sounded just a mite too small to suffice or please. My view is that the size/weight of the OdenseSO manage very well, offering us a flexible-intimate way with the music while still conveying effective heft, though never overblown as some old-fashioned big band Mozart readings customarily have been. The woodwind writing is particular creamy, with nuance, flow, and sparkle in all the right places.

One might complain that Primakov is too light a Mozartian as well, his tone never blossoming large to remind us of, say, Artur Rubinstein. But Primakov is such a committed, wise Mozart player that he easily recalls figures like Clara Haskil, Alicia de Larrocha, and a singing fluidity of expressive line that at times sounds like a materializing incarnation of, say, Sir Clifford Curzon. Even if the musical partnership among OdenseSO, Scott Yoo, and Primakov cannot reveal the ucanny force and integration of Richter with Benjamin Britten, few other very fine Mozart players manage to go there, either, in the existing recorded catalog.

In place of old-fashioned big band grandness of manner, or sheer tonal power, on this initial release we get a relaxed charm, sense of detail, an intimacy so alive as to immediately draw us in, and a vital melding of drama with song with compelling touches of internalized musical poetry or reflection that often signal the very best of times among our beloved Mozart players.

Primakov could have been anticipated as a wayward Mozartean. His love affair with rubato in his Chopin recordings, for example, could have suggested that he would just have to gesture his Mozart concertos in over-extended, push-pull, faux Romantic manners. Not so, not so, not so. Primakov is still engaging in very subtle rubato that never dissolves or shatters the indispensable whole Mozart line, and the phrasing is every songful as well as surprisingly soulful within the additional surprise of a poised, classical ethos in all four concertos.

I confess that I occasionally find the three late concertos difficult to bear. In some readings we slip so easily into undigestible, even awkward, moments that I gather their depths and simplicities are rather challenging to bring off well. I cannot at all complain about Primakov and his musical partners.

This set already has its home on the keeper shelves, even if the projected complete concerto series fails to materialize. So far as these last four piano concertos go, this set will do handsomely. In number 27, one does not throw out Gilels. In number 25, 26, one does not throw out Alicia de Larrocha, Rudolf Serkin, not even David Fray. In number 24, Rubinstein, Curzon, John O'Conor with Mackerras, or Ivan Moravec, or Clara Haskil. No, it is better to welcome Primakov to the upper eschelons of living Mozart concerto players - perhaps along with David Fray, Davis Greilsammer?

Big props then to Primakov, Scott Yoo, and OdenseSO. No doubts. One cannot help hoping they really do get do finish a complete set. Just in case, start early. Get this set.

Thanks to all involved.

This release is not without its virtues. The sound is excellent, as is the orchestral work (listen, for example, to the growling lower strings at the end of the first movement of K. 491). There are also some rather interesting cadenzas here, paricularly Faure's fascinating (if anachronistic) cadenza in K. 491. The booklet notes are fine. The author points to the dramatic operatic qualities of the works, paricularly the aria-like quality of the slow movements. And these are the qualities missing from these neat, prettified performances. A friend of mine once aptly observed that Mozart pianissimos should never sound like Chopin's, which is precisely what Primakov's soft-focused playing suggests. To my ears the softness of his touch combined with a reluctance to play anything above a piano produces deadly results. I started with K. 491, and the first movement went reasonably well. The trouble began with the slow movement, played at a somewhat slow tempo (no problem) and at exactly the same muted dynamic level throughout. It sounded like cocktail music to me. The finale was also slow and also lacking in drama. The beautiful dialogue for piano and oboe made almost no impression because it sounded just like everythinjg else in the movement. For comparison, I turned to Richard Good's excellent performance with Orpheus. What a contrast Goode's clear, focused sound was to Primakov's dreamy tinkling. Still, this performance was superior to that of K. 503. Once again, the opening movenment was satisfactory. But the last two movements were awful. The slow movement is "dreamy," the trills barely audible, and any operatic quality entirely lost. The finale was dreadfully dull, with Primakov playing one passage after another without the slightest sparkle or drama. I was disheartened, but I went on and found the last two concertos equally sweet, pretty, and boring. Judging from the excellent reviews this release has received it seems that many people like their Mozart played this way. For such listeners, the present release can be safely recommended, for Primakov's playing is unfailingly "beautiful." But if you like your Mozart played with passion and drama, you should go elsewhere.