Customer Reviews

Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 4 / Overture on Hebrew Themes

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

....and is dead on; while Prokofiev's 2nd concerto lacks the sophistication and compositional genius of the 3rd it is superior for two reasons: 1) it is more idiomatic 2) it is more personal. The audience was utterly baffled at the premiere, the world shocked, why? just listen! who else writes like this? Not only is this a prime example of Prokofiev's iconoclastic style - a romp through a truly gothic sound world -- but it is also one of his most personal, a romantic concerto written by an anti-romantic in response to a friends letter that stated, "I've written to tell you the latest news: I've shot myself. The reasons are unimportant." It lacks sophistication because it is barbaric, raw and utterly tempestuous.

Bromfman is not a risk taker (Pogorelich), a method actor (Richter), nor a character actor (Rubenstein); Bromfman basically plays what's on the page like Ashkenazy albeit in this case with the requisite gravitas. It's unfortunate the demand for this concerto has not fueled more interpretation; for the time being this really is the only worthwhile recording.

Yefim Bronfman & Zubin Mehta have joined forces to produce one of the best recordings of any Prokofiev work. In particular, the 2nd Piano Concerto is as fine a recording as you are ever likely to hear, of anything. Clear, clean, superbly performed and immaculately recorded, it is virtually flawless. Mr. Bronfman's cadenzas are nothing short of spectacular, and the piano as recorded is as clear as if you were playing it yourself. One of the great all-time discs, this is certainly the definitive version of these pieces, majestically paced and emotionally and technically perfect. Highly recommended.

This recording disappoints me. Bronfman seems to work his way through Prokofiev's second piano concerto focused only on the difficult notes. The recording lacks the intensity and emotion the piece is capable of. The Prokofiev piano concerto #2 is one of my favorite pieces of music, but I honestly recomend a better recording. Michael Beroff has a recording out of the piece that is by far, one of the best recordings I've ever heard. If you want to hear the emotion involved in Prokofiev's best concerto, listen to Beroff.

I purchased this mostly for the Prokofiev 2nd which is one of my favorites. I am not a big fan of the Prokofiev 4th, thus my comments are limited to the 2nd.

Prior to purchasing the CD, I had the chance to hear Bronfman play the Prokofiev 2nd at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with the National Symphony Orchestra (with whom he also performed the 3rd on another date.) In the live performances, Bronfman's playing was far more vivacious and less studious than on this recording. As others have noted, Bronfman takes the piece too much in stride, and the orchestra also is just going through the paces. On the plus side, the quality of the recording is well balanced between orchestra and piano which is a challenge given the dynamics of the piece.

As for being the best available recording of the 2nd, I would put it behind the Gutierrez/Jarvi/Royal Concertgebouw recording still available on Chandos. Shura Cherkassky's performance with the London Philharmonic (BBC recording)is also available and more satisfying even if he does miss a few notes and invent a few others along the way (he was age 80+ at the time).

As for the best recording of the 2nd, my vote goes for Jorge Bolet's performance with the Cincinnati Orchestra which was issued on a Remington LP in the 1950's and (re-released on Turnabout in the 1970's). Bolet and conductor Thor Johnson provide a whirlwind performance that at times is over the top, but totally engaging from start to finish. I wish someone would rediscover those tapes and reissue it.

I used to like these performances, but over time it has begun to appear to me that they aren't that good. Bronfman's technique so easily matches Prokofiev's challenges that he sounds almost bored with them. I don't see why Hurwitz thinks Bronfman's piano is in danger, if you consider that he rips through the music so effortlessly and, indeed, with little interest. By contrast, try Alexander Toradze's hyper-furious take on the G minor. He makes things too elephantine perhaps, but it's more interesting than what we get here.

Listening to the recording makes you want to hear him play it live. Exellent interpretation, and commanding presance in sound at the piano.

i've admired bronfman's playing primarily through the beautiful series of chamber discs he recorded with mintz; against that standard these prokofiev concertos are a disappointment. the overall approach is surprisingly literal and metronomic, with a lack of lyrical fire or virtuosic ice, and tempos (especially in the outer movements) that are slower than usual. soloist and conductor seem to play in parallel rather than in close partnership. (it's as if bronfman and mehta were thrown into the studio without enough rehearsal time.) all the keyboard notes are perfectly in place, and the orchestral detail is exceptionally clear, but these are recordings better suited for studying the performance score than for encountering the full range of prokofiev's unique poetry.

I am happy to agree with most Amazon reviewers on Bronfman and Mehta's largely immaculate but unimaginative rendition of the great Prokofiev Second Concerto--as opposed to the undeserved rave delivered by David Hurwitz above. However, to be fair to the Fourth Concerto, which is clearly the least great in the pack, it has never sounded so coherent and swinging as in the hands of Bronfman/Mehta.

Evidently, Bronfman has no trouble with the vast technical challenges of the Second. However, the innovative, colourful brilliance unearthed by Gutierrez/Järvi, as well as the huge intrinsic amplitude brought out to such spectacular effect by Toradze/Gergiev (Prokofiev: The Five Piano Concertos), is smoothened out by Bronfman and Mehta's controlled approach.

It is not that easy to tell the Fourth Concerto is for the left hand alone--even if Prokofiev's left-hand writing does not reach quite the same level of inventive refinement as attained by Ravel and Korngold in their responses, respectively, to the commissions by Paul Wittgenstein. What needs to be singled out on this disc is the rendition of the third movement. For some reason, the current norm seems to be to opt for tardy pacing--something that seldom adds value in Prokofiev. Nonetheless, Bronfman and Mehta launch into a healthy and true Moderato instead of the 'Andante-yet-again' tempo of most other versions, which so much destroys the lilting character of the third movement. But neither they are able do much about the somewhat anaesthetic 'Andante-proper' second movement.

The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra does a good job overall, sounding both refined and committed in the Fourth Concerto--even though the abnormally wide-ranging 1993 sound captured in the Fredric R. Mann Auditorium, especially in the low-bass register, makes the more lasting impression.

The Hebrew Overture is one of Prokofiev's most charming works. Even if being an excellent filler to the concertos, the solid performance by Bronfman and the Julliard String Quartet (joined by Giora Feidman, clarinet) does not take wing like that by Kissin and the Moscow Virtuosi under Spivakov.

Bronfman has also recorded the other three Piano Concertos as well as all the nine Piano Sonatas--generally good and solid performances but neither particularly imaginative nor memorable. That said, his partnership with Shlomo Mintz in the Violin Sonatas has rendered the most profoundly elegiac and exquisite account of the First in F minor--undoubtedly one of Prokofiev's most haunting masterpieces (Prokofiev: Violin Sonatas 1 & 2).

TIMINGS: Second--11:04, 2:28, 6:20, 10:58; Fourth--4:20, 9:51, 7:26, 1:40; Overture--10:27

REFERENCES: Second--Gutierrez/Järvi (Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3); Fourth--This One; Overture--Kissin/Spivakov (Evgeny Kissin)