Customer Reviews

Schumann, Grieg: Piano Concertos

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When recommending distinguished performances of a work, I do not often label a single performance as "the best" in the catalog. In this case, however, Perahia plays this concerto with such natural flow and complete understanding that he rises head and shoulders above any competition. He is never too grounded in his tempi and his interpretation often takes on a sublime, improvisational feel. What is most outstanding, however, is Perahia's ability to balance thundering virtuosity with an introspective style, and the transitions between these two methods of playing are completely seamless. The orchestral contributions are also wonderful, utterly in tune with Perahia's approach. The balance is exceptional, especially for a live performance, but the bass is a little muddied. This opaqueness might stem from the concert hall acoustics, but I wonder if the engineers could not have made an effort to clean it up a little. Whatever quibbles I have, however, are few and unimportant. The reading of the Schumann concerto is not the best in the catalog, and I prefer Perahia's more recent account to the one that appears hear. The Grieg, as I stated before, is the greatest recorded performance available.

I gotta say, I've heard a lot of people put down Perahia for lack of emotional aesthetics. Coupled with the fact that I cannot STAND classical music when devoid of soul, I had somewhat low expectations for this recording (hence also my introduction to Perahia). It's a good thing I'm open-minded enough to never pre-judge. The Grieg is virtually flawless (there's a few timing issues with the orchestra). The a minor chords come crashing down, one after another, really making you feel in the midst of an epic battle. I've played this concerto, and while I admit that it's hard to play 8 notes (2 big chords) at a time without some kind of purpose, as I said, my expectations were guarded for this specific version. Granted, the music is almost TOO masterfully controlled, but out of that comes devoutly meticulous placement, and since timing is everything, it works to MP's advantage.

I do get a biting emotion out of this. Horowitz, Van Cliburn, etc. etc., all play it differently, but don't dismiss this cd as cold calculated rubbish. Go to the second movement of the Grieg (track 5) and become engulfed by the lyrical beauty - and what touch he has! Those deceptive cadences are SO perfectly planned (if not drawn out just a bit), even though you know what's coming, you still react as if surprised. Predictablity only goes as far as the printed score.

The Grieg is a perfect template for a practicing musician to reference from. It doesn't infuse any eccentric personality traits, but it is a great teaching tool. I'm not as familiar with the Schumann, so it's not my place to critique, other than saying I deduce that my reaction, which is the same as my Grieg commentary, is probably correct. My homage goes to this pianist who doesn't necessarily make the music sound highly unique, so much as he makes it sound PERFECT. And that's for better or worse.

Murray Perahia once admitted to a delight in the inspirational heat-of-the-moment of a live performance. And even though there is no applause at the end of either of these performances (there is, in fact, no noise of any kind from the audience during these recordings) we are told that they are indeed "live." Personally, I feel if your going to go through the trouble of capturing the experience of a live performance why edit out the applause? But that's just my opinion.

Anyway, Perahia (one of my two or three favorite pianists) plays both of these concertos beautifully. As always there is a strong sense of poetry--almost songfulness-in his playing. This does not imply, however, that there is a lack of power or bravura in his playing. Of the two performances, the Grieg is best. The Schumann is not by any means bad, but there are better versions of the piece. Sir Colin Davis and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra provide Perahia with excellent support.

The sound is good, though I thought it was slightly opaque-orchestral textures are not as clear as they should be. But again this is a "live" recording.

In these works, Stephen Kovacevich (also with Sir Colin Davis) is still unsurpassed. Nonetheless, Murray Perahia's versions of these concertos are among the finest in the catalogue.

This was originally recorded in 1987 on Sony, and received very good reviews here on Amazon (I reviewed it myself, among others). However, likely in the stores and elsewhere you might find this re-mastered CD, released in July 2004. It is the very same wonderful recording of these two war-horses, but now with fuller bloom, particularly in the strings and woodwinds. Sir Colin Davis and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra provide very nice support. In the Schumann Concerto, Murray Perahia plays with bravura when necessary, but with great poetic feeling in the slower passages. He never tries to be showy, but lets the beauty contained in Schumann's score speak for itself. In the Grieg Concerto, Perahia makes this perhaps over-played but marvelous work come invigoratingly alive, almost like you are hearing it for the very first time all over again. With amazing technique, he brings out the lyrical beauty of the work, as well as having perfect authoritative command of the virtuoso passages. I feel this is arguably the best pair of these oft-coupled works written in the same key of A Minor, the original premieres 24 years apart. The first performance of the Schumann took place on 4 December 1845 in Dresden, with the composer's pianist-wife Clara as soloist. Edvard Grieg's premiere took place in Copenhagen on 3 April 1869, with Norwegian pianist Edmund Neupert at the keyboard, for whom Grieg dedicated the work. Several times in the next 35-plus years, he was to revise the score. The final edition was completed shortly before his death in 1907. The end result is without question a well-loved masterpiece. Schumann's Concerto is no less a thing of beauty. Sony has included an excellent finale to Mendelssohn's D minor Concerto as an added bonus track. Highly recommended CD.

I love Grieg piano concerto so much that I own 26 different recordings of this piece. Among them, this recording, along with Solomon's and Gieseking/Karajan's, are the three absolute best in my opinion. Many recordings have beautiul playings, great technical brilliance, and/or beautiful phrasing. But after listening to all these 26 recordings over and over again during the past14 years, I have found these three ages like fine wine. These three recordings have captured the pulse and the heartbeat of this concerto. Another words, these three have captured the spirit of this music. All the others are of course very beautifully played, Bishop-Kovacevich, O'hara, Andsnes, and Curzons are great also. But I would recommend these three (Perahia, Solomon, Gieseking) over the other ones. And among them Perahia's recording enjoys the benefit of the modern recording sound quality.

I just have one minor point I want to point out, the last few bars of the 3rd movement have a few minor but noticable intonation, but does not distract the overall enjoyment of the listening experience.

These two concertos are often issued together due to their similarity (same key, etc...). They are not only major works of the romantic repertoire, but they are exquisitely performed by Perahia. I highly recommend this CD.

Both of these concertos are played with great feeling by Murray Perahia, and well supported by Colin Davis and the Symphonie-Orchestra des Bayerischen Rundfunks. The Schumann concerto is beautifully, but not overly, scored. The piano part is not excessively demanding, but it does not matter. The result, left in the hands of Perahia here, is a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. The same can be said for the Grieg concerto, written in the same key (A minor) as Schumann's. The music speaks for itself, and Perahia plays with great poetry. The sound quality is very good indeed. Warmly recommended.

I was curious whether my thesis was right that Murray Perahia used to be more energetic and interesting as an interpreter when he was young. Perhaps his two recordings of the Schumann A minor Concerto, this one from 1987 and a remake with Abbado and the Berliners in 1994, are too close together to make much of a contrast, for they are remarkably similar. Schumann is one of Perahia's strongest composers, and both versions display him at his best: engaged, flexible, sensitive, always in good taste without drooping into studied nuance.

The version with Colin Davis puts the piano farther forward, the remake under Abbado blends the instrument into a plush orchestral setting. By a small margin Davis feels like the stronger, more committed condcutor. You would think, however, that the nod goes to Abbado because the fillers on that CD are two rarely heard Konzertstucke, Op. 90 and Op. 134, which Perahia plays, if anything, better than the concerto. How can this pairing of the dog-eared Grieg cocnerto compete? As it turns out, Perahia and Davis really catch fire here, and their interpretation feels fresh and appealing. If you want a first choice in this work, their version comes near th top of the list.

In any case, I wouldn't rank Perahia's Schumann conerto recordings above Ricther (two readings, on EMI and DG) and Pollini (DG)-- both soloists are more fiery and original. This is a pedigreed account, however, that brings a lot of pleasure. Sony produced the two Perahia CDs in very good sound.

As a performing pianist and EMI recording artist, I appreciate and admire Mr. Perahia, and this is a fine example of his music making, which I found at AMazon. Agustin Anievas

Few pianists in our lifetime demonstrate the kind of depth and musicality Perahia has done in the last 3 decades. His virtuosity and expressiveness are 'classical' in every sense - reserved and stylistically sophisticated. The Grieg Concerto is just superb and this recording shows Perahia's more passionate side of his personality. Highly recommended.