Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 / Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition / Cherkassy / Rimsky-Korsakov

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Shura Cherkassky recorded Tchaikovsky's Piano Concertos one and two for DG back in the mid 1950s but he continued to programme them in concert well into his eighties. Cherkassky was an individualist and a descendent of the 'Golden Age of Piano Playing.' He was a student of the legendary Josef Hofmann and this is reflected in his highlighting of secondary themes and the fully rounded, gilt-edged tone he always produced from his instrument. As with all the greatest pianists quality of sound was of the utmost importance to Cherkassky and we can hear this throughout these 'live' recordings from the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1968 and the Wigmore Hall, London in 1982. Cherkassky plays the Tchaikovsky concerto with both power and brilliance but he concentrates on its more lyrical qualities rather than sheer virtuosity and speed. He is typically spontaneous and capricious especially in the big cadenzas of the first movement and the lightness of touch in the central prestissimo of the middle movement is breathtaking. The Finale is alive and full of those subito dips in dynamics and tone that was one of Cherkassky's characteristics and Solti's drive and architectural overview compliments Cherkassky's freer style ideally.
The solo works are taken from a demanding all-Russian recital Cherkassky gave in London in 1982. I heard the 'live' original BBC broadcast which not only included the Mussorgsky 'Pictures' and the two encores featured here but also Tchaikovsky's Grande Sonata in G major, Prokofiev's Sonata No.7, Balakirev's Tarantelle and Islamey as well as two more encores by Shostakovitch and Scriabin. The Mussorgsky is given a powerful but fairly straight account by Cherkassky. Memorable moments include a hauntingly atmospheric 'The Old Castle,' a 'Ballet of Unhatched Chicks,' that chirps impishly and delightfully, a menacing 'Baga-Yaga' of awesome power and similarly 'The Great Gate at Kiev' with its massive chords and pealing Russian church bells. The disc ends with Cherkassky's passionately melancholic 'Prelude Pathetique,' and Rachmaninoff's finger twister after Rimsky-Korsakov's 'The Flight of the Bumble-Bee' which not surprisingly nearly derails Cherkassky at the end of such a long mammoth programme. Needless to say his London capacity audience cheer him to the heavens!

Cherkassky's American career, with stints playing for Hollywood soundtracks, wasn't nearly as successful as his later career when he seemed to have all of London at is feet. He was a charmer and idiosyncratic enough that audiences were charmed; he made it seem that pianism was spontaneous play. From this side of the Atlantic, I can't say that the charisma ever touched me. Despite the Golden Age aura that surrounded him, I hear no great personal force from Cherkassky to rival Horowitz, Moiseiwitsch, Ginzburg, Cortot, and so on.

But he's very appealing here in 1968 playing the Tchaikovsky First Cto. in a relaxed, assured way. Solti isn't at all driven, and the partnership feels sunny and vivacious - this isn't a cut-and-dried subscription concert by any means. Nor is it a slam-bang frontal assault. This much-abused work is shown some respect and musical care, for once. Don't expect the electric thrills of Horowitz or Argerich. In his way, Cherkassky is just as satisfying. The recorded sound from Royal Festival Hall is outstanding, considering the venue, and the orchestral side, as you'd expect form Solti, is disciplined enough to sound like a studio recording.

I seem to have a higher opinion of the Tchaikovsky than the earlier reviewer, but we agree on the Pictures at an Exhibition form 1982, the year that Cherkassky turned 73 - it's more or less straightforward, without the electricity of Horowitz, the originality of Richter, or the bravura of Kissin. The piano is a good instrument miked a bit far back; the acoustics are open. I don't mean to imply that Cherkassky's reading is merely a make-do. He's strong and assured, and you feel that he is emotionally engaged - no small thing in a score so familiar that it is hard to sustain interest.

Given that the cliche about this pianist is his unpredictability, these readings are not remotely eccentric (try Ivo Pogorelich's Pictures if you want to go there). Instead, they show off Cherkassky in the best light musically.