Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1

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There have been countless versions of Tchaikovsky's piano concerto No. 1. But just a bunch of them owe the Caucasian savagery, mercurial intensity, majestic flavor and required flair to be regarded as peerless.

This is precisely, one of them. Wild made a superb performance accompanied by Anatole Fistoulari, that will leave you breathless.

A remarkable version that must be included among the top twelve versions ever made of the most known Piano Concerto ever composed.

In addition, Dohnayi's Variations on a nursery song is the best version in the market all the way through.

A golden album to be collected.

I can't agree more with the other reviewer. This recording has remained in the catalogs since it's debut in 1962 because of the combination of performance, interpretation and recording quality. It was originally produced by Charles Gerhardt for the successful Readers Digest recordings series. The rights have been acquired by Chesky allowing its continued availability. There are several outstanding recordings of this work including those by Cliburn, Argerich, Gilels among others, but this one combines Earl Wild's dazzling technique & big warm sound with an appropriate amount of lyricism. Fistoulari's superb sensitive and exciting accompaniment is incomparable. He was an outstanding conductor of ballet and concerto accompaniment and the Royal Philharmonic was then one of the world's leading orchestras. The recording quality remains very much on a par with today's digital recordings, and I say that with the experience of having heard many outstanding DSD technology recordings. Buy this while it's still available. If you have another recording of the piece, get this anyway. You can always use another interpretation in your collection.