Customer Reviews

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Unfortunately, there's no way to give 6 stars to this recording. Mr Pogorelich has an incredible command, being able to mantain speed, control of rubato, etc, giving a super polished performance. Of the many versions, including Horowitz, Argerich, Gilels, and others, his vision is quite impressive. I have listened to many of his rehearsals and enjoy this CD since 1986. Anyone that buys this recording is not spending, but investing in a future of pleasure and constant learning with astonishment assured.

If you are anything like me, the most difficulty recordings to buy are the old warhorses, which everyone think they know how to play and every listener think they know how it should be played. And that is precisely the problem. Finally, this perfect pairing of pianist and conductor came along, who instead decided to re-look at this piece as if they were looking at it for the first time. I have never found Tchaikovski to be more enjoyable. Finally, someone looked at this piece knowing that there is a brain amids the pounding of the keyboard. And that when the pounding stopped, or in this case never started, you can actually hear the music behind it.

I put off buying this for a long time because, frankly, this isn't my favorite concerto, and I'm also rather sick of warhorses, period. It's a testament to Pogo's brilliance that he can make me hear a warhorse all over again for the first time, but he worked the same magic with his stunning recording of the Chopin "Funeral March" sonata, another CD I recommend highly. Pogo seems to be that rare artist, someone who can imagine something anew and convince you that this is the way to go. He's certainly convinced Abbado. The stentorian introduction here will stand your hair on end, no matter how many times you've already heard it. And little finesses, small attentions to detail, will convince you that there is still gold to be mined in overly-familiar repertoire pieces. Pogo and Abbado are clearly having a blast finding new nuggets in the nooks and crannies of this concerto.

And maybe it's not all that familiar anyway, no matter how many times we've heard it. Because you have to admit that, after the all-too-familiar intro, there's a lot of brave material here. Imagine how avant-garde this must have sounded in 1875! The structure is extremely odd--it's really somewhere between a concerto and a fantasy. The role of the piano is sometimes that of conspirator and sometimes that of foe. Anyone who thinks of Tchaikovsky as a "bourgeois" composer should listen to this work more carefully.

Pogo and Abbado do. Pogorelich, who rose to fame when Martha Argerich walked off a jury competition in which he was *not* awarded first place, bangs off the opening octaves as cleanly as glass. And in the secondary theme of the first movement, the delicate thing that appears first in the winds, he plays the counterpoint with unbelievable clarity, yet never without feeling or coldly. Or listen to the little cadenza just before the main theme returns to recap the second movement. Pogo walks on air. Just amazing! The poster below me who says this performance is unfelt has got to be kidding! You can tell when Abbado is enjoying himself in concertos--it shows in his accompaniments. Here he is electrifying, and DG's engineers capture it all with great big bold sound that will make your rafters rattle and annoy--or delight--your neighbors.

Some might carp that this disc is a little skimpy with no filler. Well, all Pogo discs are skimpy. He doesn't record often, but when he does it's an event, so savor it and go for quality over quantity. That hunk of filet Mignon on the menu for $40 is skimpy too--but I'll take it over a McDonald's Quadruple Cheeseburger any day.

The hallmark of Pogorelich's playing here is the delicacy and poettry he achieves in music that we've all heard a hundred times over. To say that someone has found a way to make the Tchaikovsky First sound new happens often enough, but here it's true. The best versions on disc (Horowitz, Richter, Gilels) are a grand show for the soloist, as are Argerich's several versions, none of then Russian in feeling but certainly a knockout.

Pogorelich finds his own way by, first of all, playing the Andante as if it were Chopin, reaching inward for phrasing and nuance we haven't heard before. This is a refreshing approach, yet when it comes to fireworks, he unleashes thunderous power. In a sense the soloist isn't even half the sotry, however, because we also get an unusually beautiful orchestral reading from Abbado and the LSO, which is captured in world-class sonics. The soundstage is open and spacious, the piano sounds utterly real, and the dynamic impact is thrilling. Why else would DG have devoted an entire CD to a 37 min. work?

In terms of these combined elements, I would rate this CD high on my list of the very best.

Ponderous - OK, if you think this 'great' performance is 'big' in a way that is 'ponderous', I think the blame should go rather to the composer for composing this mega 'warhorse' piece in the first place.
Pogorelich's interpretations are always serious and detailed. I fully agree that he pulled off a sublime second movement and discovered new dimension to this section, a trait taken up later and expanded by Lang Lang in his much more controversial recording of this work. And the third movement is one of the most fiery and passionate rendition ever heard. If Horowitz and Toscanini pulled off a heart-throbing cadenza to the last movement, Pogo and Abbado's version is a highly-charged and suffocatingly passionate account throughout the 'entire' movement. Really leaves the listener gasping for breath. Of course, the pianist's superlative technique counts every bit.
Almost certainly, the credit in this earlier recording goes as much to Abbado as to Pogorelich. Both soloist and conductor obviously have discovered common new grounds in this work, and their collaboration is sheer sublimity.
If you find the prize too expensive, go for the 'Genius of Pogorelich' in which the entire sublime concerto forms part of a wonderful package.

If you gather up all of the reviews and comments (both positive and negative)about Pogorelich, you'll think that you are quite familiar with his style. But it's quite a different sensation to actually listen. "Eccentric", "Erratic", "Unbelievable", "Ponderous" were becoming cliches. But how many have actually sat down to listen, listen within the music? There is someone who is trying to communicate one's deep feelings and emotions, he should deserve more understanding from us. As beings with high intellectual emotions, this is the best we could do?

If you are just looking for music that will please your ears or to lighten up the background, then Pogorelich's recordings are not the only recommended ones. But to really analyze something, to find a new dimension, he's up for it.

Pogorelich certainly lives up to his reputation giving an eccentric and highly interesting performance of the concerto. Beyond that, however, there is no impact whatsoever, and virtuosity besides, as the curiosity value begins to fade, tedium begins to seep in through the ears around half-way thru.

i could describe the whole account by an example from the third movement - the orchestral part that always reminds me of a Russian ball from the 19the century straight out from a Russian 19 century novel - it still sounds like that, but through a distorting glass - almost like rather from "Masque of the Red Death" than from anything by Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky.

There is a distinct lack of any sense of coherence as Pogorelich sprawls all over the concerto without any heed of the music. A perfect example of technical virtuosity and reputation overtaking art and purpose.

i don't know if it's going too far to say Abbado follows Pogorelich, but his direxion is perfectly on par with him, and the way the orchestra and the soloist go together is the only thing that gives this any sort of unity. The direxion would not normally fit the piece, i feel, as it's soft and malleable, but with Pogorelich it is what's needed. i like Abbado's "humble" approach to music-making, but his style of leaving himself out of the way necessarily leaves the result at the mercy of the soloist (which isn't a bad thing, just that his recordings are of varying quality and his brilliance doesn't shine through often as he doesn't assert it.)

However, all the negatives aside, it's not "waste of time" or anything of the sort, nor is is the world a worse place because this exists, but ultimately this is just a different interpretation - and remains at the level of a curiosity piece, which i'm sure i'll listen to a few more times over the years.

Nor am i to imply that there is no musicality whatsoever in Pogorelich's playing - there is, plenty of it - it just has very little to do with this concerto. And i would not be encouraged to or interested in seeking more recordings from this genius (or not) having heard this one. By this account i'll happily leave him to the cultists.

Of the many recordings of this warhorse concerto I find this one to be one of the most difficult to listen to without producing some degree of discomfort. The artist approaches the music in a ponderous fashion, perhaps seeking deep psychologic perspective. If so, it leaves one wanting the tempo hastened at several points. He can produce a beautiful tone. The piano is too "forward" in the recording. There are many preferable CD versions on which to spend your money.