Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary Piano Playing, September 16, 1998
In December of 1975 I bought a ticket on the spur of the moment for a recital at Alice Tully Hall by a Turkish pianist who was then completely unknown to me named Idil Biret. It was one of those memorable experiences in which you realize that you are in the presence of something extraordinary. After amazing performances of the Beethoven c-minor variations and Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit and some other things, she played, as an encore, the Rachmaninov G-minor Prelude (#5 in the Op. 23 set), and I nearly fell out of my seat with astonishment. The performance was on a huge scale. One felt the motion of armies across the steppes of Russia. And yet the playing was at the same time absolutely transparent. Most of all, her playing had an extraordinary inevitability about it. She conveyed the sense that she had the last note of the piece already in mind when she sounded the first.The only significant flaw in Idil Biret's playing when I heard her in the mid-seventies was a tendency to a somewhat harsh sound. It is a great pleasure to report that this is no longer audible in her Naxos recordings of the last decade. In fact the sound on this recording is quite beautiful and rich -- much better than you would expect on a budget label. Altogether this is an amazing record. Easily the best performance I know of these pieces. And Biret's recordings of Brahms and Chopin are equally good. Idil Biret started out in life as a celebrated child prodigy. Her fame as an adult has never quite equalled what she experienced as a child. But in my opinion the quality of her playing has in fact fully realized the early promise and it is a shame that she is not generally recognized as what she truly is: one of the world's greatest living musicians. Lancelot Fletcher
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad, but far from the top, January 30, 2009
Good recordings of the Rachmaninov preludes are surprisingly scarce, but even though there are good things to say about Biret's recording, it can unfortunately not be said to remedy that state of affairs. The good thing is the temperament and varied approach she brings to the music. There is a wide variety of atmospheres as well as power to be found on this disc. On the down-side, these (not always so) small gems almost have a tendency to fall apart under the attack Biret launches at them. It is pretty far from subtle, in fact to my ears it seems far too overdone (and even the technique is questionable from time to time); One is a little (and sometimes more than a little) off-put by the jerks in and distortions of rhythm and tempo and the undermining of overall structure. It isn't mannerism, per se, more a tendency to paint with far too coarse brushes.
That said, there are things to enjoy here - more so in the op. 23 preludes than in the Morceaux, but in addition to the caveats already mentioned she is let down by a slightly boxy and mechanically booming sound. So while this disc is worthwhile, it cannot under any circumstance be anywhere near a top-choice.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sublime Piano Playing, January 27, 2006
This is simply beautiful piano playing.Technically,Miss Biret leaves nothing to be desired. Passion and poetic feeling are everywhere on this CD.Just listen to tract four (Prelude #4 in D Major),where the phrasing is devastatingly beautiful.Don't think she can't belt out a tune when she needs to either, just listen to tract two(Prelude #2 in B Flat Major)where there is bravura playing. The pedalling in some of these pieces highlites the phrasing and is done in good taste, producing nuances of tone which are simply beautiful.
Its true the sound ia a little clangy, but who cares when you hear playing of this caliber.Devastatingly beautiful piano playing. Buy this CD! I plan to explore Miss Biret's other Rachmaninov CD's on Naxos.
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~ Sergey Rachmaninov
~ Sergey Rachmaninov
by Sergei Rachmaninov 
