Review by Edvin May 11, 2006 (1 of 2 found this review helpful)
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"The first, Allegramente, imposes its energy and festive inspiration right from the first bars." These lines by Bianca Robichaud can be read in the booklet that accompanies this disc.
You wish. The first movement is dead, leaden and quite badly played actually. You will find nothing of the gaiety that this music inherits. Desperate to show something new Schlimé and Pletnev not only slowed everything down to an almost halt, they also removed all the high spirits and tension. I have never heard this music played so boringly before. The orchestra is somewhere else in their minds, and I don´t blame them.
The famous second movement is lovely, careful and loving. Not illuminating like the best, but nice.
The finale is fast but surprisingly low key. Pletnev is not a top conductor and he has very little feeling for the gay life of Paris in the thirties.
The Prokofiev five is better. But it is no match for the Richter/Rowicki DG, rbcd. I am very fond of this concerto and know it well, it is rather underrated actually. It is spiky and unpredictable, but also melodious with a slow movement of great beauty. Schlimé and Pletnev show no new insights, but they play the piece in a satisfactory way. It does not superseed Ashkenazy, Toradze, Browning. It is a bit too heavy handed for that.
The improvisations...well, the first is based on the slow movement of the Ravel - of course. Rather pointless since Ravel did it so much better. This is in the style of Keith Jarrett without the swagger. Aenemic. The other two movements are based on some harmonies in Prokofiev... maybe someone should tell Schlimé that improvisation is not his forte. Nice doodlings many piano students have entertained themselves with, myself included. but on a sacd..NO!
The Pentatone sound is pleasant as always. The balance between piano and orchestra is not top notch, but I suspect that it is more due to Pletnev´s shortcomings. In the improvisations the piano is much larger.
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