Pletnev Live at Carnegie Hall

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
The 44-year-old Russian pianist-conductor Mikhail Pletnev made a belated Carnegie Hall debut as a pianist in November 2000. Listening to that recital on this CD confirms the wisdom of the pianist's decision to resign as music director of the Russian National Orchestra. In the Bach-Busoni "Chaconne," Pletnev's crescendos wash over the listener like tidal waves; the mighty edifice of the music seems to rise, mysteriously and inexorably, on its own. The angry surges in the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata, opus 111, are perhaps overdrawn. But the concluding movement's variations glide by as if in a dream, suggesting the transformation of the earlier movement's passionate anger into a vision of Paradise beyond the power of words to describe. In Chopin's Four Scherzos, Pletnev emphasizes too many details and inhibits the music's lyrical sweep. But the charm and dazzling pyrotechnics of his encores help make this the first great piano recording of the millennium. After Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Scarlatti, and Moszkowski, Pletnev's fifth and final encore was Balakirev's transcendentally difficult Islamey. The superhuman virtuosity, sonorous splendor, and Technicolor exoticism of this performance will knock your socks off--and the rest of your clothes as well! --Stephen Wigler

Tracks:

Partita No.2, BWV 1004: Chaconne in d
Pno Son No.32 in c, Op.111: 1. Maestoso - Allegro Con Brio Ed Appassionato
Pno Son No.32 in c, Op.111: 2. Arietta. Adagio Molto Semplice E Cantabile
Scherzo No.1 in b, Op.20
Scherzo No.2 in b-flat, Op.31
Scherzo No.3 in c#, Op.39
Scherzo No.4 in E, Op.54

Tracks:

Etude-Tableau in e-flat, Op.39 No.5: Appassionato
Poeme in F#, Op.32 No.1: Andante Cantabile
Son in d, K.9: Allegro Moderato
Etude De Virtuosite in F, Op.72 No.6: Presto
Islamey: Oriental Fant: Presto Con Fuoco

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

The 44-year-old Russian pianist-conductor Mikhail Pletnev made a belated Carnegie Hall debut as a pianist in November 2000. Listening to that recital on this CD confirms the wisdom of the pianist's decision to resign as music director of the Russian National Orchestra. In the Bach-Busoni "Chaconne," Pletnev's crescendos wash over the listener like tidal waves; the mighty edifice of the music seems to rise, mysteriously and inexorably, on its own. The angry surges in the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata, opus 111, are perhaps overdrawn. But the concluding movement's variations glide by as if in a dream, suggesting the transformation of the earlier movement's passionate anger into a vision of Paradise beyond the power of words to describe. In Chopin's Four Scherzos, Pletnev emphasizes too many details and inhibits the music's lyrical sweep. But the charm and dazzling pyrotechnics of his encores help make this the first great piano recording of the millennium. After Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Scarlatti, and Moszkowski, Pletnev's fifth and final encore was Balakirev's transcendentally difficult Islamey. The superhuman virtuosity, sonorous splendor, and Technicolor exoticism of this performance will knock your socks off--and the rest of your clothes as well! --Stephen Wigler

Customer Reviews:

Breathtaking!.......2007-07-06

This is an amazing performance, especially as it was recorded live and not reworked in a studio. Pletnev is one of this generation's greatest pianists. He manages to find nuances in the music that make these works fresh, particularly the four Chopin Scherzi that are part of every concert pianist's repertoire. The bonus CD is especially fine as it shows how Pletnev is capable of playing just about any style of music. As if the rest of the program wasn't virtuosic enough, Pletnev caps off the concert with the fiendishly difficult Islamey as one of his encores.

A Unique Millennium Event.......2007-05-09

Having written extensively on Mr Pletnev's hyper-idiosyncratic playing in his 1997 Chopin Recital, it is interesting to turn to his 2000 live Carnegie Hall Recital--where the main programmed attractions are the four Chopin Scherzos. You will not find a better recording of the Scherzos as a group--even if Argerich surpasses Pletnev in terms of ferocious drive and sheer brilliance in Nos 2 & 3. Pletnev's Scherzo No 4 is the best yet to have appeared on disc--`perfect' in the sense that music virtually comes to life as a free-standing organism. Never before has Chopin's genial writing in this work been conveyed with such impeccable mastery.

As one can expect, all the large-scale bombast in the Bach-Busoni Chaconne is delivered with high-voltage pianism in the Grand Manner. By sharp contrast, the second movement in Beethoven's last Sonata is given its probably dreamiest account ever--which evidently reveals Beethoven as one of the main initiators of the romantic era. As far as the encores go, generously provided by DG on the supplementary disc, they are delivered with such panache and masterfulness that you are unlikely to find them bettered--irrespective of where you look. The Balakirev Islamey really has to be heard to be believed--other great modern versions by Gavrilov and Berezovsky pale by comparison.

This extraordinary live recital more than anything confirms Pletnev's position as one of the truly greatest living pianists. The only drawback is that the CD makes you envy those lucky souls who had the opportunity of being there on site. Luckily enough, DG's recording is a worthy second best.

Glenn Gould on Acid. .......2006-12-16

My whole review is in the title.

--E. R. O'Neill

A first - rate pianist!.......2006-07-13

The sumptuous and refined style of Michael Plentev confirms the accurate security Sviatoslav Richter kept in mind at the moment he accepted to become his musical mentor. The time, the supreme judge and the great audiences around the world have fortunately verified this initial statement.

Plentev is without discussion, one of the major pianists in the actual musical stages. His prodigious technique has worked out under expression' s service, and the result is absolutely gratifying. He has captured the essential musical roots around the whole pianist repertoire, and being such young artist we eventually will have to wait for future major achievements.

When you listen him, you should realize his outcome precedes form that inner vision conferred by the touch of genius.

Lots of flash....Too much, in fact.......2004-08-18

To say that Pletnev reminds me of the flamboyant pianists of the past would be a slight to the flamboyant pianists of the past. Even though they were not being kosher to the score, there was something about them that held interest. Pletnev often doesn't even do that. These are very superficial, shallow performances.

Things start off very encouraging, with a stupendous Bach-Busoni Chaconne. At this point I was ready to give the album five stars. Pletnev thunders, he turns his piano into an organ, he turns in one intense reading. Ah, I thought, we are going to be in for a treat.

But that's the high point. His next work is very different and calls for a very different approach, and he treats it largely the same. He adds his own razzle-dazzle to Beethoven's Op. 111 rather than take the trouble to find the depth *in* the music itself. Now, I'm not a pedant (at least I don't think so!) but these departures add no insights are just make a hash of Beethoven's own extremely powerful ideas. Pletnev plays piano where it is not written, freely adds sfumatos, ignores and adds accents at will, twists and turns the structure--to no advantage I can see other than to say "I'm here, pay attention to ME!" But most damningly of all, he doesn't hold the Arietta together to my ears, failing to find a common thread for the various variations that unify this enigmatic work. The second movement felt very long, and when, say, I listen to Schnabel (1933) in this music, I have no sense how much time has gone by. Lest anyone think I am too conservative, let me say that two of my favorite Op. 111s are Ernest Levy and Anatol Ugorski! The Chopin is just as bad, with too much fussiness in the ornamental details that has little to do with Chopin's piece and a lot to do with Pletnev's fingers. If you ever wondered what Chopin sounded like as played by Liszt on bipolar meds, this is it. The music's own shapes, momentums and moods are ignored so that Mikkey can plow through the notes as fast as humanly possible. (And that he can do.)

The encores don't excite me as much as they do some other reviewers. Want to hear really stunning Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableauxes (if that's a word), listen to Sviatoslav Richter--he finds fireworks *inside* the score, not by juxtaposing his ideas over it. The reviewer below who said the better the music, the worse the performances, hit the nail right on the head. That's also how I've felt about his conducting, from what I've sampled: lots of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I'm perplexed that this was among Amazon's "Best of 2001." Maybe 2001 wasn't a good year.

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