Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1: Rachmaninoff: Solo Piano Works [Hybrid SACD] [Hybrid SACD]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Here the big-toned Arcadi Volodos takes on one of the most familiar masterpieces of the piano repertoire, the Tchaikovsky First. It's a piece that is so familiar we tend not to listen to it very carefully, but Volodos finds subtleties and emphasizes interesting ideas. The expected power is there--the opening chords could knock you over--but he's wonderfully insightful in the softer passages and the middle movement is ethereal in the extreme; he also finds a certain pointillistic lyricism in the finale before he returns to the potency of his opening statement. The six Rachmaninov solos show varied sides of both the composer and Volodos: Mélodie is as peaceful as Volodos' own arrangement of the Polka italienne is wild--it fairly bursts out of the speakers. The Tchaikovsky was recorded live and the forward sound is a bit aggressive but exciting; Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic are as impressive as the pianist. Recommended. --Robert Levine

Tracks:

I. Allegro Non Troppo E Molto Maestoso
II. Andantino
III. Allegro Con Fuoco
Prelude In G-Flat Major, Op.23 No.10
Moment Musical In E-Flat Minor, Op.16 No.2
Daisies, Op.38 No.3
Prelude In G Major, Op.32 No.5
Oriental Sketch
Melodie In E Major, Op.3 No.3
Concert Paraphrase On Polka Italienne

Amazon.com

Here the big-toned Arcadi Volodos takes on one of the most familiar masterpieces of the piano repertoire, the Tchaikovsky First. It's a piece that is so familiar we tend not to listen to it very carefully, but Volodos finds subtleties and emphasizes interesting ideas. The expected power is there--the opening chords could knock you over--but he's wonderfully insightful in the softer passages and the middle movement is ethereal in the extreme; he also finds a certain pointillistic lyricism in the finale before he returns to the potency of his opening statement. The six Rachmaninov solos show varied sides of both the composer and Volodos: Mélodie is as peaceful as Volodos' own arrangement of the Polka italienne is wild--it fairly bursts out of the speakers. The Tchaikovsky was recorded live and the forward sound is a bit aggressive but exciting; Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmonic are as impressive as the pianist. Recommended. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

FINE PERFORMANCE!!!.......2007-03-21

Rubinstein, Horowitz, Van Cliburn, Gilels, Richter, y en este caso Volodos, otra interpretacion mas de uno de los conciertos mas populares del repertorio. Hay muchisimas y bellas aproximaciones al concierto del compositor ruso, y esta, de la mano de Ozawa y la Filarmonica de Berlin, no se queda atras. Quizas el tiempo ligeramente mas rapido de lo acostumbrado, quizas no es el mejor SACD en el mercado, pero su escucha no deja de ser altamente placentera. Recomendable.

Horrible Sound.......2007-02-17

I agree with the other reviewer who finds this recording to be horribly recorded. I agree completely -- it is THE worst SACD I've ever heard. Muddy, lacking in air and treble, with a completely muffled sound. Which makes no sense, because SACD's most touted quality is its ability to convey open, clear, and "alive" sound. I don't understand how any of the artists/engineers involved in this project could have allowed this to be released.

Brilliant!!!!.......2007-01-23

Make no mistake about it; this is a brilliant and superb pianist! During the first movement of the concerto, around 11 minutes (and some seconds in), it sounds like there are two pianist playing at once. Totally unexpected, brilliant phrasing of this well known piece by P. Tchaikovsky. A simple and complete joy to listen to. The symphony sounds marvelous; and, together with A.Volodos, this is a beautiful performance of Tchaikovsky's 1st. The last track on the CD again displays A.Volodos's ability to phrase and compose music with such beauty, ease, and simplicity (Rachmaninoff-Volodos). This recording displays performances well beyond a 5 star rating. Volodos is an incredibly sophisticated artist/composer who seems completely fluent in the language of music. Bravo!!!!!

A fine performance, but surprisingly middle-of-the-road.......2006-01-30

What made Arkady Volodos so special when he first burst upon the scene was his combination of world-class virtuosity and acute musicality. He could negotiate finger-crippling showstoppers like the Horowitz arrangement of Carmen or the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody #2 with such ease and fluidity that only Kissin matches him among younger pianists and perhaps only Pollini among odler ones, although Pollini doesn't stoop to performing showpieces.

I expected Volodos to attack the Tchaikovsky First with great elan and fire-breathing technique, which he does, but I also wanted personality and new ideas. Lang Lang came up with both, and that's lacking here. This is a middl-eof-the-road interpretation that can't stand up to, say, Argerich or Horowitz himself. Volodos seems to want to bring this concerto back into the range of serious music, and frankly, it's a bit late for that. Ozawa leads a routine accompaniment.

The SACD sonics, as heard in two-channel CD, have impact but are somewhat cramped and congested in tuttis--not remotely the disaster suggested by the audiophile reviewer below, yet far from impressive. The best sound is found in the studio versions of mostly lightweight Rachmaninov fillers, especialy the flashy Polka italienne psraphrase concocted by Volodos--here, the piano comes across with more power than in the concerto, but I wouldn't say that there's a sonic revolution going on with this hybrid CD. Sony has done just as well for almost a decade with their normal 24-bit processing.

Splendid Pianism Sabotaged by Lousy Sound .......2004-09-29

Arcadi Volodos has everything it takes to deliver a stunning performance of the Tchaikovsky concerto, and this could have been it, but unfortunately it's not, through no fault of Volodos. This CD makes me angry--not at Volodos, who acquits himself admirably, but at Sony. If a Grammy were awarded for worst-engineered classical CD of the year, this one would be a contender: it has the worst orchestral sound I have heard from a major classical label in years. And it's all the harder to understand because Volodos's superb Rachmaninoff Third was also a live performance (June 1999) recording with the Berlin Philharmonic in the Berlin Philharmonie, just like this one (June 2002), also on Sony, and it certainly isn't afflicted with the engineering problems of this CD. (Different engineering teams recorded the two concertos.) I wonder if there is something about Sony's hybrid CD/SACD process that caused the problems (the far-better-sounding Rachmaninoff Third is not a hybrid CD/SACD disc like this one). (Let me stipulate that I'm listening on a conventional two-channel stereo CD system, not SACD, although my system is a reference-quality one. Let me also add that I am an audiophile, and that those who are indifferent to the quality of recorded sound can discount much of this review.)

Whatever the reason, the orchestral sound here is conspicuously bad. The in-house amazon.com reviewer described it euphemistically: "The forward sound is aggressive but exciting." In fact it's a lot worse than that: "hot," harsh, thick, muddy, and congested, with poor clarity and resolution of detail, with little sense of space and separation across a stereo soundstage (it seems to be clotted centerstage), and when the orchestra gets loud, the sound gets nasty, with a hard, harsh, ugly glare. We sense we're in trouble from the very beginning, with a loud opening orchestral tutti that made me wince (although the piano sounds fine). The stringed instruments have that strung-with-steel-wires hardness and metallic edge. I'm surprised Sony would release a new CD as poorly engineered as this one is. I have no fault to find with Volodos, a pianist I admire; his playing is as fluent and expressive as one could wish. (I posted a rave review of his Rachmaninoff Third.) But for me this disc is done in by the lousy sound; I can't listen to it with pleasure, and there is just no excuse for a modern piano concerto recording to sound like this. If you care about the quality of recorded orchestral sound, I'm afraid this CD is one to avoid.

As with his Rachmaninoff Third, this CD is filled out with six short pieces by Rachmaninoff, and as with that CD, these pieces are pleasant fillers of no great weight which Volodos plays handsomely. (Also as with the Rachmaninoff Third, these pieces are studio recordings and sound fine.) The real treat, however, is the seventh short piece, Volodos's own "concert paraphrase" of Rachmaninoff's Polka italienne. This one is great fun, a rip-roaring Horowitz-style virtuoso transcription which runs the gamut from fleet-fingered delicate filigree to thunder. Volodos sounds like he's having a wonderful time playing it. He is a notable transcriber as well as player of transcriptions, and anyone who liked his spectacular debut Sony CD of transcriptions is sure to enjoy this track.

There are other, nonmusical, more minor annoyances. This is the first classical CD I've ever seen that has no timings anywhere for its various tracks (not in the booklet, not on the backside of the case). Was this just a careless oversight? The total playing time, which is provided, is 54:27, short measure by today's standards, despite the makeweights. The liner notes are of the gushing, self-serving, occasionally silly kind. (Here's a sample: "Volodos is a powerhouse--a veritable one-man orchestra himself. The sheer sonority he rings [sic] from the piano is so visceral that you can feel it as well as hear it in this recording. It resonates through the body like thunder." Hmmm.) Finally, someone at Sony had the brainchild of photographing Volodos standing in an empty, abandoned warehouse, with light coming in through the dirty, streaked, broken windows. These dirty, streaked, broken windows are then used as the recurring visual motif throughout the case and booklet. There are only two problems with this choice of artwork: first, it's unappealing and ugly; second, it has nothing to do with Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Volodos, or the piano. Pointless, tasteless, irrelevant.

To sum up, Volodos deserves better than he gets in this shoddy, half-baked production. Caveat emptor--and poor show, Sony!

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