Tchaikovsky : Piano Concerto No 1 - your favourite performance of the old warhorse

[Barbirollians]

Listening to that marvellous swansong of Classic FM magazine - its 2 CD freebie of Tchaikovsky that included the van Cliburn/Kondrashin mega selling account of this piece tonight one can understand why it sold so well . It is a barnstorming thriller of a performance that takes the piece by the scruff of the neck and does not let go .

When it is played like this it is terrific fun . What is your favourite account of the piece ?

For me Argerich and Abbado have a mercurial fizz on DG for me that I have not heard surpassed and which is different from her incendiary account with Kondrashin and her lower voltage yet musical one with Dutoit , Hough and Vanska produce a fresh , yet still properly romantic rendition on Hyperion - Gilels and Reiner knock out the fireworks on RCA - Solomon in three incredibly different accounts - all poetry with Dobrowen, sparkle with Harty through the old recording and on fire in Kansas City with a struggling orchestra , Horowitz and Toscanini etc etc .

Forced to have one it would be Argerich and Abbado but that Solomon account in Kansas has to be heard to be believed.

[pastoralguy]

Peter Katin on CfP. The LPO with Sir John Pritchard. This was the recording I learnt the work from. Happy days.

The Argerich/Abbado disc came next. Just wonderful.

[akiralx]

Argerich/Abbado
Richter/Karajan
Gilels/Maazel
Sudbin/Neschling

[ostuni]

The new recording by Danil Trifonov & Mariinsky/Gergiev is certainly exciting.

[amateur51]

Listening to that marvellous swansong of Classic FM magazine - its 2 CD freebie of Tchaikovsky that included the van Cliburn/Kondrashin mega selling account of this piece tonight one can understand why it sold so well . It is a barnstorming thriller of a performance that takes the piece by the scruff of the neck and does not let go .

When it is played like this it is terrific fun . What is your favourite account of the piece ?

For me Argerich and Abbado have a mercurial fizz on DG for me that I have not heard surpassed and which is different from her incendiary account with Kondrashin and her lower voltage yet musical one with Dutoit , Hough and Vanska produce a fresh , yet still properly romantic rendition on Hyperion - Gilels and Reiner knock out the fireworks on RCA - Solomon in three incredibly different accounts - all poetry with Dobrowen, sparkle with Harty through the old recording and on fire in Kansas City with a struggling orchestra , Horowitz and Toscanini etc etc .

Forced to have one it would be Argerich and Abbado but that Solomon account in Kansas has to be heard to be believed.

That Solomon/Kansas performance is truly astonishing, I agree Barbs

What about Gilels, who has many versions 'out there'? Richter too of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pACTzwwxemk

And from LP days I recall with affection a 'live' Horowitz with George Szell.

[amateur51]

The new recording by Danil Trifonov & Mariinsky/Gergiev is certainly exciting.

Thanks for the alert, ostuni

[Barbirollians]

I only had the Richter/Karajan which I have to say I thought received an unduly harsh press. What other Richter performances are out there worth listening to - I see there is one with Ancerl and I am sure I recall seeing a Mravinsky .

[richardfinegold]

Spoiled for choice in this piece. For the longest time I was faithful to my original purchase, Preven/Guitieriez (I listed the conductor first because I think he might be the better known entity). Lately I bought the Gilels reissue box that features two performances of it, the one with Reiner and the later one with Mehta. There isn't much difference between the two, remarkably. I recently purchased the Cliburn after he died and it is remarkable.

When DVD-Audio had it's brief fruitfly like existence, I purchased a complete concert performance by Monteux and the Vienna PO
featuring the 5th Symphony, Rome, and the Concerto with Ogdon, another high voltage scintillating performance. I see it is now available as a High resolution download. That would be my preferred Audipophile version.

[salymap]

I don't have a recording of this, it's in my head when needed. However I think Rubinstein was my favourite when I heard it live.

[amateur51]

Spoiled for choice in this piece. For the longest time I was faithful to my original purchase, Preven/Guitieriez (I listed the conductor first because I think he might be the better known entity). Lately I bought the Gilels reissue box that features two performances of it, the one with Reiner and the later one with Mehta. There isn't much difference between the two, remarkably. I recently purchased the Cliburn after he died and it is remarkable.

When DVD-Audio had it's brief fruitfly like existence, I purchased a complete concert performance by Monteux and the Vienna PO
featuring the 5th Symphony, Rome, and the Concerto with Ogdon, another high voltage scintillating performance. I see it is now available as a High resolution download. That would be my preferred Audipophile version.

Thanks for reminding me of the Tchaikovsky/Monteux/Ogdon set rfg - a cracking set indeed

Now at silly prices, I see

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't have a recording of this, it's in my head when needed.

I have the Argerich/Dutoit on cassette, but, like sals, I know the piece so well that I can imagine it whenever I want. As a teenager, I bought Tchaikovsky's Greatest Hits Vol3 - a CBS LP for 99p. It had the superbly exciting Entremont/NYPO/Bernstein recording complete on Side One - I must have worn out the record, the number of times I played it, but haven't heard it in over thirty years, now. I remember it had the most explosive Timp roll in the first movement: everyone else seems either so feeble or self-consciously embarrassed by the moment, in comparison. (A very good Marche Slav amongst the hits on side two, as well.)

[amateur51]

I have the Argerich/Dutoit on cassette, but, like sals, I know the piece so well that I can imagine it whenever I want.

I tend to agree with you & salymap, ferney but every now & then it's nice to hear it again. I was once round at some friends' house & they were playing radio 3 in pre-prandial fashion and it was this Tchaikovsky piano concerto on 'live' relay. As I nibbled my Bombay Mix I thought "this pianist can really play" and it became more and more urgent to find out who it was.

That performance was my first encounter with Simon Trpceski who I've grown to admire a lot since. On another similarly illuminating occasion the pianist was Barry Douglas

[Zucchini]

The new recording by Danil Trifonov & Mariinsky/Gergiev is certainly exciting.

I heard him play it at Symphony Hall a few weeks ago, with the CBSO under Mario Venzago and his playing was breathtaking. The piano part sounded wonderfully fresh and full of new detail.

Here's what Martha Argerich says of him (FT 8 June 2011):
“Last night I listened to him again on YouTube – he has everything and more. What he does with his hands is technically incredible. It’s also his touch – he has tenderness and also the demonic element. I never heard anything like that.”

[Hornspieler]

I recall a stunning performance by Gina Bachauer that I played in. What power!

I don't know whether she recorded it, but she certainly showed some of the men a thing or two.

HS

[Spatny]

One of my favourites is Grigori Sokolov / Järvi / USSR State Symphony Orchestra. Maybe because it took me 8 years to acquire it at a reasonable price