Track Listing

1. 1. Allegramente - Krystian Zimerman, The Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
2. 2. Adagio assai - Krystian Zimerman, The Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
3. 3. Presto - Krystian Zimerman, The Cleveland Orchestra, Pierre Boulez
4. 1. Modéré - très franc
5. 2. Assez lent - avec une expression intense
6. 3. Modéré
7. 4. Assez animé
8. 5. Presque lent - dans un sentiment intime
9. 6. Assez vif
10. 7. Moins vif
11. 8. Epilogue (Lent)
12. Piano Concerto for the left hand in D - Krystian Zimerman, London Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39935 in Music
• Released on: 1999-01-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 55 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fabulous pianism from Krystian Zimerman, scintillating in its poise, sparkle and wit, but with never a hint of self-regarding flashiness along the way. In the sublime slow movement of the G major concerto, Zimerman's songful liquidity comes close to the ideal (no-one has yet matched Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's miraculous 1959 EMI account), and Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra could not be more sympathetic collaborators. For the Left-hand Concerto, we move from Ohio to Watford and a rather more expansive acoustic. If the London Symphony Orchestra don't always quite match their American counterparts in tasteful refinement and dazzling co-ordination, the detail in Ravel's breathtakingly imaginative orchestral canvas is now fractionally clearer. Again, Zimerman and Boulez forge an imperious alliance, this music's unsettling seam of desperation and terror quarried with comprehensive insight. Sandwiched between the two main courses come the Valses nobles et sentimentales: featuring the Clevelanders again on lustrous form, these are amongst the most bracing and intoxicating of recent times. As for the concertos, you need really look no further than Zimerman and Boulez: they're a class act. --Andrew Achenbach

Customer Reviews

The best modern recording available
Of several recordings of Ravel's Piano Concertos available, this is sonically and muscially the best.

Initially I was suspicious of Boulez, worried that his meticulous accuracy and ear for detail might not sit well with Ravel but my misgivings were unfounded, partially because Zimerman exerts a regulatory effect on the performance. This particularly emerges in the ruminative slow movement of the G Major Concerto; even more so in the in the Piu lento passage of the D Major Concerto (starting at letter 8) to which Zimerman brings an almost luminous warmth. In so many performances this passage is taken far too fast, destroying both contrast and mood.

Zimerman is every bit up to these works. He deals with the intensely difficult cadenza in the D Major Concerto with utter assurance, its arpeggiation convoluted (no doubt influenced by Ravel's small hand - he could barely stretch an octave) and depending on the emphasis of single notes to produce the theme. Fine in the first few bars (after letter 50) but as it progresses some very real hand-gymnastics are required.

Boulez and Zimerman between them manage to show us a warmer side of this concerto, dwelling less on its oft-reported morbidity than a sensual luminousity rising from the depths, still managing to bare its teeth when need be - as in the middle section (letter 14).

The Valses are somewhat whimsical - they were never meant to be otherwise - and benefit by Ravel's undeniable skill in orchestration. I was pleasantly surprised by Boulez' evocative handling of these sometimes pastel, hazy pieces.

Both orchestras are well up to these works and the DG sound resembles the effect of the concert hall with the piano placed rather forward in solo passages...my only gripe is that it seems to recede when joining in a general orchestral tutti. Listen to the horrendously difficult full-compass arpeggios at the end of the D Major Concerto...if you can, because they almost disappear. Shame, because one can almost imagine three hands playing these closing bars, not just one!

Perhaps Benedetti Michelangeli's recording of the G Major Concerto can compete on warmth and tang (and, while not quite so hi-fi, is an excellent recorded performance, beautiful in tone and coupled with Rachmaninov's Concerto No 4). Samson Francois' recordings, alas, are not in the running.

Definitive recording of the Ravel concertos
Ravel's Piano Concerto in G was the work that convinced me to start taking a serious interest in jazz. I don't know whether it has had anything like the same effect on the tonally ascetic Pierre Boulez, but we should all be genuinely grateful for his masterful guidance of the Cleveland Orchestra on this wonderful recording. Rich and detailed, the orchestral sound ideally complements the striking sensitivity of Krystian Zimerman's performance. (Boulez feels this work in his bones, a fact which leaves you sensing that he is suppressing an unexpected dimension to his musical personality in some of the more ideological postures he strikes on twentieth century music.)

As ever, the approach of the soloist is critical. Zimerman makes his initial allegro attack with aplomb, and he pulls off the concluding, dynamic presto with equal attitude. But is in the heart-wrenching adagio, around which the whole work revolves, that he is at his strongest. While not technically exhausting, this is a difficult movement to perform to its full potential. But Zimerman's timing, leaning off the elusive beat to exactly the right degree, is magnificent.

The eight Valses are a charming distraction (no disparagement intended) upon which the Cleveland is able to shimmer and shine. They clean the palette for the dark, pounding feast that is the Concerto for Left Hand.

This is not my favourite recording of the Left Hand Concerto, but it comes pretty close. What it lacks in menace it makes up for in exquisite detail and panoramic scope. And quibbles aside, this surely amounts to a definitive recording of these three great works.

Fine performance but lacks fire
As you expect, Zimerman gives wonderfully refined and thoughtful performance of the both concertos. The slow movement of G major concerto is most beautifully played with admirable delicacy. However, outer movements lacks fire, and the real sense of boisterousness is replaced by careful attention to detail. Boulez' cool headed way with the orchestra matches well with Zimerman's miticulously planned playing, but to me this is too civilized a performance to call great. It can neither match the transcendental beauty (2nd movement) and the daring aggressiveness of Michelangeli's great recording nor the explosive performance by Collard.