Search - Tchaikovsky, Bartok, Gilels :: Piano Concertos 1 2 & 3 / Piano Concertos 5 & 25

Terrific Tchaikovsky and Bonuses

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 07/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 2CD set from EMI's "Double Forte" series is an excellent way to get five outstanding piano concertos for the price of one full-priced disc (get it in the Marketplace, Amazon's price is inflated). The main attraction here is the three Tchaikovsky Concertos, as performed by legendary pianist Emil Gilels with Lorin Maazel and the New Philharmonia Orchestra in 1972 recordings. (As an aside, I've always wondered if EMI had intended George Szell to record these works with Gilels. When Szell left Epic/Columbia for EMI in the late 1960s, his new studio made a point of partnering the conductor with the master soloists under their contract. Unfortunately, Szell's death in 1970 left us with only a Beethoven Piano Concerto Cycle with Gilels, the Brahms Double Concerto with Rostropovich and Oistrakh, and Brahms Violin Concerto with Oistrakh alone -- see my review of the latter.) This is my third, and probably least favorite Gilels account of the Tchaikovsky 1st -- I personally find the 1955 rendition with Reiner on RCA Living Stereo and the early 1980 digital with Mehta on Sony Essential Classics more enjoyable. This doesn't bother me in the slightest though, one because the performance is still very good, and two because my whole reason for buying this title was to have accounts of all three Tchaikvosky PCs by an acclaimed pianist. And while the 2nd and the one-movement 3rd aren't the greatest works in the canon, they are played excellently by Gilels and Maazel. The added treat on CD2 is the great Sviatoslav Richter joining Maazel for Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 5 (1970 with the London Symphony Orchestra) and Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 2 (1972 with Orchestre de Paris). All five offerings make this a terrific set at any price."