Search - Tchaikovsky, Michael Ponti :: Works for Piano & Orchestra

Excellent pianist!

Gregory M. Zinkl | Chicago, IL | 12/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ponti is a wonderful pianist who seems especially well-suited to Tchaikovsky! Not the best engineered discs, but the sound is fine, and the orchestra accompaniments are satisfactory.The performances come across cohesively and convincingly--characteristics severely lacking in more recent modern recordings. Get this inexpensive set to see how the music should go!"

Tchaikovsky never sounds more exciting...

agitato | Seattle, WA | 09/06/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The piano concertos 2 and 3 sounds extremely exciting in this CD set. Michael Ponti, after showing off excessively in the Romantic Piano Concerto Series by VoxBox, burns these Russian heavy-chords repretoires right out of the bat. Tchaikovsky's composition ideas tend to drag a bit with long orchestration, but the robust speed of this recording make it not a drag at all. This is an excellent recording for those rare concertos of Tchaikovsky, while the piano concerto 1, which has been recorded to death, was well performed as well. The recording quality is slightly off due to it is a relatively older one (ADD), but it is defintely worth the price."

Good, but what a show-off!

Russell J. Miller | Los Angeles, CA | 05/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Michael Ponti is obviously extremely technically adept - but he seems to leave the orchestra in the dust more often than not. I'm half imagining the conductor (Froment) going "WTF?" and flailing his arms around trying to catch up, especially in the Finale. Speaking of the Finale, does Ponti have an aversion to taking a little break? I could have sworn that there are places where he's just flying through some terribly showy passages that weren't in the score...



Maybe they should name this "Tchaikovsky's Works for Piano Vs. Orchestra".



Spectacular, though, and worth the purchase."