Franz Liszt - Piano Concertos (Krystian Zimerman)

Information

Composer: Franz Liszt

• (01) Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, S. 124
• (04) Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major, S. 125
• (08) Totentanz, S. 126/2

Krystian Zimerman, piano
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Seiji Ozawa, conductor

Date: 1987
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/cat/4235712

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Review

This is playing in the grand manner. I have associated Krystian Zimerman in the past with refinement rather than bravura, while of course saluting his technique, but from the start of the E flat major Concerto I note a consciously leonine approach. This is no bad thing either; for the music really calls for it. I even felt he was deliberately taking risks in a few technically perilous places where some of his colleagues, at least in the studio, play safe; and indeed his octaves in the opening cadenza are an example. The result sounds spontaneous and, yes, even brave. Ozawa and the orchestra are behind the soloist in all this and the deciso element is fully realized. But don't let me imply a lack of finesse; not only do lyrical sections sing with subtlety, the big passages also are shapely. There is plenty of drive in this Concerto. In the A major Zimerman adopts a different approach, he evidently considers it a more poetic piece and the playing style, strong though it is, is to match. Finely though he handles the gentler music, there are odd sniffs and hums in the molto espressivo passage following the D flat major cello solo, and also in the last of the work's quiet sections. In the gorgeously grisly Totentanz, both music and playing should make your hair stand on end. The sound has a depth that suits the music and the piano is especially impressive, and though in a few passages I wondered whether there was too much bass, I find it attractive.

Among alternatives in the concertos, Richter with Kondrashin and the LSO on Philips remains in a class by himself for sheer effortless command; but the 1961 recording is not striking and 39 minutes is short even for this magisterial playing; it would be more competitive at medium price. That price tag attracts on Berman's DG version, as do some subtleties, but he often seems contrived in this direct music, while the piano sound is not very attractive. Duchable (Erato / RCA) too is rather lugubrious in places such as the start of No. 2, which is (I think mistakenly) played first. He is a thoughtful artist with a fine technique, and the Hungarian Fantasia is good. But I prefer Zimerman's freshness (he reminds us that this is a young man's music), and his coupling of the Totentanz.

-- Gramophone

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Franz Liszt (October 22, 1811 – July 31, 1886) was a prolific 19th-century Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, and music teacher. Liszt gained renown in Europe for his virtuosic skill as a pianist and in the 1840s he was considered to be the greatest pianist of all time. As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent composers of the "New German School". Some of his most notable musical contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form, and making radical departures in harmony.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt

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Krystian Zimerman (born December 5, 1956 in Zabrze) is a Polish pianist who has been hailed as one of the finest living pianists. He studied at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music under Andrzej Jasiński. His career was launched when he won the 1975 International Chopin Competition. Zimerman is best known for his interpretations of Romantic music, but has performed a wide variety of classical pieces as well. He has also been a supporter of contemporary music. Zimerman has toured widely and made a number of recordings. Since 1996, he has taught piano at the Academy of Music in Basel, Switzerland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krystian_Zimerman

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