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Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
(more) »rank: 6695from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Chopin's two piano concertos have long been admired more as pianistic vehicles than as integrated works for piano and orchestra. But in his revelatory new recording, Krystian Zimerman suggests otherwise: The opening orchestral tuttis have so much more light, shade, orchestral color, and detail, you wonder if they've been rewritten. Every gesture, every instrumental solo is so specifically characterized that by the time the piano makes a dramatic entrance, the pieces have become operas without words. One may wonder if Chopin intended that. In fact, he knew bel canto opera in his native Poland, but the more positive proof is that the music ...
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Liszt: Piano Concertos Nos.1 & 2; Totentanz
(more) »rank: 118499from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Chopin's two piano concertos have long been admired more as pianistic vehicles than as integrated works for piano and orchestra. But in his revelatory new recording, Krystian Zimerman suggests otherwise: The opening orchestral tuttis have so much more light, shade, orchestral color, and detail, you wonder if they've been rewritten. Every gesture, every instrumental solo is so specifically characterized that by the time the piano makes a dramatic entrance, the pieces have become operas without words. One may wonder if Chopin intended that. In fact, he knew bel canto opera in his native Poland, but the more positive proof is that the music ...
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Schumann/Grieg: Klavierkonzerte (Piano Concertos)
(more) »rank: 39423from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Chopin's two piano concertos have long been admired more as pianistic vehicles than as integrated works for piano and orchestra. But in his revelatory new recording, Krystian Zimerman suggests otherwise: The opening orchestral tuttis have so much more light, shade, orchestral color, and detail, you wonder if they've been rewritten. Every gesture, every instrumental solo is so specifically characterized that by the time the piano makes a dramatic entrance, the pieces have become operas without words. One may wonder if Chopin intended that. In fact, he knew bel canto opera in his native Poland, but the more positive proof is that the music ...
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Chopin: 4 Ballades/Barcarolle, Op.60/Fantasie in F
(more) »rank: 39851from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Krystian Zimerman's Chopin is big. He plays this music with a great dynamic range and huge contrasts, with little of the shading we love in Rubinstein's Chopin. Except for the Barcarolle, these are pretty big pieces, so Zimerman doesn't exactly overwhelm the music. It's just very 20th- century Chopin, not on the composer's original scale, but not badly done either. I think this disc would sound a lot better in a large listening room than in a small one, however (or in your car). The recording is too close up; we could have used more distance from the piano. --Leslie Gerber
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Liszt: Sonata for piano in Bm; Lugubre Gondola No1&2
(more) »rank: 111698from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Krystian Zimerman's brilliant, powerful account makes an extraordinary impression, both in its overall sweep and in its extremely fine resolution of textural detail. The pacing is excellent, the playing electrifyingly virtuosic yet disciplined, the interpretation impassioned yet dry-eyed and impressively controlled. The fugato is taken at an unbelievable clip and rendered with dazzling accuracy and effect. The recording, made in the concert hall of Copenhagen's Tivoli Park in 1990, achieves an outstanding balance between presence and ambience. --Ted Libbey
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Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
(more) »rank: 151292from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :These are fine performances. Zimerman's playing can be somewhat self-conscious, and at times he seems to be aware that he ought to say something new about these well-known works, but he's never less than animated. The first concerto comes across as stylish and warm, with the melodies clear amidst the sheer brilliance of the playing and the rhythms strongly underlined. The lack of mania is most welcome. (Earl Wild's performance of this work on Chandos, however, is more spectacular than any other.) The second, better-known work, is an honest, straightforward reading, with the first movement's finale expansive and grand, an Adagio of surprising ...
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Franz Schubert: Impromptus D899 & D935
(more) »rank: 182060from: Dg Imports
: :These are fine performances. Zimerman's playing can be somewhat self-conscious, and at times he seems to be aware that he ought to say something new about these well-known works, but he's never less than animated. The first concerto comes across as stylish and warm, with the melodies clear amidst the sheer brilliance of the playing and the rhythms strongly underlined. The lack of mania is most welcome. (Earl Wild's performance of this work on Chandos, however, is more spectacular than any other.) The second, better-known work, is an honest, straightforward reading, with the first movement's finale expansive and grand, an Adagio of surprising ...
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Beethoven: The Piano Concertos
(more) »rank: 98807from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :These are fine performances. Zimerman's playing can be somewhat self-conscious, and at times he seems to be aware that he ought to say something new about these well-known works, but he's never less than animated. The first concerto comes across as stylish and warm, with the melodies clear amidst the sheer brilliance of the playing and the rhythms strongly underlined. The lack of mania is most welcome. (Earl Wild's performance of this work on Chandos, however, is more spectacular than any other.) The second, better-known work, is an honest, straightforward reading, with the first movement's finale expansive and grand, an Adagio of surprising ...
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Schumann, Grieg: Klavierkonzerte
(more) »rank: 64804from: Polygram Records
: :These are fine performances. Zimerman's playing can be somewhat self-conscious, and at times he seems to be aware that he ought to say something new about these well-known works, but he's never less than animated. The first concerto comes across as stylish and warm, with the melodies clear amidst the sheer brilliance of the playing and the rhythms strongly underlined. The lack of mania is most welcome. (Earl Wild's performance of this work on Chandos, however, is more spectacular than any other.) The second, better-known work, is an honest, straightforward reading, with the first movement's finale expansive and grand, an Adagio of surprising ...
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Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1
(more) »rank: 106901from: Deutsche Grammophon
: :Brahms’ First Piano Concerto is an early work bristling with energy and ambition. This is a concerto of scope, complexity, and expressive power and the best performances capture some of its tragic grandeur and forceful intensity. Those qualities are found in abundance in rival versions by Fleisher-Szell, Curzon-Szell, and Gilels-Jochum, among other worthy interpretations. Alongside those, this one pales, but the artists’ many fans will want to hear for themselves how a distinguished Brahmsian like Zimerman and an equally distinguished accompanist like Rattle see this work. They will be rewarded by a thoughtful performance that veers stylistically between a classical reading and a ...
