Brahms: Concerto No.1 - Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano & Wind Instruments (Live)

Album review

Boris Berezovsky is one of these indomitable pianists who won’t restrict themselves to a set script, but rather let their instinct guide them. So plastic perfection is not the motto here. As shown by this new recording with one of the best Russian ensembles, the Svetlanov Symphony Orchestra. The concert’s programme, recorded live on April 8th, 2017, is very rich, combining Brahms’ Piano Concert No. 1 – with dimensions much more symphonic than simple concertantes – with a rarely performed partition: Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments. Berezovsky rightly assumes that live recordings are much more exciting than in the studio. Concerts taping, despite their inherent flaws – false notes, blunders, coughing, etc. − mirror life itself and manage to capture the energy flows between the stage and the audience. The pianist doesn’t confine himself to playing his instrument: in fact, he’s also conducting from the piano! “I wanted to approach works for piano and orchestra as if they were chamber music on a large scale; these two works share this chamber quality” he explains. A rather monumental experience for a most intriguing musical result. © SM/Qobuz