Dip Your Ears, No. 79 (Pletnev's Beethoven Concertos)

L.v.Beethoven, Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3, M.Pletnev / Gansch / RNO DG L.v.Beethoven, Piano Concertos, M.Pletnev / Gansch / RNO DG

How much can an interpreter say anew about a piece played by just about every pianist under the sun and of which there are well over 100 different recordings to choose from? Beethoven’s Piano Concertos and Symphonies are the object of Mikhail Pletnev’s new recordings which Deutsche Grammophon will issue over the course of the next year. Pletnev, a superb and wilful pianist, would be the person to do just that – without necessarily distorting the music. Sometimes to triumphant and enjoyable effect (Scarlatti, Mozart), sometimes with more arguable success.

Together with “his” Russian National Orchestra – which has more or less avoided becoming a pawn in the political games of Moscow (you can read more about that on ionarts) – he made 2006 a ‘Beethoven Year’ (a subtly unsubtle political message when everybody else was busy extolling the virtues of Shostakovich). His performances of the concertos in the Beethoven Hall in Bonn resulted in DG’s live recordings, the first of which was issued this March.

Scarlatti, Sonatas, Pletnev Virgin/Erato UK | DE | FR Mozart, Sonatas, Pletnev DG UK | DE | FR

Sure enough, Pletnev does things just a bit different. Concertos No.1 in C-major, op.15 and No.3 in c-minor, op.37, from the first notes on, sound a little extra bold, a little extra fresh; capricious, perhaps, but with the light and joyful touch that made his Mozart so oddly irresistible. There is an insubordinate spark and a twinkle in his notes I don’t hear from other pianists. (This is quite in contrast to how Pletnev looks when he is playing, which is rather miserable as Sviatoslav Richter had remarked a long time ago and which still hasn’t changed.)

The performances appear faster than they already are – impetuous at times. And amid general beauty and excitement, Pletnev does have a few surprises to offer. The stuttering breakdown in the cadenza of the C-major concerto’s third movement is accentuated in such a way that it sounds like a genuinely different piece of music. Upon first hearing the effect is rather “what-the-hell”, and there was much comparing to other favorite recordings of mine (Uchida, Aimard – where that moment flutters by without much notice), and head-scratching. Yet, these overly vigorous accents, syncopations, and the shifting of balances are supposed to be the soloist’s realm of fancy and they contribute rather than distract. For one, they make you listen closely to the music… something which isn't always a given in such warhorses. The RNO proves to be Russia’s finest orchestra (if not its most Russian) and Pletnev’s usual record producer (!) Christian Gansch (a pianist, former violinist for the Munich Philharmonic, and – as evident here – conductor) leads them through the concertos with aplomb, though notably as an extension of the soloist’s will. It’s a release that has me most eagerly anticipate the second installment (concertos 2 & 4) later this year.

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DG 477 6415

And extended version of this review can be found on WETA's blog.