Volodos has encouraged
us to draw comparisons between himself
and Horowitz through playing Horowitz’s
transcriptions, composing his own transcriptions
in the same mould, and by specialising
in the same repertoire. This disc continues
to divert our attention towards such
an agenda and one can be forgiven for
questioning whether the accountants
are hitching a ride on a dead legend’s
reputation, or whether this is truly
the Real Volodos we are experiencing.
What is beyond doubt
is that Volodos has a technique to more
than match his predecessor and his interpretations
in concert and on disc do not depict
a man at the piano wearing a musical
crash-helmet (a description Stephen
Hough has fondly related with respect
to Horowitz). Yet for all his technical
wizardry, the latter virtue prevents
this live recording of the Tchaikovsky
from acquiring a unique, and necessary,
stamp of his personality. And in this
respect, I have the same misgivings
towards it as I do with Volodos’s recording
of the Rachmaninov third piano concerto
(Sony SK64384) which, for me, is a performance
too comfortable with itself, and emotionally
unmoving. There are two criticisms which
stand out most clearly here – in the
first movement, the pianist adopts a
slightly faster tempo at each of his
entries and while this can produce an
impression of excitement, its success
depends upon the sympathetic response
of the conductor; but Ozawa returns
back to his own tempo whenever the piano
stops. Secondly, and perhaps this is
simply a matter of preference, the second
movement is played beautifully sweet
rather than bitterly sweet, giving us
no recollection of what had preceded
it and for-seeing nothing that follows.
But as I stated earlier, maybe that
was his intention! Overall, this rendition
should please a wide audience, for although
the musical rewards are unremarkable,
there is much to admire in Volodos’s
outstanding pianism. So, by all means,
take this respectable candidate back
home to mum and dad, but don’t expect
it to last a lifetime.
The seven solo pieces
which follow the concerto contain piano-playing
of the highest quality and if you are
tempted to buy this disc, your decision
ought to be based on whether you want
to hear these. All of them are praiseworthy,
but I should particularly mention the
Moment-Musical in E-flat minor
(Op.16, No.2) and the G-major Prelude
(Op.32 No.5), for Volodos gives the
most distinguished performances of these
pieces I have heard. The ‘Italian Polka’
paraphrase which closes the disc will
delight those who have enjoyed his previous
transcriptions. Good luck to those who
try and write down these bombastic mongrelisms
note for note!
Michael McMillan
Arcadi Volodos (piano) 