The booklet for this
CD begins with a couple of paragraphs
by Richard Bonynge, the best-known of
the participants. It is dated 2005,
and in it he tells us that as a young
pianist he once played the Greig Concerto,
"almost sixty years ago ... in
the Sydney Town Hall". He adds:
"I have heard it only rarely since
then ... To someone who has spent his
life in the opera house, these great
masterpieces of Tchaikovsky and Grieg
overwhelm me with their freshness and
vitality. I had nearly forgotten what
wondrous works they are".
The trouble, of course,
is that many of us will have heard these
two concertos rather more often than
maestro Bonynge appears to have done.
If we have "forgotten what wondrous
works they are" it is more likely
to be because of over-familiarity than
anything else. If we have been collectors
of CDs for any length of time we are
likely already to possess recordings
of both works. We might, indeed, possess
one or more of some of the great recordings
of these concertos – of the Tchaikovsky
by, say, Horowitz, Gilels, Richter or
van Cliburn, or of the Grieg by, for
example, Perahia, Lupu or Kovacevich
(these are highly selective lists).
A new recording which couples these
two concertos, especially one featuring
a relatively little-known pianist, will
inevitably struggle for attention –
both because of our familiarity with
the works and because there are already
so many good recordings of both.
Simon Tedeschi was
born in Sydney in 1981 and studied in
Australia and London with Noretta Conci.
He has won a good many prizes and toured
fairly extensively. On the evidence
of this recording he brings an assured
technique to his performances, as well
as an obvious musical intelligence.
These are thoroughly competent, assured
performances; the faster movements are
played with commitment and panache,
the slow movements are properly, and
unexaggeratedly, poetic. The lyrical
opening of the Grieg adagio is particularly
well played, and something like full
justice is done to the wistful final
theme of the third movement. In the
Tchaikovsky the long melodic line of
the andantino is attractively shaped
and there is plenty of energy in the
final allegro.
Bonynge is a wholly
sympathetic and utterly professional
partner, and the Queensland Orchestra
lets no one down. The recorded sound
is vivid and bright; there are, though,
moments when the piano is excessively
fore-grounded and suddenly looms very
large.
For a listener who
doesn’t already own recordings of these
two concertos this CD will provide a
wholly acceptable and enjoyable way
of getting to know them. For the listener
whose collection already contains one
or more of the many fine recordings
of these concertos, these performances
by Tedeschi and Bonynge are not essential
hearing or buying. They are the sort
of performances one would be very happy
to hear in the concert hall. Yet, good
as they are, real as their commitment
to the music is, these performances
haven’t the power, the sense of sheer
necessity, that the greatest have. But,
of course, it isn’t entirely fair to
judge Tedeschi by the standards of,
say Richter or Lupu; he is a young pianist
at the beginning of his career, and
there is doubtless more to come from
him in future years. He is a name to
note.
Glyn Pursglove
Simon Tedeschi (piano) 
