Sergei PROKOFIEV (1891-1953)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major Op.26 (1921) [29.14]
Piano Concerto No. 5 in G major Op.55 (1932) [24.42]
Alexander Gavrylyuk (piano)
Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy
rec. The Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, 2009
The review is of the SACD layer.
EXTON SACD HYBRID EXCL 00047 [53.56]
This hybrid SACD is short measure at a little under 54 minutes. The booklet
has good notes in Japanese and English.
Alexander Gavrylyuk is one of the younger generation of pianists all of whom
have technique galore and therefore no difficulties with the notes of these
two great Prokofiev pieces. With the experienced Vladimir Ashkenazy moving
from keyboard to conductor's podium on this occasion, Gavrylyuk has everything
going for him. What he brings is musicianship and a hard to define panache.
He has been compared to a young Horowitz and one can see why. Having heard
Gavrylyuk live recently I can vouch for his star quality so maybe the recording
environment was less favourable on this occasion. However, that panache was
not obvious in the first movement of No.3 which seemed a bit careful compared
to Martha Argerich on a 1967 DG recording and Béroff on EMI from 1974, the
recordings I had to hand. I did miss the delicate tappings from the castanets
that do much to spice up the movement. Exton have not given the percussion
enough prominence and there is little depth to the sound-picture. There are
opportunities for virtuoso interplay between soloist and orchestra that were
not taken. The Sydney orchestra strings and wind sound a little uneasy with
the complexities of the score and I began to worry that this might be another
inadequate Prokofiev disc from Exton (see the Kijé Ashkenazy Exton review).
Not so. Things looked up in the theme and variations second movement and by
the finale all was well with detailed and lively playing and a very enjoyable
rendering of those big tunes where Prokofiev seems to tip his hat to Rachmaninov.
The Fifth concerto is not so often played and thus easier to judge without
preconceptions. The first movement is typically spiky with lyrical interludes
and showed Gavrylyuk on top form with technically immaculate playing. This
is a concerto for orchestra as well as piano and the Toccata turned into a
tour de force for all concerned. The recording of this concerto sounded
better than that of the Third which was frankly inferior to the 1974 Béroff/Masur
recording noted above. Number 5 had clean, clear and detailed sound though
with just a little glare. Switching back and forth between Gavrylyuk, Argerich
and Béroff showed the old DG recording to be just that - old - but the performance
is superb and still deserving its place in the list of great Prokofiev discs.
The EMI had an easy and convincing sound that says 'analogue' and I wonder
what the Exton engineers did so differently for Ashkenazy and Gavrylyuk. I
have no evidence but my ears tell me the Exton comes from a lot more microphones
and is therefore significantly processed. The fact that this is an SACD is
no reason to purchase the disc because that has not helped the stereo and
there is no multi-channel. For a multi-channel recording of the Fifth concerto
look to Schlimé on Pentatone. For me the benchmark for these concertos has
always been Ashkenazy's Decca records with the London Symphony and André Previn
but I do not have the CD reissue.
Dave Billinge
Good performances of both concertos with decent but unremarkable sound. The
best reason for purchase is Gavrylyuk whose star is on the rise.