MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 1 in A minor Op. 15, etc.

2010

“Music of another time, another age, the Mac- Dowell piano concertos can, in the right hands, seem more endearing than quaint or overblown.
Both may satisfy conventional notions of dark and light, of tragedy and skittishness, but their heart-easing, lavishly decorated themes understandably attracted Liszt. Stephen Prutsman, a brilliant and versatile pianist, plays with ease and fluency, tossing aside the Presto movements from both concertos with an enviable sheen, though arguably without a necessarily committed or potent romanticism. Suave and engaging in the Grieg-haunted Andante tranquillo from the A minor Concerto, he loses his poise in the deeply welling più mosso, con passione from the D minor Concerto's first movement, and it's here, in particular, that one misses Van Cliburn's unforgettable warmth and virtuosity. No pianist has played this concerto with such magisterial command or emotional generosity; indeed, it sounds as if it was written for him. Eugene List, too, shows a higher degree of involvement than Prutsman, though it must be admitted that the latter's occasional reticence results from Naxos's recessed sound, which irons out much sense of dynamic perspective or variety. Too often Prutsman is confined to the shadows when he should be centre-stage. The National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland has its uneasy moments, but world-premiere recordings of the Hexentanz, in an arrangement for piano and orchestra, and the Romance for cello and orchestra make this a tempting issue.”