Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 1 in D flat major, Op. 10

“Berman is incisive in Prokofiev's Concertos Nos 1, 4 and 5, but the highlight of this set is Horacio Gutiérrez's hair-raising playing in Concertos Nos 2 and 3. Terrific orchestral support.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2009 *****

“…Cuban-American Gutiérrez unleashes some of the most thrilling virtuosity on record, storming the Second Concerto's first movement development/cadenza in a manner that will make lesser pianists tremble. He is no less stunning in the less obviously demanding Third Concerto where once again his ebullience is complemented by flawless technique and musicianship. Berman (Boris, not Lazar) may offer less supercharged vitality but all three of his performances alternate poise and exuberance to a most stylish and musical degree. Järvi works hand in glove with his soloists and the result is a triumph. No recorded collection of the complete concertos, whether deleted or available, comes within distance of this.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009

“As always with this most mercurial of virtuosos, Martha Argerich's playing is generated by the mood of the moment and many listeners may well be surprised at her relative geniality with Dutoit. Personal and vivacious throughout, she always allows the composer his own voice. This is particularly true in Bartók's Third Concerto where her rich experience in chamber music makes her often primus inter pares, a virtuoso who listens to her partners with the greatest care. In the Adagio religioso she achieves a poise that has sometimes eluded her in the past and her finale is specially characterful, her stealthy start to the concluding Presto allowing the final pages their full glory. Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony achieve a fine unity throughout, a sense of like-minded musicians at work.
All true musicians will recognise performances of a special magic and integrity. In the Prokofiev First Concerto, her opening is arguably more authentically brioso than ferocious, her overall view a refreshingly fanciful view of Prokofiev's youthful iconoclasm. The central Andante assai is inflected with an improvisatory freedom she probably wouldn't have risked earlier in her career and in the Allegro scherzando she trips the light fantastic, reserving a suitably tigerish attack for the final octave bravura display. Her performance of the Third Concerto is less fleet or nimble-fingered than in her early days but is more delectably alive to passing caprice. The recordings are clear and naturally balanced.
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Martha Argerich's return to the studios in two concertos she has not previously recorded is an uplifting moment. As always with this most mercurial of virtuosos, her playing is generated very much by the mood of the moment, but you may well be surprised at her relative geniality with Dutoit here. Her entire reading is less hard-driven, her opening arguably more authentically brioso than ferocious, her overall view a refreshingly fanciful view of Prokofiev's youthful iconoclasm. The central Andante assai is inflected with an improvisatory freedom she would probably not have risked earlier in her career and in the Allegro scherzando she trips the light fantastic, reserving a suitably tigerish attack for the final octave bravura display.
Again, while her performance of the Third Concerto is less fleet or nimble-fingered than in her early legendary disc for DG with Abbado; it's more delectably alive to passing caprice.
Part-writing and expressive detail interest her more than in the past and there's no lack of virtuoso frisson in the first movement's concluding quasi-fugal più mosso chase. Once more Argerich is unusually sensitive in the central Andantino, to the fourth variation's plunge into Slavic melancholy and introspection. Personal and vivacious throughout, she always allows the composer his own voice.
This is true to an even greater extent in Bartók's Third Concerto where her rich experience in chamber music makes her often primus interpares, a virtuoso who listens to her partners with the greatest care. Dutoit and his orchestra achieve a fine unity throughout.
The recordings are clear and naturally balanced and only those in search of metallic thrills and rushes of blood to the head will feel disappointed.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“An outstanding bargain.” Classic CD

“While it's true that the Prokofiev piano concertos are an uneven body of work, there's enough imaginative fire and pianistic brilliance to hold the attention even in the weakest of them; the best, by common consent Nos 1, 3 and 4, have stood the test of time very well. As indeed have these Decca recordings. The set first appeared in 1975, but the sound is fresher than many contemporary digital issues, and Ashkenazy has rarely played better. Other pianists have matched his brilliance and energy in, say, the Third Concerto, but very few have kept up such a sure balance of fire and poetry. The astonishingly inflated bravura of the Second Concerto's opening movement is kept shapely and purposeful and even the out-of-tune piano doesn't spoil the effect too much. And the youthful First has the insouciance and zest its 22-year-old composer plainly intended.
Newcomers to the concertos should start with No 3: so many facets of Prokofiev's genius are her, and Ashkenazy shows how they all take their place as part of a kind of fantastic story. But there are rewards everywhere, and the effort involved in finding them is small.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Ashkenazy is a commanding soloist in both the First and Second Concertos, and his virtuosity in the First is quite dazzling...Throughout, Previn and the LSO accompany sympathetically...as a complete, consistent set this remains unbeatable.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition