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Epicurus.com - Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 2; Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major
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List Price: $16.98
Our Price: $16.98
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028947765936
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Deutsche Grammophon
Release Date: 2007-11-13
Studio: Deutsche Grammophon
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Editorial Reviews:
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Young piano sensation Yundi Li collaborates with Seiji Ozawa and the Berlin Philharmoniker to present two highly innovative and provocative keyboard works from the 20th-century-- Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 and Ravel Piano Concerto in G major. Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 is the most brilliant and virtuosic of his concertos for both the soloist and the orchestra--and one of the least recorded. The Ravel Piano Concerto, a perennial hit with its haunting and jazzy second movement, rounds out the program. In this album, Yundi Li is joined by one of the world's greatest orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker, and also by one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, Seiji Ozawa. With this recording, Yundi Li makes another significant step forward in his recording career. His first concerto album-- the Chopin/Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1--featured a repertory he is known to play well. With this second concerto album, Yundi Li discovers new ground with completely new, highly challenging works and in collaboration with a legendary orchestra and conductor.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Artificially Artistic
Comment:
Like His all other recordings, Li displays amazing texterity & artistic maturity too, but somehow sounds artificial & shallow. The numbers of second-hand CDs accumulating here tells the story, despite the high praise from critics.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great stuff
Comment: The only alternative to Malcolm Frager's classic and not reissued rendition of Prokofiev Nr.2. His comments show that Yundi Li has understood the qualitiy of this great and totally underrated concerto.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fools rush in....
Comment: ...to review performances of piano concertos by "young sensations"! Wow, piano aficionados are almost as passionate in praise and denunciation as film critics. Read the previous reviews of this performance if you care to understand my anxiety about venturing an opinion based on my anachronistic taste.
The three piano concertos by Serge Prokofiev are marvels of bravura. I wrote my PhD thesis in history while listening to various recordings of #1 and #3 played again and again, until the vinyl grooves began to crackle. That was a long time ago, and I didn't have a recording of #2. If I'd had this #2 energizer, I'm sure my thesis would have been published and become a best seller, and I wouldn't feel the urge to write reviews for amazon gratis.
There are people who listen to music without much emotional involvement, hearing only the musical ideas, and they are not all mere idiot savants such as described by Oliver Sacks in his book Musicophilia. That may be how I listen to this disk. I'm told that Prokofiev's music is full of dark forebodings and socio-political angst, but that's not what I hear. I hear thrilling musical athleticism and, in this case, youthful confidence in powers of chromatic orienteering. Yundi Li seems to hear Prokofiev rather similarly, with the result that his interpretation seems beautifully congruent with the music itself. Seiji Ozawa follows Li's lead intuitively, the Berliners play crisply, and that's all to the good. The Ravel concerto is full of its own laid-back charms. Reviewers seem to hear echoes of "jazz" in it, but to my pre-modern ears it sounds more founded in pre-Wagnerian "enjoyment" than in 20th C expressionism - a picnic on the musical lawn, as it were. Yundi Li, once again, plays it as I hear it.
Prokofiev's #2 is an eccentric piece, perhaps almost an "unfinished" piece in terms of the odd imbalance between the movements, the first and fourth so massive, the second almost a gymnast's whimsy, just a minute and a half long. Frankly, it's too exciting bar-by-bar for me to worry about musical unity. It's a young composer's outburst, performed vigorously by a young pianist, and I'm glad I feel young enough to be "down with it."
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Great Piece of Music
Comment: When i first heard the CD, i didn't really appreciate it, but after listening to the CD a few times, i find that the more i listen to it the more beautiful every note sounds. It is one of those music that has a lasting enjoyment effect on listeners.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Yundi Li Demonstrates His Familiarity with Prokofiev and Ravel in This Fine New Recording
Comment: Fans of Chinese pianist Yundi Li - of which I am one - ought to rejoice after hearing his newest Deutsche Grammophon recording, which has him tackle Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult 2nd Piano Concerto with Ravel's jazzy Piano Concerto in G major alongside conductor Seiji Ozawa and the Berliner Philiharmoniker. A recipe for artistic disaster you might ask? Perhaps if Li was less than the truly capable artist that he has demonstrated already in his critically acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon recordings, especially of Chopin and Liszt. If nothing else, Li demonstrates that he has much technical as well as artistic sensibility in both pieces, especially the Prokofiev, since it demands a lot from the soloist in its difficult cadenzas in the first and fourth movements. Indeed, in the liner notes, Li observes how much is required of him in playing these cadenzas, noting especially that "the whole fourth movement is impassioned and aggressive and is incredibly difficult with its wide leaps" (The concerto is organized as follows: Andantino - Scherzo (Vivace) - Intermezzo (Allegro moderato) - Finale (Allegro tempestoso).). Artistically, Li finds himself in more familiar terrain in his exquisitely tranquil interpretation of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major, allowing his Romantic sensibilities to emerge in his performance of the second movement (This concerto is organized as follows: Allegramente - Adagio assai - Presto.). In the liner notes Li praises conductor Ozawa for acting as a most thoughtful, sympathetic mentor and acknowledges the Berliner Philharmoniker as the world's finest symphony orchestra (Of course the orchestra under Ozawa's direction performs impeccably in both pieces.).
Without question, this new recording from Yundi Li is an important milestone in his artistic career. It demonstrates that he is indeed a serious artist, whose repertoire is not only firmly entrenched in the Romantic tradition emphasized by Chopin's and Liszt's works for the piano. On a more personal note, I had the pleasure of meeting him after his Carnegie Hall solo recital debut. He struck me as a most gracious, and quite humble, person; admirable traits that I have since heard in radio interviews and read in print as well. Admittedly, this may be another reason why I have a lot more respect for him artistically, than I have for another well-regarded young Chinese pianist, who will remain nameless. Fans of Yundi Li's artistry and those seeking fine recordings of the Prokofiev and Ravel piano concertos shouldn't hesitate in buying this superb Deutsche Grammophon CD.
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