Stravinsky: Works for Piano

Stravinsky: Works for Piano

Stravinsky: Works for Piano

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CD Details

Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Conductor: Seiji Ozawa
Orchestra: Orchestre de Paris
Performer: Michel Beroff
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2005-02-15
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:

Music CD 1

I. Allegro
II. Vivo
III. Andante
IV. Allegro
Scherzo
1. Con Moto
2. Allegro Brillante
3. Andantino
4. Vivo
Souvenir D' Une Marche Boche
Valse Pour Les Enfants
1. Andantino
2. Allegro
3. Allegretto
4. Larghetto
5. Moderato
6. Lento
7. Vivo
8. Pesante
I. Qt. Note = 112
II. Adagietto
III. Qt. Note = 112
I. Hymne
II. Romanza
III. Rondoletto
IV. Cadenza Finala

Music CD 2

1. Danse Russe: Allegro Giusto
2. Chez Petrouchka: Stringendo
3. La Semaine Grasse: Con Moto - Allegretto
Piano Rag Music
Tango
I. Presto Doppio Movimento
II. Andante Rapsodico
III. Allegro Capriccioso, Ma Tempo Giusto
I. Largo - Allegro
II. Largo - Cadenza (Poco Rubato)
III. Allegro
I. Qt. Note = 110
II. Qt. Note = 52
III. Qt. Note = 72
Qt. Note = 80
Qt. Note = 104

Music reviews of Stravinsky: Works for Piano

Music Review: Idiosyncratic interpretations - not a first choice
Rating: 3 Stars

These recordings were made in 1971 (the three concertante works), when Beroff was still one of the newest shooting stars on the French piano scene after his triumph at the first Olivier Messiaen Piano Competition in Royan in 1967, and 1979 (the solo piano pieces). It was first reissued on CD by French EMI (Stravinsky: Piano Works - Michel Béroff (2 CD Box Set) (EMI)), and this is how I have it. See my complete review under this original reissue for more details. At the time of writing it can be purchased for even cheaper than this set.

In capsule: those are idiosyncratic readings that cannot be considered a first choice. Beroff and Ozawa are at their best in the Capriccio, offering a fast and relatively light-sounding reading. With their hard-pressed tempos, what you gain is a sense of urgency (and an alternative view of the piece), what you loose is a sense of geniality and elegance (for that, go to Stravinsky's early champion Ansermet, with Magaloff in 1955, Stravinsky: Ballets; Stage Works; Orchestral Works [Box Set]), a Bachian/baroque flavor (listen to Rösel and Kegel, Strawinsky: Pulcinella Suite; Chant du Rossignol; Capriccio), an awesome vigor and massiveness (go to Entremont and Craft on Sony, Stravinsky: Concertos - the two latter in much better sound too than EMI's for Beroff-Ozawa). An interesting, if not entirely convincing complement to the "traditional" view exemplified by Ansermet and Magaloff, or the authoritative and indispensable Entremont-Craft.

The finale of the Piano Concerto displays the same qualities of bounce, drive and verve, but the middle movement is simply bland compared to the best versions: Stravinsky, on the same disc as Craft here above, and the unexpected Olbertz-Neumann (Stravinsky: Piano Concerto; Concerto Dumbarton Oaks; Suites Nos. 1 & 2; Piano Pieces. Their first movement is a reading of contrasts: very slow and laden intro and very fast and dynamic in the "Allegro" section proper. But the sonics lack vividness and place the piano rather back, depriving it of the kind of massive power that Philippe Entremont with the composer brought to it. It becomes almost choreographic in its leanness and litheness.

8 years later Beroff in the solo piano pieces is still as idiosyncratic. It is not always convincing, as in the trudging tempo he adopts in the first movement of the Serenade. He can be so digitally perfect that it becomes rather cold and detached, as in the second movement of the Serenade or the middle movement of the Sonata. I find him at his best when he expounds an urgent and dramatic view, as in the two outer movements of the Sonata. The fiercely pounding Piano-Rag Music also suits him well. His Petrushka is no holds-barred, not subtle but brilliant. The early Piano Sonata and Scherzo are only of documentary interest, but the braggart "Souvenir d'une marche boche" (reminiscence of a Kraut march) from 1915 and the "Valse pour les enfants" (Waltz for the Children) from 1917, with its tongue-in-cheek wryness reminiscent of Satie, are welcome lagniappes. And his "Les 5 doigts" are not as bad (and not always as wayward in tempo) as one of the previous commentators curmudgeonly makes them.

Especially in the concertante works, Beroff-Ozawa can be taken as interesting complement, but certainly not first choice. That remains the authoritative readings conducted or supervised by Stravinsky with Entremont (and Charles Rosen in the Movements), or some of the individual versions listed above (to which, in the Piano Concerto, Bishop-Davis may be added: Stephen Kovacevich 2. In the solo piano pieces, no one version will give a full and complete view. In the Sonata and Serenade Maria Yudina - even more idiosyncratic and wayward than Beroff, but extraordinary nonetheless - must be heard to be believed (Maria Yudina Plays Schubert Impromptus, Op.90, and Stravinsky's Sonata (1924) and Serenade (1925), and Pollini's Petrushka remains unsurpassed (Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Webern, etc / Maurizio Pollini), although David Buechner comes close: Igor Stravinsky: Petrouchka (3 Movements); Ferruccio Busoni: Toccata; Introduction and Capriccio.

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