I certainly rank clarity as being a prerequisite for good piano playing, but with Mischa Dichter it appears to have become almost an obsession. Whilst this is the most technically accomplished set of the complete Hungarian Rhapsodies that I have yet heard, I feel that the pianist has missed their basically improvisatory and folk-music character, and stripped of this, these romantic evocations of gipsy music emerge as wholly inconsequential.
It is true that of the three periods that were used to record the set some pieces have come off more successfully than others. Nos. 12 and 13, dating from December 1980, are amongst the best with quite a bit of breadth in the phrasing, whereas the 11 that come from November 1985 tend to sound contrived and bereft of musical personality. Nevertheless, Dichter's readings are generally preferable to those of Setrak (Le Chant du Monde) on account of his superior efficiency and also the fact that the Philips set is extremely well recorded and flatters Dichter's somewhat colour less tone.What one really misses is a reaction to the harmonic changes in the music—there has to be a variety in the mood to bring the music to life. Whilst I do not wish to detract from the pianist's enormous achievement in producing such a finished product, ultimately one must consider the way the music is projected, rather than how glossily it is presented.'