Those wanting a new digital recording of Tchaikovsky's B flat minor Piano Concerto could well be satisfied with this, but there are some reservations to be made. As sound it is very impressive. Recorded in Watford Town Hall the quality is full and spacious. If the piano is rather forward, that is not a deterrent in this work, for the overall perspective is convincing. The CD has slightly more presence and tangibility than the LP (which is also first class) and from a technical point of view this generally sweeps the board. Certainly the brash, even harsh CBS version fails to compete, for although Gilels's playing has great authority and charisma, the orchestral contribution is altogether less distinguished. But the 1971 Argerich/Dutoit version (also on DG) stands up remarkably well: the strings have rather less body, but the piano timbre is most believable and the balance is excellent. Moreover this disc offers a superb account of Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto as a coupling on CD, one of Argerich's finest records and bringing great pleasure (the LP has Liszt's First Piano Concerto). Returning to the newest issue we are given just over 37 minutes of music, which makes it very poor value indeed.
The performance opens weightily with a splendid overall sweep. The gentle transition to the main allegro after the exultant reprise of the string tune brings a change of mood, and the main theme is crisply articulated by Pogorelich with an attractive lightness of touch. The secondary material is engagingly poetic, from soloist and orchestra alike, but when the pianist returns after the first big climax his ruminative, improvisatory approach to a passage marked a tempo brings the forward momentum down to a crawl. He plays very beautifully both here and when the same thing happens (if to a lesser extent, and more justifiably) in the cadenza, but at both places there is a narcissistic element. It is easy to be won over, however, for the pianism itself is so beautiful, as it is in the Andante, with the fast middle section given with superb lightness, brilliance and delicacy, backed by delicious playing from the strings.
Needless to say Pogorelich is fully equal to all the fireworks of the finale, which again demonstrates his superbly controlled articulation. There is no sense of barnstorming until the actual coda. After Abbado has broadened the reprise of the big string tune rather deliberately he then lets the music have its head in the closing bars. I thought this not quite spontaneous in effect, but I am quibbling; overall this performance certainly lacks neither flair nor spontaneity in spite of its waywardness. The partnership of the impulsive Pogorelich with Abbado, essentially a refining influence, is undoubtedly a success. Yet I must add the postscript that if I wer personally laying out cash for a CD of the Tchaikovsky Concerto I would choose Argerich and Dutoit, simply because of the coupling.'