Track Listing

1. Thema
2. I. Un poco più vivo
3. II. Andante
4. III. Vivace
5. IV. Allegro marcato
6. V. Scherzando
7. VI. Agitato
8. VII. Allegro molto
9. VIII. Sempre marcatissimo
10. IX. Presto possibile
11. X. Allegro con energia
12. XI. Andante espressivo
13. XII. Finale. Allegro brillante

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92516 in Music
• Released on: 1992-10-13
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

OUT OF STEP
Two things I particularly like about Cherkassky. One is his very attractive touch, the other is that he does his own thing in terms of what he chooses to play, whatever the trends in critical fashion. This disc preserves for us the little man's 80th birthday recital at the Carnegie Hall in 1991, and is now available as one of Decca's Gramophone Awards Collection, having won the instrumental award in 1993.

With the passing of Horowitz and Cziffra a particular kind of virtuoso tradition had almost died out. Cherkassky represented an even older element in that tradition than Horowitz did. He was a pupil of Josef Hofmann and his playing recalls Hofmann's in some ways, although he has no lack of individuality of his own. The first piece in this recital that brings out his virtuosity to the full is actually by Hofmann, and being unaware of anything else of Hofmann's creative work I can't be sure how to understand its title `Kaleidoscope' nor how to place it in any kind of context. Cherkassky treats us to some delightful scintillating fingerwork in it, showing the characteristic cool clarity of touch that is his special hallmark. In fact that is apparent in every single work on this long programme, from which a few pieces have had to be dropped as exceeding the disc-capacity, although they are to be issued on a separate record. There is a certain amount of standard fare here - a nocturne by Chopin and his tarantella, Schumann's etudes symphoniques, and I suppose we can include the Bach/Busoni chaconne under the `standard' heading. I have that in another performance by Michelangeli, not widely known for outlandish choices in his recitals, and the contrast is delightful. There is a devil-may-care bit about Cherkassky, and it is pleasant to find it surviving through the new era of perfectionist super-virtuosi that Michelangeli, Lipatti and (on some days) Richter represented. There is also a short sonata by Ives, and in a more populist vein there is a paraphrase by Paul Pabst of themes from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Just in case anyone was finding the programme too uniform in style, Cherkassky ends with a boogie-woogie etude by Morton Gould.

There is a great sense of enjoyment about it all, although a fifth star in the rating would have needed a bit more evenness in the playing generally from my point of view. By that I don't mean more accuracy - wrong notes are very rare indeed, and I understand from the liner note that the allocation of time for retakes was not used and the recital as we have it here is exactly as Cherkassky gave it. The liner note itself is talkative and charming, and the recorded quality is perfectly good without being outstanding. There was room for a player like this in a generation that had decided to take a different direction.

otherworldly genius
I was present at this Carnegie Hall recital in 1991, and recently revisited this cd after several years hiatus - specifically to listen to the Bach/Busoni Chaconne. My review will be restricted to this one track. Prior to hearing this concert my approach to Bach had been that the performer should serve his music much the way his music served God. "My interpretation" approaches I found to be vain and off-putting. As I was walking out of this concert, however, with my eyes a twinkle, I found myself muttering, "Well, I guess it depends whose doing the interpreting." In this case the interpreter reveals a depth and scope of personality I would argue is on par with the otherworldly genius of Bach himself. The highlighting of musical lines and overall expressive scope are not mere creative artifice. No - they come from somewhere else. Otherwise they would not provide the mesmerizing and virtually non-stop revelatory experience which is found here. Dimensions of depth, beauty, sensitivity and power I could have scarce imagined were yet to be revealed are indeed discovered and given life. I suspect the genius displayed will be increasingly recognized over time. One disappointment is the relatively poor sound of the piano. Hard to understand given the date and venue of the recording. Nevertheless, a must buy for any fan of this Busoni transcription or Bach in general.

Loads of Personality!
This recording of Cherkassky's 80th birthday recital was my introduction to Schumann's Symphonic Etudes. That's not exactly true in that I heard Claudio Arrau play them live in a recital about 30 years ago, but the performance captured on this CD was the first performance that opened my ears to this music. I obtained this CD by checking it out of my local library several years ago and lost contact with it afterward. I later obtained Cherkassky's studio recording, as well as several other Schumann recordings, and forgot about this CD until I saw it on Amazon and was able to purchase it.

Coming back to it after several years has been revealing. I have since heard most of the other selections on this CD by an array of other pianists. For example, I now have recordings of the Bach/Busoni Chaconne played by Sergio Fiorentino and Valerie Tryon in addition to this CD. The Schumann Symphonic Etudes are now very well represented in my CD collection, as are the Chopin pieces and Ives Three-Page Sonata.

What comes through in this recording is Cherkassky's extraordinary musicality and lyricism. The Bach/Busoni Chaconne is played with a romantic flair that will not be to everyone's liking, but I believe it works very well and makes for a very impressive reading. Cherkassky is not a purist because it seems that he is much more interested in capturing something magical within the performance, so he allows himself a level of spontaneity other pianists would not. He highlights melodic lines so clearly and beautifully, and he is able to "sing" his musical lines with a beautifully sustained legato. The performances of the Bach/Busoni Chaconne, Schumann Symphonic Etudes and Chopin's F minor Nocturne are the highlights of the recital. For me they surpass his studio recordings because of the excitement of the live performance. The Ives 3-Page Sonata gets a very individual reading that seems to meander a bit, and the other works tend to be great pianistic fun, especially the concluding Gould Boogie Woogie Etude.

The enthusiastic applause between selections reflects my sentiments. I cherish this disc.