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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Not a hair is out of place in these technically clean performances by young Russian pianist Peter Dmitriev. For some, this neatness alone may commend his series, but for me, that’s just the trouble with it. Dmitriev’s approach to this music is elegant and lyrical, which works well in the slow movements and the rather Schubertian Nos.8 and 9 (the best performances here). The sound is good, tempi are moderate, textures are transparent, and he gets all the right notes–but where are the demons in Nos.2-5? Where are the shock tactics that Prokofiev employed with deliberate intent in order to “epatez les bourgeois”, later only slightly mollified in the obsessive rhythms and wartime angst of Nos.6 and 7? Yes, this music has its lyricism, but it has a good deal more of aggression and frayed nerves, which Dmitriev downplays. Let it be admitted that the pianist does turn in a fairly wild account of the Toccata–I’d have liked to have heard more of this kind of playing in Nos.2-7. Dmitriev plays No.5 only in its revised version–there would have been plenty of space to include the original version on Vol.I. Nissman, Berman and Sandor play both versions. My recommendations: among complete series, Barbara Nissman’s is a good bet. Her performances have the diablerie de-emphasized by Dmitriev, but also give the lyrical side of Prokofiev full rein. Frederic Chiu and Boris Berman also know when to loose the demons, although Chiu’s sound is a little bright. Berman includes the sketch for Sonata No.10, but this is just a fragment. One might care to supplement these with Richter in Nos.6-8. There exist Richter live performances of Nos.2 and 9, but the sound is terrible. Try to find his studio recording of No.9 (available, when I was a kid, on Monitor LP’s). I usually detest Weissenberg, but his stiletto-fingered No.3 is a very wild ride indeed–manic!–not to be missed! Avoid Sandor–not particularly exciting playing, and bad sound. I can’t say I didn’t find Dmitriev’s Prokofiev interesting on its own terms–”underplaying” can be an intriguing intellectual experiment, but that doesn’t guarantee the results will be fully effective. For the full adrenalin charge and bigger contrasts, I’ll turn to the other pianists mentioned above–I wouldn’t want this to be my only recording of this music. If one prefers “Prokofiev without tears”, then Dmitriev presents the “enfant terrible” with his mane combed and talons clipped. To an extent, neatness counts (and this is VERY neat Prokofiev), but in this music, it’s not the whole picture nor an end in itself–the imps should be here, too! |
Extraordinarily neat Prokofiev–but where’s the claws?