Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Van Cliburn's prize winning performance in the Tchaikovsky competition was with the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto and the Tchaikovsky first concerto (the latter is on this disk). Taking Russian music to the heart of Russia for a piano competition was one bold move! Upon his triumphal return to the United States, the Carnegie Hall concert (with conductor Kiril Kondrashin flown in from the USSR just for this event) and this subsequent recording were put together hastily in order to preserve the moment for history. And what a recording it is! I have listened to over thirty recordings of the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto, and two stand out: Gary Graffman (with Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra) and this Cliburn recording. He has all the piano technique for total mastery of this work---rapid and precise octaves, nimble fingerwork (particularly the presto middle section of the 2nd movement), a big sound (the opening allegro non troppo section), and a strong sense of the folk music basis for the main theme of the 3rd movement. Furthermore, only he and Graffman on record nail the notoriously tricky rhythmic pattern beginning the allegro con spirito main section of the 1st movement. He keeps careful balance with the orchestra throughout, and never resorts to excessive use of the pedal to cover up technical difficulties. Moreover, the performance is polished and intensely musical in every passage. If you can tolerate an orchestra that isn't always impressive, then buy this Van Cliburn recording and be totally amazed! Other top recordings of the Tchaikovsky include the Graffman performance (with Szell), an aristocratic reading by Claudio Arrau, an impressive and virtuosic interpretation by Horowitz (with Toscanini and NBC Symphony Orchestra), and a grandly romantic one by Rubinstein (with Leinsdorf leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra). The Rachmaninoff 2nd piano concerto recording is similarly impressive, with Cliburn drawing deep and thundering sounds out of the piano at every turn. This is Rachmaninoff at his most dark and brooding, with passages of joy only occasionally bursting forth. The microphone placement was too distant to get good treble out of the piano, but the recording has held up remarkably well over time. An excellent performance, too, although the Tchaikovsky alone is worth the price of this disk.