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Volodos in Vienna · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

• 0:08
  This is Jed Disler, and welcome to the Piano
• 0:11
  Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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  Probably the only negative thing that I have
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  to say about the pianist Arkady Volodos is that
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  he records way, way, way, way, way less than
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  someone of his stature ought to be recording.
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  I think he's one of the greatest pianists and
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  most interesting interpreters around. Yet he's
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  been very stingy when it comes to sanctioning
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  recordings for official release. He's been with
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  Sony Classical since the late 1990s, and it's
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  only every few years that he comes out with a
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  new release. But on the other hand, each new
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  release is even more special. I guess there's
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  value in scarcity, right? But I want to talk
• 1:00
  about a particular favorite, which is this two
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  -disc set devoted to the recital that Volodos
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  gave at the Musikverein in Vienna. on March 1st,
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  2009. And this recital adds up to a veritable
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  masterclass in sensuality and tone painting and
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  just fantastic virtuosity. And you hear this
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  in the four short works of Scriabin that open
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  the recital. Listen to how slowly and how colorfully
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  and with such controlled freedom that he plays
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  the prelude in B -flat minor, opus 11, number
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  16. You know, with those slow unison octaves
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  that quote the theme from Chopin's Funeral March.
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  It's just a remarkable performance. He also gives
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  a fantastic performance of the sonata number
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  seven, the sonata that Scriabin called the white
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  mass. And if you follow this performance with
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  a score, you will see that Volodos is paying
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  careful attention to just about all of the composer's
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  expressive directives, such as avec trouble.
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  troublé, with trouble, or joyeux, joyous, and
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  all kinds of things like that. So it's a very
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  meticulous performance, but it also sounds very
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  free and imaginative at the same time. One could
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  argue that the Volodos performance of Maurice
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  Ravel's Valse Nobel et Sentimental borders on
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  the affettuoso. certainly compared to pianists
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  like Louis Lortie and Jean -Ephraim Bavouze,
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  who are much more forthright and direct and transparent
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  in many ways, or even Arthur Rubinstein, for
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  that matter, or Emmanuel Axe. But there is a
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  real sense of purpose in the expressive conceits
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  that Volodov serves up, I think. Perhaps the
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  grand prize of this whole recital is Schumann's
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  piano cycle Waldsehnen. And in my review of this
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  Volodos recital for Classicstoday .com, I wrote
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  that Volodos gives one of the most ravishing
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  performances of Volsainen since Sviatoslav Richter's
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  1956 reference studio recording. The opening
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  piece alone tells the story with the most gorgeously
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  timed rebatos and inflections of phrase. And
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  in Jagr auf der Lauer, you listen to How Volados
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  voices and gauges those detached chords. And
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  the sheer evenness of his unison runs. That's
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  amazing pianism and amazing music making. You
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  get the best of both worlds. And also notice
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  his creamy, non -pedaled legato touch in Einsame
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  Blumen. And the pianist paces Verrufenstell slowly,
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  and he articulates the dotted rhythms and multi
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  -leveled dynamic plateaus that suggest the aural
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  equivalent of three -dimensional chess. Did I
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  really write that? I guess I did. And the prophet
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  bird lingers in the ear long after the little
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  bird flies away on account of Volodos' unerring
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  timing and his proportioned tempo fluctuations.
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  Also on this recital, Volodos plays the Dante
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  sonata by Liszt, and in his hands it sounds much
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  more like a tone poem than an endless octave
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  etude. where Volodos unleashes his full palette
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  of tone colors and orchestral sonorities. He
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  actually monkeys around a lot with the text,
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  filling out chords and adding octaves and doing
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  all kinds of little bells and whistles here and
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  there. So it's almost like a Volodos transcription
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  of the Liszt original. But I have to say it totally
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  works. And I think that had Liszt heard what
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  Volodos did to the text, I think he would have
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  agreed with him, at least I would like to think
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  so. In any event, if you haven't heard Volodos
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  in Vienna, this is definitely something I recommend
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  to all piano mavens, and this is a recital that
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  I often return to with increased pleasure. each
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  time I hear it. This is Jed Disler, and you've
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  been listening to The Piano Maven, your friendly
• 5:51
  podcast guide to piano recordings, and I look
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  forward to being with you for our next episode.
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  Take good care.