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Andrei Gavrilov's Complete Warner Recordings · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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Consider taking out a paid subscription to The
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Piano Maven, and you can find a link to do so,
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which will take you to my Substack page, and
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Paid subscribers get a free download at the start
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other goodies along the way. But your support
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helps keep this podcast going and pays for all
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of my expenses. So do consider taking a paid
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subscription. I am looking now at the Andrei
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Gavrilov book. box set from warner classics that
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contains this pianist's complete recordings that
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were issued on the emi label well i would say
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99 complete and i will be explaining that in
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due course this box set consists of, let's see,
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21 CDs, and they are organized in more or less
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alphabetical order by composer and original jacket
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facsimiles. When Andrei Gavrilov was 18 years
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old, he... burst upon the international scene
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by winning first prize in the 1974 Tchaikovsky
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competition. And he started recording for EMI
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in the late 1970s. But in 1979, the Soviet government
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stripped him of his passport. So his burgeoning
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international career was stalled. But fortunately,
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the situation changed in 1984, thanks to Gorbachev,
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and his catalog of EMI releases grew pretty substantially
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during the 1980s. Then Gavrilov decamped over
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to Deutsche Grammophon, for whom he recorded
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eight albums between 1991 and 1993. He actually
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remade quite a few of the titles that he did
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for EMI. He remade them for Deutsche Grammophon.
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But let's go through the Warner box and the EMI
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recordings. Discs 1 and 2 contain the Bach French
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Suites. This is simply unfettered and pianistically
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fluid playing. You're not going to get the linear
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awareness of André Schieff or Angela Hewitt or
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Marie Pariah, who also recorded the French Suites
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on the modern concert grand. But I would be happy
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to claim Gavrilov's virtuosity and just inherent
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musicality. I enjoy these performances. But that's...
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Gavrilov's Deutsche Grammophon remakes of the
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French Suites I think benefit from better engineering
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and slightly slower tempos and more focus and
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discipline in regard to voicing and ornamentation.
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On discs three and four, you get the Bach keyboard
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concertos with Neville Mariner conducting the
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Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. I think
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here Gavrilov is more on point, stylistically
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speaking, in Bach, and he gets marvelous rhythmic
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crispness in the faster movements. My only quibble
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about the cycle is that the piano dominates in
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the mix, whereas you get... much more of an equal
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partnership in the Bach keyboard concerto recordings
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with the same pianists I mentioned in the French
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suites, André Schiff, Angela Hewitt, and Marie
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Pariah. CDs 5 and 6 bring us to the Handel keyboard
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suites. These... are sort of famous recordings
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from 1979, and the 16 suites were divided between
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Sviatoslav Richter and Andrei Gavrilov. Now...
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In the recent Richter box of the complete Warner
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recordings with all of Richter's EMI and Teldeck
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stuff, you have the complete Handel cycle with
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both the Richter and the Gavrilov performances.
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But here in the Gavrilov box, we only get the
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Gavrilov performances for the eight suites that
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he played. So if you want this whole cycle with
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Richter and Gavrilov together. You have to look
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elsewhere, I'm afraid. For me, the highlights
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in this cycle have always been the slower movements,
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where both Richter and Gavrilov show off their
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abilities to sustain long lines with an almost
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hypnotic legato, especially Richter, but Gavrilov
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too. If you want the Handel suites on the piano,
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however, I would still go to the Ragna Schirmer
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recordings on Berlin Classics, which I like very
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much, and that's the piano reference for all
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16 suites. The seventh CD in this collection
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is all Mozart. Now, Andrei Gavrilov is not the
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subtlest Mozart stylist in the shed, especially
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when he plays forte, and when he gives you the...
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pronounced accents. It's like, hey, look at me,
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I'm special. But in the F major sonata, Kershaw
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332, I can sort of accept Gavrilov's glib surface,
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because he turns on his coloristic charm. And
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in the Rondo finale, you know, those runs going
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downward, he articulates. those cascading runs
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in a wonderfully whiplash manner. And maybe it's
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not the most stylish or, you know, politically
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correct Mozart playing, but I think Mozart would
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have secretly approved. But Gavrilov's deliberation
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in the A major sonatas, minuetto, the crucial
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331, I think his deliberation is kind of mincing
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and effete. I mean, it's not in the simon barto
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or fossil say a fetuoso category but you kind
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of get the point of the interpretation after
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the few bars after a few bars excuse me and the
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rondo a la turca is very elegant and smooth but
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you know in this music i like a little more roughness
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around the edges You know, with Gavrilov, you
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get nothing of the Turkish Janissary band, but
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you get a lot of smooth classical radio. I still
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enjoy the performance, and I enjoy this Mozart
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disc in many ways. CD number eight, the Chopin
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Four Ballades and the Sonata number two. Now,
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Gavrilov re -recorded these with the exact coupling,
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by the way, for Deutsche Grammophon. Honestly,
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I think the Deutsche Grammophon versions are
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uniformly better from a musical standpoint, except
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that the earlier first ballade, the EMI one,
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I think is better because the coda gets a gutsier
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and, I guess, more impetuous reading. But in
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the B -flat minor sonata... I get a real guilty
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pleasure from how Gavrilov plays that whirlwind
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finale, you know, with the unison lines in both
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hands, because Gavrilov's insanely fast and rather
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brainless tempo, I think, is hell -bent on setting
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an Olympic record. And it's really fun to hear.
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I mean, it's not good Chopin, but it doesn't
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matter. It's just like going to the circus. CD
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number nine. Oh my god, it's the Chopin etudes
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with Gavrilov. And in the faster etudes, Gavrilov's
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fingers consistently... outrun his brains. I
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reviewed the Gavrilov Chopin Etudes when it came
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out as a budget -priced reissue many years ago,
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and I reviewed this for classicstoday .com. And
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let me see if I can retrieve my review, because
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I remember being rather proud of what I wrote.
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Okay, here's the review. I'm going to quote from
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myself. I wrote this. As a Chopinist, Gavrilov
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broaches the etudes in the manner of a pianistic
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Billy the Kid. His hyperactive fingers are lubricated
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to the point where they invariably shoot before
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they think. Glibness rules the so -called ocean
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etudes waves, and the rotary patterns of the
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Black Key and Winter Wind etudes are tossed off
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with oily effortlessness. Gavrilov similarly
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gobbles down the etudes involving double notes,
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like the eggplant that ate Chicago. I really
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said that? Oh, yeah, you know, there was a famous
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song called You Better Watch Out for the Eggplant
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that Ate Chicago for he may eat your city soon.
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Wackadoo, wackadoo. I can't remember who. I think
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there was Norman Greenbaum. But for some reason,
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Gavrilov freezes in the face of the lyrical.
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E major and E flat minor Opus 10 etudes, as well
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as the nocturne -like Opus 25 No. 7, which I
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found were just very prosaic. CD No. 10 is a
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1987 release with the Schumann Carnival, the
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Schumann Papillon, and the Schumann Faschingsfunk
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aus Wien, Carnival Jest from Vienna. Again, subtle
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is not Gavrilov's wheelhouse, let's say. But
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there are delicious stretches of virtuosity that
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still draw attention to the music more than to
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the pianist. Like in Carnival, in their reconnaissance,
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you know those repeated notes in the right hand?
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Forgive my singing. And also those... terrifying
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leaps and Paganini, these hold absolutely no
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terrors for Gavrilov. Now, he pushes and pulls
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around with the tempos and papillon, but I have
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to say that this recording sounds positively
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square and straight -laced next to Gavrilov's
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very recent remake of the Papillon, which is
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incredibly extreme and self -indulgent. And that
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recent Papillon, by the way, was coupled with
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the most self -serving and insensitive recording
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ever made in the universe of Schumann's symphonic
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etudes. And I have to tell you, I heard Gavrilov
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a few years ago in Cremona. And he gave a Bach
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performance and he was just barnstorming his
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way through this music. It was so brutal. I mean,
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he made Alexis Weissenberg sound like Ingrid
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Habler by comparison. That's not a pleasant memory.
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CD number 11. This is the famous Tchaikovsky
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First Concerto with Riccardo Muti in the Philharmonia
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Orchestra from 1979. The piano dominates in the
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mix, and there's a lot of wayward stretching
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in the piano part in the first movement. This
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kind of audacity would be toned down quite a
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bit when Gavrilov remade this concerto in 1988
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with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the Berlin
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Philharmonic, and the remake is coupled with
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the Tchaikovsky Third. These two performances
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with Ashkenazy are on disc number 12. And I remember
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when this disc came out because the exact same
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coupling appeared also on an EMI release just
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a few months earlier with Peter Donohoe and Rudolf
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Barschei conducting the Bournemouth Symphony.
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And I found that version to have much better
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integrated interpretations than what Gavrilov
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gave us. And in the third concerto cadenza, Donohoe,
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I thought, was much clearer and cleaner. Anyway,
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that's the comparison. Disc number 13 is an all
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-Scriabin recital featuring selections of preludes
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from various opus numbers, plus the fourth sonata.
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This is a wonderful disc. This is impassioned
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and febrile, yet disciplined, Scriabin playing
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technically and musically. every level. This
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is one of the best things that Gavrilov ever
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recorded. And now we come to CD 14. This is a
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1984 Rachmaninoff solo recital. The sonics are
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a little boxy, but man, this is totally... in
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-your -face he -man testosterone, Rachmaninoff
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playing short on subtlety, big on brawn, and
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I love every second of this crazy disc. And the
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way that Gavrilov plays the B -flat major prelude,
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Op. 23, No. 2, the tempo is super fast, and there's
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no subtlety at all, and he plays those chords
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and quintuplets in tempo. Usually pianists slow
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down to accommodate their hands. technician like
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Richter. I mean, he doesn't slow down all that
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much, but Gavrilov just kind of throws it at
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you. And then those runs where he doesn't use
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very much pedal, he's kind of channeling Art
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Tatum in a way. I love this performance. And
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the performance of the F sharp minor etude tableau,
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opus 39, number three, you often hear... and
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govrilov is it's total whiplash city but i just
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love it you know again this disc is a total guilty
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pleasure for me cd number 15 is the rahman of
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third concerto with ricardo muti and the philadelphia
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orchestra this performance is just all over the
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place technically and musically and Gavrilov
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lurches all over, rhythmically speaking, but
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never gets the mountain to move, so to speak.
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And his crazy tempo for the finale basically
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allows no room for any genuine piomoso to happen
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when the composer asks for it. I should mention,
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by the way, that there is an earlier Gavrilov
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-Rachmaninoff III concerto that was recorded
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in 1976. It featured the USSR Symphony under
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Alexander Lazarev. It appeared on the EMI label
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on LP, and I think it was a Melodio release that
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was licensed to EMI. So it's not... really part
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of the EMI canon, and I do not think that Warner
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controls the rights to it, which is probably
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why this Rock III is not in the box. I think
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Gavrilov actually plays Rachmaninoff's second
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concerto better, where his expressive whims fit.
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more comfortably into the music's essentially
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symphonic fabric. We have two rock twos with
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Gavrilov made in close proximity. One is with
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the Royal Philharmonic under Vladimir Ashkenazi,
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and that comes from their November 1988 Moscow
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concert, and it's coupled with Ashkenazi conducting
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the Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony. It's a very
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good... Tchaikovsky IV. Not as good as Mervinsky
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or Jurowski or von Karajan in the 1970s, but
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you knew that already. And Gavrilov recorded
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the second Rachmaninoff concerto only a few months
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earlier with the Philadelphia Orchestra under
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Ricardo Muti. It's not quite so spontaneous in
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parts as the live Ashkenazi version, but coupled
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with this is a terrific and incisive and vigorous...
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Paganini Rhapsody of Rachmaninoff. The only trouble
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is that the sonics are not great. They're slightly
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diffuse, and there's very little bottom end to
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the sound, but that's just me. The next three
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discs in this box capture Gavrilov in the late
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1970s, and these recordings got a lot of attention
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back in the day. There's the Prokofiev Eighth
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Sonata, coupled with the ten pieces from Romeo
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and Juliet. Now, Gavrilov re -recorded the Prokofiev
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Eighth and the Romeo and Juliet for Deutsche
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Grammophon, and it was interesting making comparisons.
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In and of themselves, the 1979 EMI versions are
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unquestionably world -class and stylistically
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in the pocket. shall we say. And according to
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the folks at Warner, these versions are appearing
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on CD for the first time, which is kind of interesting.
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But if you make quick and even casual comparisons
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between EMI and Deutsche Grammophon, you probably
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will notice that the DG remakes are not... much
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different in terms of tempos, but they are more
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refined in terms of detail. For example, the
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fourth of the Romeo and Juliet pieces, which
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is a solo for Juliet in the original ballet.
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This is a delightful and skittish piece full
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of whimsical scales that go up and down. I can't
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remember it off the top of my head. I can't sing
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it. But one could say that the 1979 EMI recording
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is pianistic, but the DG remake is more balletic
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and more sophisticated in terms of its shape.
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And you can say the same about the Prokofiev
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Sonata's big finale. But the central Andante
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Sognando movement is where you really can hear
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palpable differences between EMI and DG. For
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instance, In the earlier recording, Gavrilov
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spins out the textures in a very mellifluous
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legato, whereas in the remake... For DG, there's
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much more variety in articulation, certainly
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in regard to melody and accompaniment separation.
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Several listeners actually wrote to me expressing
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their preference for the EMI versions, and I
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can understand why, but I personally lean toward
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the remix. And Gavrilov recorded two of the Romeo
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and Juliet pieces a couple of years earlier as
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fillers. for a 1977 release that coupled the
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Prokofiev First Concerto with the Concerto for
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the Left Hand by Ravel. And we have the London
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Symphony Orchestra conducted by the very young
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Simon Rattle. This was one of Simon Rattle's
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first EMI releases. It may have been his first,
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I'm not sure. The Prokofiev remains one of the
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better versions of this concerto on disc, but
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the Ravel, as a real smoker. Man, it's full of
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snarling orchestral detail. And listen to how
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Gavrilov just pounces on that first big cadenza.
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He almost gives some Saint -Francois and his
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classic recording a run for its money. Unfortunately,
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Gavrilov pulls the Reveille Pavane for a Dead
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Princess apart. It's not... so much a processional
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as an autopsy in this performance. In this regard,
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I much prefer Gavrilov's remake for Deutsche
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Grammophon because he stays out of the music's
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way. Disc number 20. I forgot to mention the
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numbers of the discs for the last few. It doesn't
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matter. But disc number 20 is Gavrilov in 1977
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playing solo stuff. And he's... basically showing
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off in Prokofiev's suggestion Diabolik and Balakirov's
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Islame and Liszt's La Campanella. The Tchaikovsky
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theme and variations, however, show more of Gavrilov's
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sensitive side. And we also have his 1977 recording
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of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit. The outer movements
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are superficially exciting, with a lot of little
22:23
dynamic jabs to keep you awake. But again, I
22:28
prefer his equally virtuosic but far more musically
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contained Deutsche Grammophon remake. And the
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final disc in this box... offers one of Gavrilov's
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few recorded forays into chamber music. It may
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be his only chamber music recording. No, it isn't.
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He did chamber music for Deutsche Grammophon,
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but this is definitely his only EMI chamber music
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disc. And it's a very stimulating collaboration
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with violinist Gideon Kramer. And they play Weber's
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Grand Duo Concertante, Hindmuth's Violin Sonata
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in E -flat, Schnittke's Sonata No. 2 and a little
23:10
Rossini piece called the Andante con Variazioni.
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This is such interesting and definitely unhackneyed
23:19
repertoire, don't you think? And these musicians
23:22
really play off one another. So the big question
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is, do you need this box set? I think if you're
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interested in Gavrilov, there's really a lot
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here to pick and choose from, and there's a lot
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of interesting listening. I can't say that all
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of these are my favorite recordings of this repertoire,
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but the things that I've enjoyed, I'm very happy
23:48
to have in my collection. Maybe you want to...
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cherry pick and download certain things, or if
23:56
you listen through streaming, you know, you can
23:59
pick and choose, of course. But it's good that
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Warner brought all of Gavrilov's EMI recordings
24:05
together. So we have this, and we also have the
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complete Gavrilov Deutsche Grammophon recordings
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from Australian Eloquence. So there we have it.
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This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
24:19
to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
24:22
to piano recordings. I'm going to be taking a
24:26
break for a few weeks in June, so we're not going
24:30
to have any new episodes until after June 19th,
24:35
because I'm going to be in Italy, and I'm not
24:38
going to have my recording equipment with me.
24:41
I need a little vacation, to be honest. But thank
24:46
you for understanding that and we will make up
24:49
for lost time. Thank you for tuning in and have
24:53
a great beginning of the summer. Take good care.