Extraordinary performance. This is a very complex concert, not too oftently played in public shows, but a very "tchaikovskyan" music. It is not very well known, but it deserves as much glory as the #1 concert.
The second piano concert I like it more than the first, because it is possible to perform more variable ( diverse). Pletnev's abilities allow him to make this concert even more difficult and masterly, but he does it this way to maximally embody the idea of Tchaikovsky, and to show their own emotions from this idea as well. I get great pleasure from this version of the concert.
OMG he tosses off this technically difficult concerto like Chop Sticks.... He is such a fabulous pianist. I hope to hear him in the Schumann concerto in March 2022
He won the Tchaikovsky Competition at age 19. He is a supremely gifted musician. I have the recording of the "Pathetique" symphony and it is a truly great recording with the Russian Symphony Orchestra. It was recorded at Blackheath Concert Hall in South London, near where I lived. The accoustics are superb and it is used a lot for recordings and concerts.
For me, this 2nd movement is a cello, violin and piano concerto.. and it's almost like a 2nd movement that you expect from a tchaikovsky symphony, so innovative and characteristic of him.
Maestro Pletnev is a genius! What a brilliant mind he has to be able to play this so beautifully from memory..The orchestra complements his masterful playing with the best Tchaikovsky Concerto No.2 in G major Op.44 on the planet.
Have the Pletnev recording of the Tchaikovsky concertos and Concert Fabntasy and love them -- fantastic. He was then and still is, the most superb pianist.
LOL near the end of the cadenza conductor looks over his left shoulder, like: WTF did I just hear? This performance makes me laugh and cry with delight and astonishment at the same time.
The pianist Pletnev and Conductor Fedoseyev are great interpreters of Tchaikovsky's music. This is a wonderful performance, with a bit faster tempo than most other performances which is preferred in the second movement but not for the last movement, IMO. Throughout history, there have been some who prefer this concerto over Tchaikovsky's #1. I chalk it up as the top two greatest Piano concertos in history of classical music followed by Chopin's and Rachmaninov's. The dreamlike melodies in the first and second movements are fabulous and piano parts require virtuosic skills fit for the likes of Pletnev. For that reason, both Tchaikovsky concertos were considered unplayable at the time of their release.
A fabulous and underperformed concerto, but I would have to rank it behind the two by Brahms, therefore the 3rd "greatest". But after all isn't that what classical music is all about, a lively debate of opinions respectfully clashing.
..thankyou, i wondered who the conductor is.. i do wonder who the orchestra is as well and when this was done.. mr pletnev (sorry about spelling) conducted the Manfred symphony in my town some thirty years ago with his russian orchestra and i'm sure he looked older then, than he does here in this video, (if you follow!? lol).. ..aside from the magical trio in the second movement, i think this concerto is more straight forward in a classical "concerto" type way and less radical than his first..? and talking of classical piano concertos, how about Beethoven? 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th..?
Been re-hearing for years now. Pletnev excels...and the 2nd Movement piano trio...OMyGod....and Vladimir Ivanovich Fedoseyev "(Russian: Владимир Иванович Федосе́ев; born 5 August 1932, in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian conductor, accordionist, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1980). Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1989) and the Glinka State Prize of the RSFSR (1970). Full Commander of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland". Artistic director and chief conductor of the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra since 1974......." Thank you.....from Acapulco!
Incredible power and amazing technique! This is one of 2 performances I won’t be without. And I’ve heard them all. The other notable performance is from Bruce Liu. Pletnev plays it faster - with more power, but Bruce play this with more clarity, more dynamic range, pathos and musicality. Can’t be without either…
This performance is superb, though Yuja Wang's performance of the G major concerto is utterly transcendent. I cannot understand the enormous advances in technique that pianists have achieved during my lifetime. The old-fashioned white-tie-and-tails concert painists of my young days - Horowitz, Rubinstein, Kempff - couldn't even come close to what young performers nowadays can do. Every time I hear these apparently effortless techniques and astonishing tempi, I struggle to believe my ears. I feel quite sure that, fifty years ago, such things would have been thought impossible, Wonderful! Wonderful!
Actually, technique has nothing to do with it. There are, literally, a thousand pianists living who can play this. But, if you really LISTEN, (don't LOOK) you'll hear the difference between this and any other performance - this is Russian soul infused with fire, power, majesty, something only hinted at, or imitated in many other performances.......
@@SonicDykstra Hell, I know that; in my younger days, even I could play it. Not like this, though! The energy, the flair, the confidence, the sheer exuberance of this modern generation of pianists - starting, perhaps, with Martha Argerich and Pascal Roget - is to me, extraordinary; and *of course* it's a mastery of technique; it's a degree of technical mastery that, fifty years ago, we couldn't have dreamt of.
This is my favorite Tchaikovsky piano concerto. Here both Pletnev & orchestra are superb. Though I only knew & loved the Bь minor concerto in my teens (whose popularity may be due, in part, to the wondrous opening in Dь Major not Bь minor), In my early 20's I first heard a recording of #2 and loved it more though this was the arrangement by Tchsikovsky's cousin which not only has cuts in the 1st movement but transfers passages from orchestra to piano & vice versa. I am delighted to hear here Mikhail Pletnev's masterful performance of Tchaikovsky's original. After Rachmaninoff's piano concertos this is my next favorite. The only weak movement is the 3rd, but he composed for what audiences demand, a relaxing 3rd movement. Of course on recordings I usually only listen to the 1st movement of this magnificent concero.
Awesome as Pletnev is, his sonority and power virtually unmatched, I still much prefer Igor Zhukov's titanic recording with Rozhdestvensky. Where Pletnev is sometimes capricious to the point of being eccentric, Zhukov sustains the argument with iron logic, thus creating much more impact. It's personal preference of course. I still think Pletnev is one of the very best in Tchaikovsky, be it at the piano or holding the baton.
Moisewitsch and Tcherkassky recorded this decades ago but it has very little interest .However the second movement(trio concerto)melodies are inspired and the development of second subject in first movement is nt bad -not memorable just not bad.Pletnev makes it all convincing !Last movement might bring me back -it's usually a chore listening to this concerto but I'm coming round.The great rarely heard romantic concerto is Strauss ' Burleske !
Is that a tear Pletnev is wiping during the glorious 2nd movement. If so it is well understood. The intense beauty and serenity of such music can not only explain it but raises the question of how it doesn't happen more often. I once heard Horowitz say that he never displayed such emotion during his performances because what moved him was deeply burried within his gut. I don't buy it. To me it is as comunicative as anything else shown.
Very probably, yes. I’ve heard him quite a lot ‘live’ since 2001 and the most moving performance of his was indeed Tchaikovsky: ‘Chant elegiaque ‘ op 72 no 15. , as an encore after Tchaikovsky’s’ grand sonata ‘ op 37, in March 2003 at the Barbican centre, in London. Mischa’s pianism has always fascinated and mesmerised me, in equal terms, but this truly was the one occasion where he moved me to tears.
Thanks for posting, but it is a pity that there are no details of the orchestra and conductor. They really should have been credited: it's not a piano solo.
The conductor is Vladimir Fedoseyev. The orchestra could be (not sure) Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra based on the age of Pletnev and grainy quality of recording.
Anyone who would debate the fact that the third movement finale and the cadenzas in the first movement in this performance don't qualify as pianism of the front rank- probably of supernatural standards need their ears and eyes tested!
Wrong. There is no comparison to the difficulty of the first concerto. This is a little ditty. All the passages are easy under the hand. And it's just devoid of melody.
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D. Boudewijn Aussems It is the full version, I've followed it with the score that you can find here: imslp.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No.2,_Op.44_(Tchaikovsky,_Pyotr)
Julio David Auster There are two versions in your link; this performance is following version B, which is not the full version as Tchaikovsky intended it. Please follow with version A, the complete one, and you will notice that especially the second part is missing a lot of bars. ( 31:22. :When you listen carefully you notice the abrupt change...)
Karl Lieck No, it's much more comfortable. The passagework is less intricate, often repeats literally, most of piano part is either without orchestra at all or requires little attention to ensemble issues and, last but not least, Tchaikovsky has tons of time for the pianist to rest.
The most qualified person to give an opinion is one who plays both. Such a person is "Stephen Hough". At an interview in 2010 before playing the Tchaikovsky concerti at the BBC Proms, he stated (and claimed that he had spoken to other pianists who agreed) that once you had learnt the notes of Rachmaninov, the piano part fitted "like a glove". Not so, the Tchaikovsky. Further proof can be seen by the fact that pianists of the calibre of Denis Matsuev actually make cuts to Tchaikovsky 2, whereas he plays the "ossia" cadenza in Rach.3 uncut. Arthur Rubinstein was apparently interviewed in the 1970s and candidly stated that he did not play Tchaik.2 because it was far harder than any other concerto he knew. The American pianist William Wolfram described Tchaikovsky 2 as "possibly the most physically taxing concerto that I play". Another point: some of the most difficult parts of Rach.3 are smothered by heavy orchestration, whereas Tchaik.2 has more exposed piano parts (because Tchaikovsky didn't like the sound of piano and orchestra playing together).
With all due respect, I also happen to be a person who plays all the aforementioned concerti, and I rest my case. Indeed Mr. Hough is quite right that Rachmaninov 3 fits like a glove, i.e. is very pianistic. But it doesn't say that it's less difficult. For instance, the Schumann concerto is pianistically much less comfortable or "glove-like" than Rachmaninov 3, but it is at the same much easier than the latter. Hence a higher pianistic comfortability may well combine with greater difficulty. As for "the most taxing concerto" per Mr. Wolfram, I may agree that there are approx. 3 or 4 places in Tchaikovsky 2, about 10 seconds each, that are physically more demanding in terms of calories expenditure than Tchaikovsky 1, but there are many places in Tchaikovsky 1, let alone Rachmaninov 3, that make these concerti more difficult in general than Tchaikovsky 2. Because "taxing" doesn't exhaust the idea of difficulty. For example, the last variation in the second movement of Rachmaninov 3 in terms of difficulty (necessity to play precisely, clearly, without arm pressure, and maintaining the tempo) is beyond any place in Tchaikovsky 2, even the cadenza's Prestissimo (because, hilariously difficult as it is, it may be played in a more or less arbitrary "Prestissimo" unlike the place in Rachmaninov 3). Regarding the heavier orchestration in Rachmaninov 3 which is true, I assume you meant that the pianist needn't spend less energy since he is not heard well anyway. I find the matter to be the opposite, because in the concerto the pianist is expected to be heard nonetheless and, if played well, the piano part in Rachmaninov 3 is still quite discernible including exactly what the pianist plays. Hence, it is as necessary to play clearly and cleanly in Rachmaninov 3 as it is in Tchaikovsky 2, with the additional task to "keep the head above the water level", that is, the orchestra sound, which makes it more difficult, not easier. And, I presume, we let alone the question of relative musical difficulty. :-) Because, high as the musical tasks in Tchaikovsky 2 are, it is quite clear how to achieve them (not meaning it's easy) whereas in Tchaikovsky 1 there are places that pose musical tasks ineffably high and which it isn't unequivocally clear how to achieve. As Maria Grinberg used to say, there are no musical problems in Tchaikovsky 2.
Well, I'm afraid that I can only quote Stephen Hough further. He said that the pianists he had spoken to felt safer playing Rachmaninov. The thing is, I have heard very poor performances of Tchaikovsky 2 where the pianist has let it drag and there are very obvious technical errors. I have actually heard very few really poor performances of Rach.3. And why would a pianist like Denis Matsuev cut a major chunk out of the prestissimo cadenza in the first movement of Tchaik.2 yet opt to play the ossia cadenza in the 1st movement of Rach.3? I conclude that he felt that the Tchaik. cadenza was too hazardous. I have sight read through Tchaikovsky 1, 2,3 and Concert Fantasia but never properly "learnt" them, and I'll tell you what I've noticed: Yes, he's easier to SIGHT READ because the harmony is more rooted in the 19th century (as you'd expect!). However, it's when you come to getting the whole thing up to concert speed and virtuosity...making a real performance out of it, that it outweighs Rachmaninov in terms of technical challenge. The main issue with Rachmaninov is that he writes a lot of notes, and these have to be committed to memory. However, once you have committed them to memory, the music largely plays itself. Back to the prestissimo cadenza in Tchaik.2: What is astonishing is how totally different it sounds when a pianist plays it slowly from one who plays it truly "prestissimo". Rachmaninov sounds much the same slow as fast - fast being simply a speeded up version of slow. What I am suggesting is that Rachmaninov can be appreciated at different speed levels (allowing greater interpretive flexibility), whereas to convey Tchaikovsky's true intentions (eg. cadenza mentioned), you HAVE to play it something like the speed Pletnev does here. Matsuev knew this, but also knew he couldn't maintain that speed, so he cut it. Actually, Pletnev here is about the only person I have heard who plays it consistently prestissimo.