Yundi Li turns in a scorching performance of Prokofiev’s most exciting piano concerto. In the first movement not even monster banger Alexander Toradze throws off more fireworks in the cadenza that comprises nearly 50 percent of the first movement, and yet Li also shapes the music with purpose and a very keen sense of climax. The second-movement toccata flies by at a breathtaking pace–so quickly in fact that articulation threatens to become blurred; but somehow both Li and the Berliners under Ozawa manage to hang together. From there on it’s smooth sailing, with perfectly paced and transcendently virtuosic accounts of the two final movements (this concerto has no real slow movement at all). The Berlin Philharmonic plays with notably more weight and conviction than it does in Ozawa’s dullest-ever Prokofiev symphony cycle.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Ravel. Certainly the Berlin Philharmonic can play Ravel, and fabulously; witness Boulez’s last cycle of the complete orchestral music for DG. Here, however, the accompaniments sound thin, perhaps a function of the slightly washed-out sonics (the live Prokofiev sounds much better). Li certainly plays very well, and even poetically in the second movement, but also without the same degree of character that we hear in the Prokofiev. This is by no means poor, but it also doesn’t rise to the level of Samson François (EMI) or Alicia de Larrocha (Decca), to name only two of the most noteworthy competitors. Nevertheless, this remains a hugely enjoyable release for the Prokofiev alone, one of the truly outstanding versions of a work that has yet to achieve the popularity it deserves. Performances like this one will surely help.
