Jan 28, 2023
LIGETI Piano Concerto
w/ ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop, conductor
Feb 03, 2023
RACHMANINOV Piano Concertos Nos. 1,3,4
w/ Belgian National Orchestra
Cristian Macelaru, conductor
Behzod Abduraimov, piano
March 27th, 2015
PROKOFIEV: Piano Concerto No.1 in D-flat major, Op.10
Karl-Heinz Steffens
Brahms: Fantasies No. 1 in D minor
That dense sound of the inspired strings accompanied the exposition of the first theme of Rachmaninov’s concerto, in which Kozhukhin shone both technically (impeccable pulsation, even in the fastest passages of the Adagio sostenuto) and expressively, with intense phrasing in the extreme movements and articulated by a subtle rubato in the interlude while delicate according to the moment, in an outstanding performance. That he also knows how to use the keyboard as a means of communicating the most intimate sensations was evident in the very delicate way he phrased the propina (with an infinite number of dynamic gradations below the piano) “In the church”, the last of the pieces from Tchaikovsky’s Album of his youth.
