Zubin Mehta Meets Mitsuko Uchida (Ws Dol)

Rating:
Summary: The Only World-class Asian Pianist So Far?
Review: A critic opined that Lang Lang is good, but not great. I echo his view. Uchida fares much better, and she is at least a world-class pianist.

However, people used to focus on her Mozart a lot, so much so that there are places where one isn't sure if it's Beethoven or Mozart that we are listening to. It's not a structuralist approach anyway, and one may not exactly know where the climax is or should be.

Puzzled and I made haste to Zimerman (Vienna Philahrmonic/Bernstein), who gave us a much better idea of what one should be expecting. And then from Zimerman I turned to Arrau (Pianists of the Golden Age), where one could watch/hear the Maestro play the same concerto. Here we have a much richer and sonorous tone with perfect phrasings and a full sense of structure plus musicality, much grandeur, and with an enormous facility...

Eventually I turned to Backhaus ( CD ) for the dialogues between the orchestra and the piano as the poet, however stormy the orchestra may sound: the poet is somewhat like Prince Hamlet or else like an acrobat high up in the middle of the sky on the thin wire...

Here, the recorded sound is great and the picture is excellent. Though technically Uchida is no an equal for Gulda, but to a certain extent they share the same sort of tone, though it's much softer and milder in the case of Uchida. What really surprise the audience are her facial expressions and movements, even the way she bowed... one may well prefer Pires or even Maria Tipo.

Rating:
Summary: From Good to Great
Review: The recorded sound is great and the picture is excellent. ButI fail to see any strong sense of structure here ( of either the melodic lines or the inner voice or whatever), and one may not exactly know where the climax is or should be. Well, perhaps this is justified, for this concerto is fundamentally lyrical, and more introspective than heroic.

Nonetheless, this is a difficult piece, and surely lyricism is not everything and the are heroic moments. One would also look for the thematic integration: the piano part interwined by the orchestra. One would also like to hear the dialogues between the piano and the orchestra, particularly that of the second movement. Yes, it's for the audience to say if they like the unaccompanied piano part which opens the movement, or the balance of the two hands, or between the piano and the orchestra. And in any event, this is not Strauss, so that ff could be or should be reduced to mf. The piano part could be more dynamic...

Since Uchida enjoys such a big name, I made haste to Zimerman (Vienna Philahrmonic/ Bernstein: DG). The latter definitely gives us a better idea of what to expect from a great pianist. And then from Zimerman I turned to Arrau (Pianists of the Golden Age), where one could watch/hear the Maestro play the same concerto. Here we have a much richer and sonorous tone with perfect phrasings and a full sense of structure plus musicality, much grandeur, and with an enormous facility
Eventually I turned to Backhaus ( CD only ) for the dialogues between the orchestra and the piano as the poet, however stormy the orchestra may sound: the poet was always the centre of attention. The versions of Edwin Fischer and Geiseking or even Kempff are equally intriguing each in their own way. But that is of course history now, and the golden age of piainsts wouldn't be back again, not from Vienna or Paris or Russia or indeed any place else.( Yet, I have recently watched an Amercian pianist whom I have never heard of before who is nearly as great as Arrau namely of Ruth Slenzynzska. Amazing!!!)

Also note that close-ups of Uchida's facial expressions could be quite distracting and even the way she bowed. However, the oboiest as well as the violinist in Bach are marvelous, one star added for their wonderful perfomance.