There’s nothing particularly wrong with these performances, but honestly, do we really need them? Pianist Anna Vinnitskaya has nimble fingers, and in the First Concerto at least goes all in for speed. This can be fun, as in the first movement, but in the finale she starts out too quickly and so has nowhere to go when the music really goes crazy later on. For all her natural fluency, this performance doesn’t compare to Matsuev (on RCA, not Mariinsky), or–in both works–Hamelin (Hyperion) and Igoshina (CPO).
In discussing Vinnitskaya’s half-successful recording of concertos by Prokofiev and Ravel for Naive, I expressed the hope that she would “grow into her virtuosity”. She hasn’t. The Second Concerto gets another fleet, rather cool performance–you’d be hard pressed to detect any notable personality from the soloist, but there’s another more obvious problem. Kremerata Baltica should, theoretically, have the necessary personnel to pull this off, but as recorded the string sound is notably thin and lacking in body. Having the winds of the Staatsksapelle Dresden on hand would be, you would think, a good thing, and they certainly play well enough, but somehow the sound picture fails to cohere. It’s quite odd, and it only adds to the pointlessness of yet another recording of these works.
It is good to have the couplings: a sprightly version of the Concertino for Two Pianos and the Tarantella. As second piano Ivan Rudin matches Vinnitskaya in swiftness and virtuoso chops, but that hardly justifies purchase of this disc at a premium price.