Although these live concerto performances don’t add new repertoire to Clifford Curzon’s slender discography, they reveal an unfettered, spontaneous side to this sensitive artist that does not always emerge from his patrician, well-considered studio efforts. He muffs the “Emperor” Concerto’s opening cadenza, but makes a grand re-entrance following the orchestral exposition. Pierre Boulez spurs his soloist on to volatile heights, notably in the scalar octave exchanges between orchestra and piano in the development. Curzon’s eloquent, liquid phrasing in the slow movement recalls the spacious repose of his erstwhile teacher Artur Schnabel, although his firmly centered finale is quite different from his master’s hurling angularity. The piano is a bit backward in the balance (the better to appreciate Boulez’s disciplined framework), but Curzon comes through loud, clear, and more vivacious than in his two studio recordings. Likewise, his live “Coronation” (replete with Wanda Landowska’s cadenza stuffed with Marriage of Figaro quotation) blooms with a degree of nuance and dynamism only hinted at in his studio traversal under Istvan Kerstez (released for the first time in Philips’ Great Pianists series). Boulez complements and sometimes challenges his soloist with tensile yet transparent support. Curzon fans surely will want to snap up this valuable release.
