Gennady Rozhdestvensky and his wife, Viktoria Postnikova, turn in a terrific performance of Prometheus–lavishly sensuous, but with a firm sense of direction and a fine ear for the music’s prismatic colors. Chandos’ recording is also marvelous, with plenty of space around the instruments, an evocatively balanced chorus, and no loss of clarity even at the biggest climaxes. The Piano Concerto, though, loses some of its Chopinesque underpinnings in this rather heavily “Russian” interpretation–not that the music can’t take it, but it’s not as lively or as sparkling as the recent Boulez/Ugorsky on Deutsche Grammophon. Then again, the Rozhdestvensky performance of Prometheus is, on the whole, better than the DG competition, and I suspect that for many listeners this will be the disc’s main attraction. The short Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, played here in Rozhdestvensky’s arrangement from the composer’s unorchestrated two-piano original, is an early, uncharacteristic student work. It makes an interesting if inconsequential filler. Worth it for Prometheus.
