Prokofiev: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 3; Piano Sonatas Nos. 2 & 3 [Great Performances]

An ideal coupling of unsurpassed performances, these stereo recordings of Gary Graffman's performances of Prokofiev's First and Third piano concertos should be heard by anyone who loves Prokofiev's music. Why? Because they touch something essential in it: the warm lyricism at the heart of the composer's spiky irony and blazing virtuosity. Graffman was one of the great postwar generation of American pianists, one of the steely fingered, sharp-witted players who practiced inhuman hours to attain superhuman facility. But for Graffman, technique was only a torturous means to a glorious end: touching the eternal and the infinite through music. In these 1966 recordings, Graffman's Prokofiev is as blindingly brilliant as the best pianists of the time -- and that includes Argerich, Janis, and Richter -- but there is something deeper to Graffman's insight. The clarity and lucidity of his Third Concerto is astounding, but it is Graffman's ability to express the ineffable mystery of its central Andantino and the exquisite beauty of the second theme of its closing Allegro ma non troppo that makes his performance irresistible. The power and dexterity of his First Concerto is astonishing, but it is Graffman's capacity to articulate the inexpressible yearning of its Andante assai that makes his performance indescribable. Szell and his Cleveland Orchestra are models of responsible support, Columbia's mid-'60s stereo sound is clear and deep, and the inclusion of Graffman's outstanding 1962 recordings of Prokofiev's Second and Third piano sonatas is as enjoyable as it is inescapable.