Christian Zacharias, who made his discographic
mark as a Mozartean, makes the transition
to Chopin's more fluid style with aplomb.
He takes this music seriously, clearly
sounding every note in the passagework
- even in the accompaniments where one
could be forgiven a little blurring
of the edges. I prefer this to the skittering-across-the-keys
style of Chopin playing, which makes
an immediate flashy effect, but doesn't
allow for much real poetry. And Zacharias
certainly does provide the poetry, enlivening
the phrases with flashes of subtle,
impulsive rubato, coloring and projecting
the tone over a wide, fully-weighted
dynamic range. All in all, this is most
fetching playing.
Reservations arise
with the conducting - or, rather, the
lack thereof. Zacharias has directed
Mozart concerti from the keyboard, but
Chopin's larger-scale works won't really
"conduct themselves" that way. Only
the introductory ritornellos afford
the pianist extensive opportunities
for arm-waving: that of the First Concerto
is stolidly accented, but Zacharias
does rather a good job with the introduction
to the Second, bringing it the same
sort of fresh inflections and airy propulsion
that mark his pianism. And, once the
piano part gets going, he doesn't compromise
his solo performance, preferring to
leave the players more or less to their
own devices, under the leader's guidance.
Granted, the music poses few problems
for an ensemble of this caliber, but
still they can't anticipate everything
perfectly, and numerous supporting string
chords land clearly, if marginally,
late.
The use of a chamber
orchestra ameliorates the communication
problem, by dint of reducing the physical
distance involved, but inevitably causes
others. Granted, these orchestra parts
are considered technically undemanding:
Erich Leinsdorf, in The Composer's
Advocate, commented that "a lesser
group can do full justice to the score[s]."
(The demands on the string players'
stamina while they spend long periods
contorted into first position are another
matter altogether.) But surely Leinsdorf's
"lesser group" means to describe the
hypothetical ensemble's executant ability,
not its sheer size. The Lausanne strings
play well and neatly, but there simply
aren't enough of them. This shows not
only in predictable ways, as in the
small-scaled sound of bass motifs, but
in less obvious ones: at 7:02 in the
Second Concerto's first movement, for
example, the strings can't supply the
needed heft to impel and reinforce the
piano's crescendo into the tutti.
The recording is fine
- a forward piano balance is hardly
a problem in this music. And the playing
may well make you revise your estimate
of these concerti upwards. But do make
sure you have a higher-powered version
as well: Perahia's of Op. 11 (Sony),
say, or Ashkenazy's of Op. 21 (Decca),
or Rubinstein's stereo versions of both
(RCA), if and when they reappear.
Stephen Francis
Vasta
Christian Zacharias (piano/conductor) 
