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Chopin Vassily Primakov CD LP Classics 119A/B & Jean Muller live & on CD Ballades, Mazurkas Fondamento FON 1005008 [63 mins] Two pianists who have collected rave reviews. Muller is celebrated for "storming" the Ballades, which were given straight off on disc and similarly ordered in his world tour recital at Kings Place, the programme identical and (within concert, no choice...) very wearing. A concert replication of the CD in his recital tour - which was well attended in London - was hampered by the venue and a certain automatism of the player, with no rapport or relationship with audience and a studied "great master" platform manner. I did not last the course (his Mazurkas on disc were delicate and subtle). Vassily Primakov's double CD, dedicated to "the one and only Natalia Lavova" is far to be preferred; sensible sequencing ensuring variety - inclusion of the lesser known first sonata encouraged a new listen to over-recorded repertoire. Sampling through the two discs has proved a pleasure at every moment; playing of a naturalness that doesn't sound as if it is subject to recording team scrutiny and control with bar by bar splicing,always a well-kept secret... I wrote that before looking up Primakov's own liner notes and commentary, which are only to be read on the LP Classics website; a sensible alternative to squeezing them into crowded pages of print which is often too small to read... My tentative responses are endorsed by Primakof's own rather modest and tentative notes, which I enjoyed reading. Confidently recommended and deserving space on your Chopin shelf. Peter Grahame Woolf see also Primakov playing Ruders and see on Muller's Ballade No 1 on YouTube and compare it with Primakov's BUT P.S. Searching around YouTube can broaden one's CD reviewing !
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