http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMg_A8eYweY

Wow, the most interesting performance since Richter's Sophia performance. Truly a spectacle of this maestro imagination. Kissin's unfortunately pales in comparisons as does everyones else's

I heartily agree with you. I've heard too many prissy performances of this work (probably influenced by what Ravel did, which is totally un-Russian), but Richter and Pletnev gets straight to the soul of this work; imaginative and powerful, with no prettifying rubbish. If Baba Yaga and The Great Gate at Kiev don't make you jump out of your seat, the performance is too tame by half.

Pletnev adds an extra dimension with his vivid imagination (extending to a few re-writes), including those amazing pealing bells in The Great Gate, which, like all church bells, have their own rhythm which cannot be tamed.....

Pletnev is amazing. it's too bad he doesn't perform (at the piano) any more.

I fully agree! But I wonder, has there been any official statement from himself that he won't be performing any more? No more solo recitals, or what? I'm wondering, because I recently saw (link) he'll be playing several piano concertos not too far from where I live, conducting from the piano.

That's great news, if he's started playing piano again.

There was a time some years ago when he canceled some high-profile concerts due to a 'finger injury', and when he eventually returned, substituted less strenuous pieces for the ones in his original program (including Prokofiev 7), giving rise to speculation that he still hadn't fully recovered.

He's one of the very few individualists among great virtuosi today, whose playing is instantly recognizable, just like Rachmaninoff, Richter and Horowitz (his heroes).

I love this video of two great pianists, one at the twilight of his career, the other a rising star..... http://youtu.be/p78bT7m08W8

I agree with everything is this thread so far.

Is Pletnev really a pedophile?

He does a lot of weird things here, but I'm not going to doubt his absolute mastery.

All charges were dropped:

From Wikipedia:



We'll have to take him at his word.

I heard him say he would not be playing piano in public any longer in an interview some years ago. IIRC, it was right around the time his Beethoven concerto recordings came out.

I'm glad to see he has relented enough to do this concert. He's one of the most interesting classical musicians around, IMO.

Listening to both Pletnev and my other favorite Grigori Sokolov is what keeps me going with piano. So much of a diverse recorded repertoire between them.

Since we're on the topic of Pletnev, a performance that never ceases to amaze me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ49G2-Chhs

3 legends and one gentle soul