Nobel Prize Concert 2009 [Blu-ray]

An exceptional video of an exceptional concert
Let's get the obvious part of this out of the way. This is a really well shot video of a really well played concert. The performance of the Shostakovich Festive Overture sparkles. The Ravel concerto gets one of the finest performances I have ever heard. The Chopin Mazurka, offered by Argerich as an encore, made me want to rush over to the piano and play it. And the excerpts from the Romeo and Juliet Suites by Prokofiev, well it just doesn't get much better than this. Wonderful music, great pianist, master conductor and outstanding orchestra. What more is there to say?

Quite a lot, actually. There are whys and wherefores.

First the video. I usually run the other way when presented with a filmed concert. So often, the director has no understanding of the music and cuts incessantly from a full orchestra shot to a solo, to the conductor making faces only a chimp's mother could love, back to another soloist, to the string section while the woodwinds play the...

Excellent performances
I purchased this recording at the same time as the simultaneously released Helene Grimaud/Jurowski/Chamber Orchestra of Europe DVD recording.They could not be more different, especially the central adagio. Grimaud nails this movement in my opinion.It is simply magical. The first movement belongs to Argerich (much more jazzy) and the last movement is a tie. The Stockholm orchestra is much more "vulgar" and the recording is more "in your face" than the COOE with Grimaud. But both are worth owning. I disagree with Scott Morrison (whose views I usually agree with) on the CD/DVD comparisons. If ever a DVD is worth it's weight, it's watching a great pianist in action.

I also liked the Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet selection. The slightly slower tempi work well here, I think.The only other version of this is on a 4 disc set with Abbado/BPO (European Concerts).Picture and sound just OK, performance good.

Just let me confess that as a classical music nut for 50 years, the...

Superb concert with close to definitive versions of all items
This is a particularly rewarding concert and contains close to definitive versions of all items.

As regards the actual performances and artists concerned - the conductor, Temirkanov, is a highly experienced Russian conductor and has already appeared on Blu-ray where he conducts most of a gala concert at St. Petersburg. Curiously the Shostakovich Festive Overture is the same opening piece with the Russians playing even faster but not quite so well recorded. Both versions are excellent and exciting. Temirkanov's style is that of a disciplined conductor who knows how to get a dramatic and exciting response from players who very much rise to the occasion. He is also an extremely attentive accompanist. In this case he responds to every nuance in Argerich's definitive performance of the Ravel concerto. You will not hear better. Nor are you likely to hear a more compelling version of the Prokofiev suites. You have to go back 50 years to a famous version on CD of Ancerl conducting...

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