Liszt - Concertos for Piano Nos 1 & 2; Mephisto Waltz & other piano works [Original recording remastered]

The Liszt first concerto, when taken at a normal tempo, is not a particularly difficult work.That is to say, it's difficulties are very pianistic, and as long as one possesses a fair degree of facility at the keyboard, it is not terribly difficult to play. However, to play it at the speed Ogdon takes it requires a technique of such superhuman proportions that very few people possess. From the open octaves, Ogdon presents an authorative, titanic reading that makes such acclaimed virtuosi as Richter and Argerich sound amateurish.

The way he glides through the scales, furiously pounds the octaves and effortlessly finds his way through the tricky apeggiated passages of the piece is unprecedented. A slow movement of such natural expressiveness that it tugs at the heart strings gives way to a finale played with such infectious excitement and dynamism (at a tempo at least twice as fast argerich) that I have never heard anything that can compare to it. Every note is clear, and added to that he has an admirable disregard for the odd split note in chords. The greatest bit, for me, is at the very end of the finale, where the pianist is required to rapidly cross their hands. Ogdon was so, erm, large that hand crossing was a virtual impossibility for him, so instead of playing semiquaver triplets he just plays it a chord. It is so obvious how he is struggling with this passage, but it creates such a feeling of excitment that by the time we get to the octave trill, the listener is breathless. Then, the insanely fast downward run is like an orgasm! It is such a release of tension that you can see why the audience starts clapping before the piece has ended. It is fantastic.

The Liszt second concerto is a marvellously lyrical reading of a great work, and his playing is admirably supported by Colin Davis, who keeps him in check to a certain extent.

La Campanella and Harmonies du soir are not anything more than ordinary (for better recordings of these infrequently played warhorses, I recommend Leslie Howard on Hyperion) but Mephisto is a differentr matter.

He pulls out all the stops in this live QEH performance, and throws all caution to the wind as he hammers through this horribly difficult work. The most amazing part is th notorious leaps at the end, which he plays with such speed and accuracy that it makes me sweat, even more impressive when you take into account that this is live!

This is a great CD, and hats off to BBC for its release.

The disc is from the BBC, part of what must be surely the most amazing treasurehouse of recordings ever assembled. The two concertos and three solo pieces all date from Ogdon's best period, before his heartbreaking illness. The concertos and the Mephisto waltz are live performances, with an understandably enthusiastic audience starting to applaud before the first concerto has finished. The remaining two works appear to be studio recordings, the Clochette fantasia being at an undisclosed location. What Ogdon might have developed into we will not now know this side of elysium, but the conviction is growing on me that his loss was perhaps even greater than that of Lipatti. Ogdon seems to me easily the equal of Cziffra and Richter in the concertos, although if you are very attentive indeed you may spot one passage that he had to modify on account of his Falstaffian girth and the limitations this placed on what he could play cross-handed. In the second concerto his conception is closer to Cziffra's than to the typically introverted reading by Richter. Ogdon gets slightly the better recording, but there is an infuriating amount of coughing, and at one point someone drops what sounds like a rotary kitchen whisk or a set of snail-tongs. These things are sent to try us, as someone once said of the bench of judges.

In the first concerto there is not a world of difference in approach from Ogdon, Richter and Cziffra. I find it very difficult indeed to express a preference, and now that I have all three of them I can decide which suits in me in any given mood. The most honest thing I can say to anyone trying to make a more limited choice is that it really is a matter of detail. To work methodically through the differences would stretch what ought to be a short review out to Proustian length, and it would be a matter of trying to describe minor differences rather than to rank the accounts most of the time. What makes me even more reluctant is that Michelangeli's performance seems to me to put them all in the shade. This really is a different concept of the work, although it's the piano-playing not the alternative concept that makes the difference for me. The opening is slow and a touch ponderous, although things don't stay that way for long. Where the difference in the view of the piece shows most is in the lyrical passages, where Michelangeli is much less dreamy and much more extrovert. I can take it either way. What still leaves me reeling is the sheer grip, power and evenness of those mighty fingers. I have to wonder whether even Liszt himself could play like this. The trills and tremolo sequences in particular have to be heard to be credited.

In the first Mephisto waltz I don't think Ogdon quite equals Cziffra for sheer swagger, but there's little enough in it. In general I'm inclined to feel that Ogdon is fractionally too fond of the sustaining pedal, but his enormous finger-power keeps the thickest textures clear, and I feel here as in some of his other recordings an exceptional sense of concentration and cohesiveness. If I were in any doubt about a fifth star for this record, the final number - the 11th transcendental study given in its original version, so difficult that even Liszt provided a slightly easier one - shades it for me.

A touching and fitting monument to a great player, a great artist and a great human being.