Listeners who already know Garrick Ohlsson's recordings of Chopin and Beethoven will not need to be persuaded to try this 2010 disc of the Bronxville-born pianist's recordings of works by Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and Mussorgsky. They will already know exactly what to expect: eye-popping virtuosity, jaw-dropping velocity, and an approach to interpretation that might be fairly characterized as mind-blowing. Rachmaninov's edgy and angular Variations on a Theme of Corelli is sharp-cornered and hard-driven, Prokofiev's brutal and ...
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Listeners who already know Garrick Ohlsson's recordings of Chopin and Beethoven will not need to be persuaded to try this 2010 disc of the Bronxville-born pianist's recordings of works by Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and Mussorgsky. They will already know exactly what to expect: eye-popping virtuosity, jaw-dropping velocity, and an approach to interpretation that might be fairly characterized as mind-blowing. Rachmaninov's edgy and angular Variations on a Theme of Corelli is sharp-cornered and hard-driven, Prokofiev's brutal and boisterous Second Sonata is extremely vigorous and exceedingly muscular, and Mussorgsky's moody and magnificent Pictures at an Exhibition is given the wide-screen, full-color treatment in a performance that seems somehow to get bigger as it proceeds. For some, Ohlsson's bone-crushing account of Prokofiev's opening Allegro and piano-busting reading of Mussorgsky's closing "Great Gates of Kiev" may seem too little about the music and too much about the pianist's physical strength. For...
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