Whether one hears
Olga Kern's recording of
Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in the standard digital format, as offered here, or in its SACD version, which is reported to have much better sound quality, there are some serious musical considerations to be weighed before judging this disc's worth. First,
Kern delivers an extremely Romantic interpretation, filled with rubato and flamboyant emotionalism, not only in the bombastic introduction but throughout the work, where some restraint is desirable. While this is perhaps due to
Kern's long family tradition of playing
Tchaikovsky, it is also possible that
Kern delivers what is expected of a gold medalist of the
Van Cliburn Competition -- a big, flashy performance intended merely to wow the audience. Second, the
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by
Christopher Seaman, has an old-fashioned sound -- lush but homogenized, with gushing strings, subdued woodwinds, and dull brass -- so it feels bizarrely like a historical performance, even though the date on it is 2003. Third, the volume must be turned up higher than usual because Harmonia Mundi has under-recorded the performance and many background details are faint. The filler, Francesca da Rimini, actually sounds better than the Concerto, with more orchestral gusto and clearer timbres, but this is not the main attraction and may be skipped without qualms.