Olli Mustonen

[Bulldog]

Personally if I had to wait for Nikolayeva to show me what the Op.87 was all about I'd still be waiting. A failing of mine? Beats me. But what would you have of me? Simply put, I don't hear anything that approaches the imaginative touch and flair of Richter, Shostakovich's own recordings on Youtube, or of course Ashkenazy. There's such an invigorating feel to their recordings that somehow Nikolayeva simply misses. Yes she's deadpan - which befits the work - but there's much more to the work than that. The others manage to give personality to the deadpan, with striking dynamics and bold shades that complement the searing blacks and whites. In a word, they make the work shine. She doesn't.   

I feel the Nikolayeva versions are loaded with personality and that she perfectly captures my conception of the music and composer.  Also, I love her "industrial strength" approach.  With Ashkenazy, I get watered-down detergent (that is an exaggeration).  

We do agree about Mustonen, so we're half-way there.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Also, I love her "industrial strength" approach.

I hear ya. 

With Ashkenazy, I get watered-down detergent (that is an exaggeration).

It's the spin cycle where he's most effective!

We do agree about Mustonen, so we're half-way there.

Yep.

[Mandryka]

In the slow movement of Beethoven PC 4 he's at his most inspired. It's an operatic reading like many others. The thing starts off like a dialogue between a beautiful virgin and her Sumo wrestler rapist.

But things rapidly change. Very quickly Olli finds a melody in the left hand which he brings out. Result: the maiden starts to appropriate some of the Sumo wrestler's power.  She rapidly gets the upper hand -- the pizzicatos are like the death throw of the orchestral voice  Not an ounce of angst in the trills and the music which accompanies it. It's more like a jubilant dance!

The jubilant dance idea leads beautifully to the Rondo  of course, which bursts at the seams with éclat and élan.

In short this is one of the great quirky PC 4s.

[bumtz]

I love the Bach/Shostakovich recordings too. It's a shame Vol. 1 on RCA is OOP. I have the Alcan recording as well, but have not listened to it yet.

Another interesting, if not entirely successful IMHO recording with Mustonen is his recordings of Prokofiev's sonatas for violin & piano with Joshua Bell (on Decca). I love these works - my favorite Prokofiev, and among my favorite music pieces overall - and Mustonen's forceful approach is very original (I seem to have never even heard the notes he plays in interpretations of other pianists), but I am not sure it works that well with Bell's smoothness.