Dmitri Bashkirov

[DieNacht]

Regarding the Mozart 24th Concerto, I agree that it is somehow one of his most distanced and sphinx-like works. 

Heard the Bashkirov/Gauk recording a couple of times again. It is a relatively fast rendering with some peculiar accents + the rather expressive cadenza (Hummel´s 100 bars, probably later than 1827. It is also featured in the Rubinstein/Krips recording of 1958).

It´s been a while since I heard my other versions though, and they form a rather random set (Rubinstein/Krips, Han/Freeman (only his 12th Cto caught my attention a bit), Schiff/Vegh, Piazzini, Perahia, Brendel/Marriner, Schnabel/Susskind, Haskil/Markevich, Curzon/Kertesz, Solomon/Menges, Battista/Froschauer (poor, anonymous, avoidable), Gieseking/Karajan).

I like the almost waltzy hints, Gauk gives the orchestral introduction. Bashikirov´s playing afterwards is often rather forceful and tense, reminding me of the Beethoven c-minor concerto´s 1st movement much more than it is usually the case (was there any relation between the two, such as the build-up to the cadenza ?).

The 2nd movement has a promenade-like moving forward, but the fast tempo works IMO. In the final bars, this trait becomes particularly present, the music seems to tip-toe wander off, to a strange effect.

In the 3rd movement, Bashkirov starts with some playing that sounds very much like Mustonen´s or Gould´s moments of pointilism or staccato, and later the march-like character is emphasized, but with rather happy accents also in the orchestra, contrasting with expressive and slower passages, a lot of very varied moods that give many colours to the work. The final bars´ whirlwind-like effect is shorter here than in many other cases, but impressive.

Overall an enjoyable, outgoingly contrastful and rather unusual recording I think.

The youtube material of another, more recent Mozart Cto 17 , already mentioned, doesn´t seem bad either and of course has better sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfEpc3wqX5Q&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL7896CD960F4C52F1

EDIT:
heard the Perahia, Gieseking/Karajan and the Rubinstein/Krips for comparison.

Perahia is middle-of-the-road, but I usually find it difficult to hear variation or contrast in his piano sound, also here.

Gieseking/Karajan was too coarse to me, the most interesting part being the extremely slow, rather disturbing or questioning slow movement.

Rubinstein/Krips were intriguing in the 1st and 2nd movement, with a lot of phrasing very different from and much broader than the other versions
(the contrast to Bashkirov was especially striking in the last bars of the 2nd movement; Rubinstein slows down and fades out, where Bashkirov
speeds up and accentuates). But they literally seem to run out of energy before the finale, which was simply poor, I think.

In Bashkirov/Gauk the orchestral playing sometimes lacks rehearsel and the introduction especially is hurried and unpolished, but at other
times it works fine and engaged. Overall, I´d prefer Bashkirov to the others, but am happy to own other more traditional performances with better sound also.

[DieNacht]

Just bought this LP (Mozart: Concerto 20 & Concert rondo K380 - Bashkirov with Sondeckis, recorded in 1983). The orchestra is very chamber-like and small. Th piano playing has many details and is quite sparkling, but the overall effect is markedly classical & the drama of the piece is downplayed a lot if compared to most other versions. The playing is thus very different from Bashkirov´s early recording of Concerto 24.