Fabulous pianism from Krystian Zimerman, scintillating in its poise, sparkle and wit, but with never a hint of self-regarding flashiness along the way. In the sublime slow movement of the G major concerto, Zimerman's songful liquidity comes close to the ideal (no-one has yet matched Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli's miraculous 1959 EMI account), and Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra could not be more sympathetic collaborators. For the Left-hand Concerto, we move from Ohio to Watford and a rather more expansive acoustic. If the London Symphony Orchestra don't always quite match their American counterparts in tasteful refinement and dazzling co-ordination, the detail in Ravel's breathtakingly imaginative orchestral canvas is now fractionally clearer. Again, Zimerman and Boulez forge an imperious alliance, this music's unsettling seam of desperation and terror quarried with comprehensive insight. Sandwiched between the two main courses come the Valses nobles et sentimentales: featuring the Clevelanders again on lustrous form, these are amongst the most bracing and intoxicating of recent times. As for the concertos, you need really look no further than Zimerman and Boulez: they're a class act. --Andrew Achenbach
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