Mikhail Pletnev - Beethoven Piano Concertos 1&3 (Deutsche Grammophon)

For me, this CD of two Beethoven piano concertos is enthralling and eccentric in equal measures, and none the worse for that.

Some may find the pianist's manner calculating, but it is a style that brims full of personality and guts, and here cajoles two endlessly familiar works to emerge as contemporary and challenging.

So what of this style? The playing is dramatic, replete with bizarre inflections of tempo, dynamic and line. Entries are delayed, chords are splayed, passages grind to a halt like broken clockwork toys, runs are dashed off with surprising neutrality while previously unheard countermelodies find themselves pushed firmly to the fore. And it could all seem ridiculous were Pletnev's technique so unusually firm, his sound so bright and his belief so great.

In the C major First Piano Concerto, the pianist plays with immense drama throughout, shaping imaginatively in the Allegro con brio, moulding the most poignant, sublimely spun lines in the Largo and navigating the helter-skelter Rondo with ease. The latter movement is a particular highlight. Pletnev plays with much glee the inappropriate left hand motifs, probing staccato runs and catfights between piano and orchestra. But most pleasing is the restraint present in the interpretation: the dialogues between woodwind and piano are especially pronounced.

And few complaints about the Third Piano Concerto either. The Rondo is taken at a fairly plodding tempo, but the dynamic, imaginative phrasing is anything but dreary. Take the opening antiphonal statement of the first theme, where the piano asserts its dominance by rising purposefully above the woodwind response. Or listen to the frequent delays given to keyboard entries throughout the concerto that seem to prod the listener from apathetic acceptance. This is playing that sticks in the memory.

The Russian National Orchestra under Christian Gansch play with much fervour throughout, though I found their sound to be rather close and overpowering on occasion. But no matter: the lasting impression is that this CD is something new and something special.

Pletnev will release a complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos over the coming year.

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