I must confess that the name Nobuyuki Tsujii was new to me. The Japanese pianist was born as long ago as 1988 and shot to fame as the co-winner of the Van Cliburn Competition in 2009. This CD features an inspired curation of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and a selection of miniatures, as well as Mikhail Pletnev’s piano transcription of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. It’s interesting to see how DG is spreading its net more widely, in terms of recording orchestras, beyond the glamour set. Last year we had the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. This time it’s the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Domingo Hindoyan.

Normally, I try sedulously to avoid terms like “enigmatic” to describe an interpretation or a  composition itself but I think in this case, I’m going to have to resort to describing Tsujii’s rendering as “a work in progress”. 

As one would expect from a DG artist, Tsujii’s technical adroitness, transparency, dynamic awareness and his coolly spectacular ability to sail through Rachmaninov’s awesome note clusters without thumping or panicking, speak for themselves. The wistful poise of the concerto’s opening does not signal that it is a piece in which melancholy and brilliance, sweetness and splendour are inexplicably fused. As the movement progresses the soloist seems to want to break the melodic flow of the emergent melody (no one does Slavic yearning like Rachmaninov) and the ensuing dialogue with the orchestra lacks the intimate nuances of Argerich, Hough or Wang. The last theme, a little “song” which precedes the first great impassioned climax, lacks charm.

One aspect I do like is this soloist’s choice of the grander cadenza. The second movement borders on the lugubrious (even by Rachmaninov’s standards) and the variations seem to be partly a struggle between this and the determination of the soloist to lighten and energise the mood of despair, by breaking into a scherzando waltz. It finally succeeds in an excessively violent cadenza. Tsujii’s interventions in this movement sometimes seem rather brusque. He bursts out into the last movement like a high-octane racing car out of the pits, as if trying to break a land speed record, fast but not particularly exciting. 

The transcriptions of Rachmaninov’s songs, How Fair this Place and Lilacs are gorgeously played, whereas the Vocalise sounds strangely pedestrian. For me, the Pletnev transcriptions of The Nutcracker Suite are the highlight: as a case in point, I can only echo other reviewers in marvelling at his uncanny ability to replicate the sound of a celeste in the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. 

A hearty cheer for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Hindoyan: DG’s faith in them was well justified. The essence of an ineffably great performance in a monumental work such as Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto is often the soloist’s ability to build like a Mughal architect and finish like a Fabergé jeweller. This is something that Tsujii is still learning: it’s often the inspired spontaneous expressive touches, which are over almost before you realise how much they transform an impressive performance (which this certainly is) into an outstanding and unforgettable one.

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Composers: Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky
Works: Piano Concerto No 3, Nutcracker Suite
Performers: Nobuyuki Tsujii p, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Domingo Hindoyan
Label: DG 4868065