Classic Encounters with Robert Winter: Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

No one has yet matched Leonard Bernstein’s flair for explaining great musical works both entertainingly and instructively, but UCLA professor Robert Winter comes close in Classic Encounters with Robert Winter: Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. In this first of a new series, he talks about Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto in hip terms of hiccup themes, waterfall effects, and NordicTracks. Best of all is the tape’s uninterrupted 1987 performance of the piece by two of the hottest classical stars of the ’90s: conductor Valery Gergiev and pianist Evgeny Kissin, who breathe fresh life into this old warhorse with a mixture of orchestral fireworks and genuine poetry. B+