All just my personal opinion
… while for the past two decades the artist is mostly pictured with an earnest, maybe “Beehovenian” / titanic, somewhat closed facial expression, in the concert (which he presented with a mostly relaxed, yet controlled body language) his face hinted at a wealth of emotions — and his playing struck me as a prime example of the “big Russian Piano School” …
Chopin: Piano Concerto in E minor, op.11 — comparing recordings with the following artists: Argerich/Abbado (1967), Askenase/Otterloo (1960), Avdeeva/Wit (2010), Avdeeva/Brüggen (2012), Rubinstein/Barbirolli (1937), Rubinstein/Wallenstein (1953), Rubinstein/Skrowaczewski (1961)
Chopin: Piano Concerto F minor, op.21 — comparing recordings with the following artists: Askenase/Ludwig (1963), Avdeeva/Brüggen (2012), Haskil/Markevich (1960), Rubinstein/Barbirolli (1931), Rubinstein/Steinberg (1946), Rubinstein/Wallenstein (1958), Rubinstein/Ormandy (1968)
Chopin: 12 Etudes op.25 — Ashkenazy, Pollini, Sokolov, Avdeeva; Chopin: Sonata No.2 in B♭ minor, op.35 — Argerich, Askenase, Avdeeva, Pollini; Chopin: 24 Préludes, op.28 — Askenase, Pollini, Barenboim, Argerich, Sokolov, Avdeeva
Liszt, Etudes d’exécution transcendente: comparing recordings with the following artists: György Cziffra (1958), Claudio Arrau (1977), Miroslav Kultyshev (2007)
A Facebook friend just pointed me to an ongoing discussion about applause in concerts. It was interesting reading — sort of (see below), but because in general I hate the level of these discussions, I thought I’d just write my opinion in my little corner, a.k.a. my music blog…