Tchaikovsky Piano Concert No1, Kirill Gerstein/Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (Myrios)

Russian pianist Kirill Gerstein was the soloist for Scriabin's Prometheus in the memorable, if idiosyncratic, opening concert of last year's Edinburgh International Festival with the RSNO. He has also performed with the Vienna Phil, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Cleveland and Boston Symphony Orchestras, but this is his first orchestral recording, with Europe-based American James Gaffigan conducting. You might imagine that a man with Gerstein's celebrated musical curiosity would not choose such an old warhorse for his debut, but only until you hear the remarkable first bars. They are quite unlike the usual thumping opening of the concerto, because Gerstein has gone back to the composer's original intention, and a score that is published this year (Tchaikovsky's 125th anniversary) as the critical Urtext. There is compelling evidence that this is as it was performed in the composer's lifetime, before an unreliable acolyte revised the music.

It certainly sounds much more delicate and musical, and - as Gerstein writes in an accompanying note - Schumannesque. It is also exquisitely recorded and quite beautifully played. The coupling is Prokofiev's Second Concerto, which also has a tale to tell in that the composer had to reconstruct the score after the original was lost, but it is Tchaik 1 that is the real story here.

Keith Bruce