This sonically in-your-face recording is a bit heavy-handed and lead-footed, particularly in the Liszt. There is no doubt that Yundi Li is the real thing - a terrific virtuoso who can cool his tone down for quieter moments while keeping acres of strength in reserve for the showy, fast passages - but something goes wrong here and these performances are not particularly enjoyable. The most successful moments are in the middle of the Chopin, where his holding back is almost vocal, with long phrases kept interesting enough to make us hear them anew. But there's also a lot of blurring, some due to the recording and some due, I think, to Li's overuse of the pedal. His reading also feels as if the Liszt is a series of separate chunks; the parts do not flow organically into one another and we feel he's underlining too many "special" moments. In other words, it's probably as flashy as Liszt might have played it, but the overall effect is lacking in shading. The emotions are huge here, and while one is dazzled by the technique, it's an exhausting experience. Martha Argerich's coupling of these two concerti under Claudio Abbado on DG is magnificent - go for it instead of this. --Robert Levine
