Has anybody listened to records (or live) by the Russian Pianist Mikhail Pletnev?
As soon as I bought a cd of his I realised I could not do anything else but buy all those I could find here in Italy. Unluckily not too many. i think he is the most original living piano player. Someone says that he sometimes feels a little too free in interpreting the scores. Perhaps they're right but I think he is a real genius. An eample? Listen to his version of Bach-Busoni Chaconne from Live at the Carnagie Hall. Never heard one like his. Let me know your opinion.

I have listened to two of his recordings as pianist and one as conductor. I heard him play a variety of Chopin solo piano music: not being the biggest Chopin fan, I cannot really judge the playing, but it was an enjoyable CD. The second CD for him as pianist was a recent one of Mozart sonatas: now here I can tell you that I really enjoyed his playing. It's been a while since I heard someone spice-up the sonatas in this manner. Maybe not for everyone, but still something new and fresh. The third CD is of him conducting Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and a transcription for clarinet of Beethoven's Violin Concerto; maybe not what you're loking for, but still worth checking out: the Mozart was pretty well conducted, and the Beethoven was something utterly new. You can find all these CDs on Deutsche Grammophon.

I first heard him in a Virgin 2cd set in which he played Tchaikovsky's piano concertos (1st, 2nd, 3rd and Concert Fantasy; Andante and Finale was not included)...

It was love at first sight. I love Pletnev since then.

I then got more of his Tchaikovsky: 10 morceaux Op40, 12 morceaux Op.72, The seasons, his Nutcracker and Sleeping beauty transcriptions, the Grand Sonata Op. 37 (and some more I don't remember).

Then I tried his Rachmaninov: 1st piano concerto, Paganini Rhapsody (this is in video also, with Abbado), Corelli variations.

You may try his Prokofiev with Argerich: they both play his own transcription of Cinderella, coupled with Ma mere l'oye.

On his work as conductor I only have his Rachmaninov symphonies (perhaps some live off the air recordings with violin soloists; I'm almost sure I have a few, but don't remember which ones... the problem of collecting without restrictions).

Here you have Pletnev playing Chopin's first Ballade. (Taken from a concert in 2006).

And here as a conductor

Rachmaninov Rhapsodie sur un thème de Paganini
Tchaïkovski Symphonie n° 4

Nikolaï Luganski, piano
Orchestre National de Russie
Mikhail Pletnev, direction
Enregistré le 23/03/07 Salle Pleyel à Paris

http://rapidshare.com/files/28042870/SPL27-03-2007.rar

I have some of his cd's. As mentioned before, I have his Tchaikovsky's piano concertos with Fedoseyev as conductor (Virgin Classics), I like these recordings a lot. I have also other Tchaikovsky's piano works with Pletnev and they are all enjoyable. And very special recording is Tchaikovsky's 18 Pieces Op. 72 - http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=9262.

I heard him conducting Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with Martha Argerich playing. As he plays this work himself, he understands it also as a pianist and creates with Argerich total harmony )

He is an artist of unique interpretive powers.Sometimes it works sometimes it does not.I have a strong distaste for his Beethoven both as a conductor and as a pianist but i like his Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

I understand that he is a friend of my piano teacher. She once gave me a CD of his to listen to because I was playing one of the songs on it. The CD was called Pletnev Live at Carnegie Hall and it included The Bach-Busoni Chaconne, Beethoven's Sonata #32, Islamey, the 4 scherzi, and some other stuff.

I'll second his unique style. And then there's this recording on youtube of the Paganini rhapsody.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90MuPqYtV_k