Rachmaninov: Prelude Op. 23 No. 2 in B flat major

For modern audiences the name of Sergei Rachmaninov, who was born in 1873, conjures up great memorable tunes primarily from his second piano concerto (used in the film Brief Encounter) and second symphony; he was indeed the last flowering of Russian late Romanticism. For his contemporaries, however, he was one of the greatest pianists and who was an expert in expressing moods in the briefest time scale – he was a brilliant miniaturist. He wrote 17 Etudes-Tableaux and 26 Préludes, this collection provides all of the former and 5 of the latter including the one (in C# minor), written when was only 19, which became so popular that it haunted him as he was known to the general public by that piece alone. The Second Sonata is in one movement but three distinct sections, with the slower central movement providing some respite from the turbulence of the outer movements. The Variations on a theme of Corelli was Rachmaninov’s last work for solo piano and is based on the traditional tune La follia which Corelli used in his twelfth violin sonata. The Variations are skilfully wrought as they are in the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, the work that immediately followed it; the tune on which the Variations are made is the 24th Caprice for solo violin by the brilliant violinist-composer Paganini.

The premiere disc from this remarkable young Chinese-American pianist and composer. Features music by Rachmaninov and Ravel, as well as compositions by Conrad himself, including an inspired work for iPad and piano. Also a work by New York born composer, Meredith Monk.

Conrad describes this album as being “about iridescence, about color, shifting, Perception, hallucinatory shapes”.

“He is exceptionally gifted, and an 18 year old teenager of the digital era. Quite a catch for the future.” Jean Philippe Rolland, President of A&R, EMI Classics

Recorded 1951-1954

It is with some pride that Cornwall-based Magdalen is releasing several recordings of Saltash-born Dame Moura Lympany (others will surely follow in due course). Lympany had a clear affinity with Russian music and with Rachmaninov in particular: she was the first artist to record the Preludes complete (the recordings in this collection date from 1951) and her performances of Piano Concertos 1 – 3 under Malko and Collins, made between 1952 and 1954 and among the first to appear on LP, have always been treasured by critics and public alike. Space does not allow for all 24 Preludes but we have chosen eighteen of the finest to accompany the concertos. Quite simply, this is music-making to wallow in and to marvel at!