Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4, etc.

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Such is the luxuriance of sound revealed in these remasterings, it's difficult to believe the recording date; and such is the quality of the piano playing that it's easy to understand why Chandos... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 22nd May 2003
Catalogue No: CHAN10078(2)X
Label: Chandos
Series: Classics
Length: 2 hours 14 minutes

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Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1

Work length24:26

$4.25

$5.20

Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild

I. Vivace

Track length12:00

$2.15

$2.60

II. Andante

Track length5:36

$1.05

$1.30

III. Allegro vivace

Track length6:50

$1.05

$1.30

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

Work length30:29

$4.80

$5.85

Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild

I. Moderato

Track length9:21

$1.60

$1.95

II. Adagio sostenuto

Track length10:25

$1.60

$1.95

III. Allegro scherzando

Track length10:43

$1.60

$1.95

Excerpt, Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

Work length20:40

Album only

Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30

Work length35:33

Album only

Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild

I. Allegro

Track length15:02

Album only

II. Intermezzo. Adagio

Track length8:42

$1.60

$1.95

III. Finale. Allegro

Track length11:49

$2.15

$2.60

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40

Work length23:07

$4.25

$5.20

Jascha Horenstein, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Earl Wild

I. Allegro

Track length8:59

$1.60

$1.95

II. Largo

Track length5:25

$1.05

$1.30

III. Allegro vivace

Track length8:43

$1.60

$1.95

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

Such is the luxuriance of sound revealed in these remasterings, it's difficult to believe the recording date; and such is the quality of the piano playing that it's easy to understand why Chandos should have wanted to go to such trouble. There aren't so many Rachmaninov pianists who dare to throw caution to the wind to the extent that Earl Wild does in the outer movements of the First Concerto, fewer still who can keep their technical poise in the process. The improvisatory feel to the lyricism of the slow movement is no less remarkable.
Wild's panache is every bit as seductive in No 4, and the Paganini Rhapsody is a rare example of a performance faster than the composer's own – devilishly driven in the early variations and with tension maintained through the following slower ones so that the famous eighteenth can register as a release from a suffocating grip, rather than an overblown, out-of-context exercise in grandiosity.
Because of his lightness and touch Wild's tempos never seem excessive. Undoubtedly he shifts the balance from languishing pathos and overwhelming grandeur towards straightforward exuberance; but that may be no bad thing for refreshing our view of the composer. It keeps us in touch with an earlier tradition. The RPO appears to be revelling in the whole affair, in a way one wouldn't have immediately associated with Horenstein. To pick on the very few weaknesses, the very relaxed clarinet tone in the slow movement of Concerto No 2 rather misses the character, and elsewhere in this work the balance engineers rather crudely stick a microphone under the cello section's nostrils. But then the solo playing in this concerto is generally a little disappointing too, as though Wild had actually played the piece rather too often. In No 3 there are the hateful cuts to contend with, and one senses that the performance has been rather thoughtlessly modelled on the composer's own, idiosyncrasies and all. None the less, for the sake of the outstanding performances of Nos 1 and 4 and the Rhapsody, and for the unique combination of oldstyle bravura and modern sound, this issue earns a strong recommendation.

Offer,Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4, etc.

2 CDs

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