Rachmaninov Piano Concerto recordings

[Barbirollians]

agree with you about the Wild/Horenstein, don't know the Bis. You should try the High Res download of Byron Janis in 2 and 3

I only know the Wild Third Concerto which David Fanning rightly in my view criticised as being more impressive as a sporting rather than an artistic achievement.

[Parry1912]

Nobody has done a better performance of No. 4 than Michelangeli, this is one of the great performances.

[Barbirollians]

I think that Michelangeli's No 4 is in a class of its own - it convinced me that it was a piece worth listening to !

One I forgot is a young Kissin with the LSO/Gergiev in the Second Concerto coupled with six Etudes tableaux - a lovely performance before he went through his rather percussive middle period !

[Bryn]

I had this set for review. It will appear in May's IRR. I shall say no more.

I think that will be the last in my current subscription (which I don't think I can quite justify the cost of renewing, sorry).

[richardfinegold]

I only know the Wild Third Concerto which David Fanning rightly in my view criticised as being more impressive as a sporting rather than an artistic achievement.

The tempos are sleeker than what we are used to in most other recordings, and the first movement cadenza is the shorter and less dramatic of the two that the composer composed. I always liked the Wild/Horenstein recordings of1,2,4, and the Pag Rhapsody more and felt the 3rd was the weak link in their cycle, until I heard the composers own recording of the 3rd, which shares many of the same features as the Wild/Horenstein recording. At any rate, as the years go by I have enjoyed this 3rd more than previously. My benchmark for the 3rd remains Ashkenazy/Ormandy, although the Janis is what I have listening to currently.

[richardfinegold]

I think that Michelangeli's No 4 is in a class of its own - it convinced me that it was a piece worth listening to !

One I forgot is a young Kissin with the LSO/Gergiev in the Second Concerto coupled with six Etudes tableaux - a lovely performance before he went through his rather percussive middle period !

I think that I had the Michelangeli paired with the Ravel Concerto, but that disc seems to have gone missing I remember both works as being outstanding.

[Barbirollians]

I think that I had the Michelangeli paired with the Ravel Concerto, but that disc seems to have gone missing I remember both works as being outstanding.

That's the one - with the vintage Philharmonia conducted by Ettore Gracis .

[Barbirollians]

I have picked up a copy of the Kissin/Gergiev recorded when Kissin was just 18 .I had this CD when it came out but gave it to my grandmother who was very taken with it and never got it back from her as my sister took her box of CDs when she died . It was a great pleasure to be reacquainted with it

He does appear to be emerging now from a rather awkward phase in his 30s and playing with more freedom again . His Second Concerto and even more so the six Etudes Tableaux that accompany it are a wonderful reminder of why he was such a sensation in his youth

[amateur51]

I have picked up a copy of the Kissin/Gergiev recorded when Kissin was just 18 .I had this CD when it came out but gave it to my grandmother who was very taken with it and never got it back from her as my sister took her box of CDs when she died . It was a great pleasure to be reacquainted with it

He does appear to be emerging now from a rather awkward phase in his 30s and playing with more freedom again . His Second Concerto and even more so the six Etudes Tableaux that accompany it are a wonderful reminder of why he was such a sensation in his youth

Have you heard his Beethoven piano concerto cycle with LSO/Sir Colin Davis, Barbs?

[Barbirollians]

No - is it good ?I liked his earlier 2 and 5 with Levine .

[salymap]

I carry Rach 2 and 3 in my head and don't buy new CDs now. I have cassettes of Benmo Moisewitch. Years ago I had 78s of the great pianist Cyril Smith, now forgotten or remembered as the partner on two pianos and in life of Phyllis Sellick,
Smithy studied with Rachmaninov and was the cat's whiskers in atleast nos 2 and 3 years ago. Are any of his recordings still around ?

[Barbirollians]

I carry Rach 2 and 3 in my head and don't buy new CDs now. I have cassettes of Benmo Moisewitch. Years ago I had 78s of the great pianist Cyril Smith, now forgotten or remembered as the partner on two pianos and in life of Phyllis Sellick,
Smithy studied with Rachmaninov and was the cat's whiskers in atleast nos 2 and 3 years ago. Are any of his recordings still around ?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cyril+smith+rachmaninov

Here they are - rather expensive in the Second !

I love the Benno M second concerto . I have it on that wonderful Great Pianists of the Century set that includes his extraordinary recording of Rachmaninov's transcription from A Midsummer's Night Dream .

[salymap]

Thanks, at that price I'll just remember it fondly.. I must try my Benno M cassettes though

[amateur51]

No - is it good ?I liked his earlier 2 and 5 with Levine .

I've not heard them & was hoping that you had - I'll get them & report.

[Ferretfancy]

That's the one - with the vintage Philharmonia conducted by Ettore Gracis .

This recording was made in 1957, and has never been out of the catalogue, an honour it shares with Beecham's Peer Gynt and Scheherezade. In the Ravel concerto there's a series of ascending and descending trills which Michelangeli plays with a standard of perfection I have never heard in any other performance.