Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto 2 [Grimaud/ Ashkenazy - Philharmonia Orchestra]
This sounds like the perfect coupling, Grimaud and Ashkenazy, with Ashkenazy as a Rachmaninov Pianist, means that he knows this work from the keyboard, it must mean something when you come to conduct the work as well!, a dynamic duo?, well the jury's out i guess, some people love this disc, others feel it's quite a weak reading, i like it a lot, but i have my reservations too, but even a dull performance can never dilute those beautiful Rachmaninov tunes that comes shining through, the central Adagio Sostenuto has some of the most heavenly romantic / nostalgic music ever committed to record, this disc got in my Blog a couple of times before, [15th August 2010 & 7th April 2012].
Helene Grimaud is French, and now 45, she was 30 when she recorded this work, and although she has young looks anyway, she really does seem to have that 'little girl' aura about her, and yet she really knows what she wants, she plys her trade on the Deutsche Grammophon label these days, and have virtually given her musical licence to do whatever she pleases, her record releases are more like concert dreams rather than organised traverses through the repertoire, but there's something maverick about her, it's always an event when she brings out a new disc.
Well in listening to this disc again [roughly clocking up twenty listens i guess], the recording is a bit murky in the orchestra, but the piano is fairly up front, like a front row seat, like i said the middle movement Adagio Sostenuto is fantastic, after the storm of the first movement, the calm of the second is all the more telling, it has heart tugs all over the place, it can reduce you to tears, the opening melody is so beautiful, the clarinet and piano interweave the main theme to perfection at the start [1:11-2:07], the piano plays the simple melody, one of Rachmaninov's greatest tunes [3:05-3:31], the piano descends into a sour but sad aching longing that Rachmaninov is so expert at doing [4:08-4:33], the way Grimaud gets the piano to chime out those nostalgic 'bells' is tremendous [5:23-5:48], towards the end Rachmaninov restates a lot of the opening, but this time instead of the clarinet interweaving with the piano, it's now the sweet strings [9:00-10:26], the whole thing is so satisfying.
Here's Helene Grimaud playing the second movement on YouTube, with Claudio Abbado conducting.
Helene Grimaud is French, and now 45, she was 30 when she recorded this work, and although she has young looks anyway, she really does seem to have that 'little girl' aura about her, and yet she really knows what she wants, she plys her trade on the Deutsche Grammophon label these days, and have virtually given her musical licence to do whatever she pleases, her record releases are more like concert dreams rather than organised traverses through the repertoire, but there's something maverick about her, it's always an event when she brings out a new disc.
Well in listening to this disc again [roughly clocking up twenty listens i guess], the recording is a bit murky in the orchestra, but the piano is fairly up front, like a front row seat, like i said the middle movement Adagio Sostenuto is fantastic, after the storm of the first movement, the calm of the second is all the more telling, it has heart tugs all over the place, it can reduce you to tears, the opening melody is so beautiful, the clarinet and piano interweave the main theme to perfection at the start [1:11-2:07], the piano plays the simple melody, one of Rachmaninov's greatest tunes [3:05-3:31], the piano descends into a sour but sad aching longing that Rachmaninov is so expert at doing [4:08-4:33], the way Grimaud gets the piano to chime out those nostalgic 'bells' is tremendous [5:23-5:48], towards the end Rachmaninov restates a lot of the opening, but this time instead of the clarinet interweaving with the piano, it's now the sweet strings [9:00-10:26], the whole thing is so satisfying.
Here's Helene Grimaud playing the second movement on YouTube, with Claudio Abbado conducting.
