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.

Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto 2 [Wang/ Abbado-Mahler Chamber Orchestra] 

This is the first time that Yuja Wang has appeared in my Blog, and i hope to have many more entries for her, so another Rachmaninov disc, this is one i acquired recently, it's a perfect match, a great way to start her Concerto recording career, and this is its first outing, so it's hard to judge on only one listen, but this is a tremendous work, possibly his best, he's a genius, listening to his Etudes Tableaux a few days ago [19th August 2012] made me realize just how many strings Rachmaninov has in his bow, i never can hear too much of this Piano Concerto. 

Yuja Wang is Chinese, she's still only 25, she's really considered a sensation in Classical circles, she has a wonderful contract with DG, who are certainly known to 'exploit' talent that is unique, and those who have a certain potential to stand out from the crowd, i hope she has a long and fruitful career, she recorded this disc in 2010, and as with all the DG 'superstars', the booklets are filled with photos, the front and back show Wang in a fur hat [photos by Esther Haase], black & white shots, very well done, the flowing lettering for the Artists juxtaposed against the red lettering of the Composer, gives it just the right amount of colour, it's a great visual product.

Well it just had to be the middle slow movement that got me again, it's a superb tune that has been used in films, and even a famous Pop song, but it's timeless Classical music in its original Rachmaninov guise,  . 

Here's Yuja Wang playing the playing the central Adagio on YouTube.

Rachmaninov - Etudes Tableaux Op33 & 39 [Fergus-Thompson] 

First off, this is of course not a picture of Gordon Fergus-Thompson on the booklet front cover, it's of Vladimir Ovchinikov, this is one of those discs where i amalgamated two discs into one case, the Ovchinikov disc had a better booklet, so that's the one i kept, these pieces are great, and some of them transcend the depths of the sublime, showing a truly inner quality of invention and insight by Rachmaninov, it was wonderful to renew my acquaintance with these pieces again, as it's certainly been a while since i've played them, and these pieces make their debut here in my Blog today.

Gordon Fergus-Thompson is English, he's now 60, and he recorded this disc back in the late Eighties i believe, the front cover is of course a photograph of Vladimir Ovchinikov [by Chris Garnham], nicely composed picture, showing Ovchinikov almost inside his piano, with the lettering to the left, very nicely weighted, and the deep blacks are superb.

Well all of these Etudes touched me in some way or another, i notice that they're mainly in minor keys, and the three that hit a deeper spot were Op33/9 & op39/2 & 5, and here's a nice little synopsis of each of these pieces,
Etude Tableaux 9 Op33/9 - In C Sharp Minor, it's deliciously dark, and i love the way Rachmaninov throws in unexpected notes that seemingly clash [0:20-0:37 & 1:08-1:19], but actually really do clang nicely against adjacent notes, Rachmaninov seems to want to go into a Bach Toccata & Fugue [0:55-1:03], and it's good to hear ideas that seem just out of place, but really fit in perfectly, here i find Fergus-Thompson really is recorded wonderfully, those tumultuous notes cascade in a lovely way, and repetitive notes just come back in greater force [1:20-1:52], the main tune if you can call it that [1:52+], it ominous and brooding, nicely rumbling bass, there's a lovely complexity there.
Etude Tableaux 11 Op39/2 - This is probably the most beautiful Etude, reminiscent of the best Preludes from Rachmaninov, it's also the longest at nearly 9 minutes, Rachmaninov takes his time to let the magic weave itself, those opening notes in the right hand [0:00-0:07], they're so perfect, and set the scene nicely for the right hand melody [0:07+], now that's real magic, i love the way Rachmaninov creates a little ripple [0:34], that's delicious, and his use of hesitations to put extra weight on certain notes [0:45-0:47], now there's a real master at work, Fergus-Thompson nicely uses colours and shadings to get things right, Rachmaninov starts the whole thing up again, and takes individual notes down a slightly different path, as if he's tasting what other options would do, there's a lovely use of some nice deeply resonant bass notes [3:00-3:34], and there's a slowly brewing growling storm [3:50+], the thing nicely pulls in all sorts of unexpected directions, at moments it can sound like his Piano Concerto 2, at other moments it can sound quite monotonous / mesmerizing, Rachmaninov keeps bringing us to the opening [5:54+], towards the end he throws in some louder notes higher up in the treble [6:36+], and it's good to hear him explore up into this world, Fergus-Thompson really takes this Etude slow, but he sustains it very well indeed, it's full of atmosphere.
Etude Tableaux 14 Op39/5 - Another troublesome and stormy Etude, starts full of agitation, but there's glimmers of softening in the opening minute, i love the way the piece cools down and becomes sad [1:31+], very inward looking, but in less than a minute regains its agitation, it's a whirlwind of emotions, there's a lovely section where a more majestic version of the opening is hammered away [3:13+], the piece goes quiet [4:14-4:31] as if it's coming to a close, but really it's a coda [4:31+], and the closing pages have a real beauty about them, there might be wisps of agitation trying to muscle their way in, but the piece ends very peacefully, a truly outstanding work.

This was a great revelatory exercise listening to these three Etudes again, to pull all the goodness out of them, and examine them with an ear microscope, this listening experience makes me realise that i really don't know these pieces as well as they should be given credit, also i find that certain Rachmaninov pieces demand intensive listening to squeeze the hidden beauty / beast within them, a truly sublime listening experience.

Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto 2 [Grimaud/ Ashkenazy-Philharmonia Orchestra]

A lovely reading of Rachmaninov's Second Concerto, and yet i've heard in some quartets that this isn't a very good performance, but i certainly love it, Helene Grimaud has a certain way that i love, there's a rapt attention and even spirituality in her performances, i can almost 'feel' when she goes onto a higher plane, the music subtly changes, there's a rapt intensity, i played this work by her in 2010 [15th August 2010], i hope she now gives us some complete Rachmaninov Preludes or Etudes, she seems to rather prefer recitals instead of systematically giving us the full works.

Helene Grimaud is French, she's now 42, and she recorded this work in 2000, she once said 'there is an erotic power to the microphone'!, she loves to record music, and we love her recordings in return, the booklet photograph [by Norma Jean Roy], is a nice coy portrait, with Grimaud leaning against her piano, the point of the large 'e' in her name i don't really get.

Various Composers - 'Liebeslied' Violin Encores [Okumura/ Eguchi]

Here's another lovely Violin Encores disc, this one's certainly sweet, using the more sugary end of the spectrum, nothing wrong with that, it's good that a recital like this has a 'theme' as such, the whole programme works better, nice and soothing and mellow, this appeared in my Blog 13 months ago [27th February 2011].

Ai Okumura is of course Japanese, and her discs are really only available in the Far East, she hasn't broken into the European market, this disc comes from the Avex label, and i bought it on a spree on a Japanese website, she recorded it in 2005, the photography is by Shuji Tonoki, a great front cover shot, showing Okumura with her violin, there's a nice symmetry about it.

Of all the pieces i played, i especially liked tracks 3, 5 & 8, certainly the Rachmaninov tracks touched me, here's a synopsis of each of these tracks,
3 Rachmaninov - Paganini Variation, a transcription by Fritz Kreisler, the beautiful variation to melt any heart, it starts off gentle and serene, but slowly develops a lyrical intensity, and then comes back down to earth into an innocence as at first.
5 Chopin - Nocturne, the Chopin Nocturne is No20, transcribed by Nathan Milstein, in C Sharp Minor, and you can feel the sourness / sadness of the key, and yet in its sadness there's an aching beauty and enchantment. 
8 Rachmaninov - Symphony 2, a transcription by John York of the third movement, featuring just the main tune of course, pretty much a straight transcription, but what a tune!, one of the loveliest things that Rachmaninov composed, the second half of the piece especially takes wing, as the piano comes out of accompaniment mode and into main singing mode [2:05+], a lovely zenith is reached [2:30], very intense.

Rachmaninov - 24 Preludes [Ashkenazy]

This is the second time that these discs appear in my Blog [19th October 2010], they certainly expand on the Chopin set, which lasts roughly 40 minutes, Rachmaninov's set lasts roughly double that, and it shows in the deeper compositions that they are, like 'little symphonies' in a way, teeming with ideas, i listened to these pieces on random play, never knowing which one was coming next, i like it that way.

Vladimir Ashkenazy is Russian, now 74 years old, he recorded these pieces in 1975, the front cover shows Rachmaninov himself, in front of a giant Redwood tree i take it, his suit betrays the age of the photo, it's a monotone black and white, but coloured brown, a nice pic, and the lettering is nicely done.

This was an enlightening experience listening to these pieces again, this time i liked Preludes 5, 16 & 21, they're the more slower and inward looking Preludes, they breathe of things ancient, here's a short synopsis of each of them,
Prelude 5 Op23/4, the Prelude that on this listen i liked the best out of the 24, a beautiful gentle tune, at first simple an innocent, but it's depth is soon revealed, when the tune is restated, it has this wonderful treble accompaniment [1:20+], it's gorgeous, it adds layers to the piece, and still it morphs into deeper depths, there's a sense of the sad minor in its middle section [2:38+], and then later some really delicious high treble notes, very sparse, but like bells chiming out here and there [3:31+], what a creation from Rachmaninov, i was really moved by this.
Prelude 16 Op32/5, probably my favourite Prelude, i remember hearing Maura Lympany playing it on the radio, and i was stunned at its beauty, it's a heavenly creation, so full of innocence, and those rippling notes! [0:33+ & 1:10], the second burst is heart wrenching, damn that Rachmaninov, he really knows how to pull at your heartstrings, when the main tune comes back again, it's without those rippling trills, so enjoy those earlier ones all the more, just wow!.
Prelude 21 Op32/10, this one sounds like a piano version of his Vespers, old as the ages, it seeps of something eons ago, and yet timeless, in the Minor mode [B Minor], it's actually the longest Prelude of the 24, it's not really beautiful like the other two Preludes, but it has a depth to it, fairly sour i guess, and an angry middle section [1:52+], there's a tense frustration, and a constant hammering out of chords that grows and grows, really impressive, and just over halfway stuttering jagged rhythms [3:14+], and then quicksilver runs all over the place [3:43+], the melancholy opening returns, but right at the end there's a sort of coda [5:17+], which brings a sort of brighter hope, but the last notes are in the bass, a tremendously varied piece, and well worth deeply concentrating on, it was a joy to get to know this Prelude more today.