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Rachmaninoff plays Chopin Feb 29, 2008
The Maestro at his best. He perfected his piano playing after leaving Russia and Moscow forever in 1917.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
AMAZING Jan 07, 2006
Rachmaninoff's performance of the Chopin B flat sonata is Monumental, and the greatest performance that exists.
Lawrence
4 of 6 found the following review helpful:
An interesting release Jul 29, 2005
I suspect part of the fascination in Rachmaninov's playing is due to his being part of that increasingly rare and illustrious breed: the pianist-composer. The Funeral March sonata on this disc is perhaps the most famous of all. Noble as it is, I wouldn't proclaim it the account to end all others. The trademarks of this musician's pianism are apparent: clarity, poise, faultless execution. As another reviewer noted, the artist takes liberties with some scores but always in a tasteful manner. The nocturnes and waltzes are not without a certain charm, but Rachmaninov was never one to wear his heart on his sleeve.
13 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Deep and Penetrating Feb 16, 2003
This transfer of Rachmaninoff, while far from perfect, is much more than acceptable. It is much better than what we have from Piano Library which contains 99% of the same thing. Rachmaninoff's understanding of music is deep and penetrating: being a composer himself, he understood the structure of the pieces so well.
Here each piece has it's own life and identity each with a focal point. It is water tight compact and yet very much natural and alive. But it is not natural in Arrau's way, still less as oppressive as Horowitz or Richter. It is somewhere in between, closer to Argerich but with more consistency and depth. And like Casals' playing, it keeps our attention from the first note up to its focal point until its very end. But unlike Casals, he touches our hearts. It is very emotional but never to the point of being sentimental. His Chopin may not be as neurotic as Cortot. Nonetheless, he sheds light on the dark and nervous side of Chopin so well: a very throbbing interpretation that is so unique.
Sure, he did have fingers of steel that helped him to bring out whatever colour or atmostphere as appropriate. And despite that fact that there are some minor alterations on the scores like his Chopin, he is one of the few pianists who could really show you every note on the score counts and, above all, how it counts...
So, come and listen to the pianist with "arms of steel and heart of Gold" in action. It's hard to imagine how a listener fails to be touched by his playing.
9 of 15 found the following review helpful:
 I really wish DDD existed back then Jun 19, 2000
A good album but the transfer is terrible. It sounds like this CD was recorded with a mono microphone held at the speaker of an old phonograph. The amount of noise is so great that sometimes it is really hard to hear the soft parts over it.
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