Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade op. 35 – Lorin Maazel, Berliner Philharmoniker

 

Release Date: 08/19/2008 Label: Deutsche Grammophon Number of discs: 1 Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Performer: Lorin Maazel, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra cd info/ buy

Review:

Sheherazade, Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. Based on The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, sometimes known as The Arabian Nights, this orchestral work combines two features common to Russian music and of Rimsky-Korsakov, in particular: dazzling, colourful orchestration and an interest in the East, which figured greatly in the history of Imperial Russia, as well as orientalism in general. It is considered Rimsky-Korsakov's most popular work. During the winter of 1887, as he worked to complete Alexander Borodin's unfinished opera Prince Igor, Rimsky-Korsakov decided to compose an orchestral piece based on pictures from The Arabian Nights as well as separate and unconnected episodes. After formulating musical sketches of his proposed work, he moved with his family to the Glinki-Mavriny dacha, in Nyezhgovitsy along the Cheryemenyetskoye Lake. During the summer there he finished Sheherazade and the Russian Easter Festival Overture. Notes in his autograph orchestral score show that the former was completed between June 4 and August 7, 1888. Sheherazade consisted of a symphonic suite of four related movements that form a unified theme. It was written to produce a sensation of fantasy narratives from the Orient.

 

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Lisa Batiashvili - Echoes of Time

 

Release Date: February 15, 2011 Label: Deutsche Grammophon Number of discs: 1 Composers: Shostakovich, Kancheli, Rachmaninov, Arvo Part  Performer: Batiashvili, Grimaud  cd info/ buy

Review:

Lisa Batiashvili's debut album for Deutsche Grammophon "Echoes of Time" is a matter of the heart - an unusual, very individual and fascinating program by one of the most appreciated young soloists of our days. Lisa focuses her program on composers whose lives and work have been heavily influenced by the political happenings and oppressions in former Soviet Union - like Lisa herself, who went into German exile with her family during the political upheaval in Georgia in 1991. In a program spanning the whole 20th century, Lisa's album combines (modern) classics by Shostakovich and Rachmaninov with two more recent works - her Georgian compatriot Giya Kancheli's highly atmospheric V&V and Estonian Arvo Pärt's spiritual Spiegel im Spiegel for Violin and Piano, written shortly before the composer went into exile. The collection is rounded up by two short pieces: an orchestrated version of Shostakovich's elegant Waltz from the Doll's Dances cycle (1952), and Rachmaninov's all-time favorite melody Vocalise , written two years before the composers' emigration from Russia. For Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel and Rachmaninov's Vocalise Lisa teams up with one of our most distinctive pianists, Hélène Grimaud. The chemistry between these musicians has the potential to create an extraordinary musical experience.

 

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David Helfgott - plays Rachmaninov

 

 

One of the more controversial figures in classical music would have to be David Helfgott (1947), an Australian pianist who is just as famous for his schizophrenia as for his performances.

After having read the many negative reviews of this CD it was time to really get into this recording. First off, everyone seems to review the movie ( Shine ) and to reveal their personal prejudices against those with a mental illness. This consumes their entire review and we never learn if this is a good performance or a bad one divorced from these sentiments. From the viewpoint of someone in the audience, the Rachmaninoff Third Concerto comes off very well. The orchestra under Milan Horvot is a first rate ensemble and Horvat is a more than capable accompanist. The miking may be close but at least we know that there actually IS an orchestra there unlike many recordings of this piece. Secondly, if seen as a whole, Helgott turns in an interesting performance that is at time softer and lighter than we are used hearing. The bluff and bluster of many with no feeling for this work (one pianist did this work 4 times on records and never came to a cohesive ideal) is totally absent here. Any obsessiveness with detail doesn't exist in this performance. What we do hear is a pianist who has something to say about this work--it may not be according to the rigid standards of many but it is a valid statement. This may never be a recording to top anybody's list. However the Third Concerto as played here is given a great, sturdy rendition worthy of respect. The three preludes by Rachmaninoff are performed as perfectly shaped little pearls. The Second Piano Sonata is like the Third Piano Concerto--there have been too few recordings that actually great due to its thorny score even when played with cuts. Of special merit is the second movement which Helfgott plays with gentleness. The third movement doesn't seem to come off--again, too few pianists can make it through this work. However, the attempt here is balanced and right as rain. Again, this may not stand with the immortal performances. However, everyone is entitled to an opinion. And this performance by Helfgott will stand the test of time.--Amazon

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Is it “the most awful commercial recording of the Rachmaninoff Third ever released”!?

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Rachmaninov - Symphony # 1-3 - Vocalise - Philadelphia Orch. - Ormandy

Rachmaninov - Symphony # 1-3 - Vocalise -
Philadelphia Orch. - Ormandy
Symphonic | flac, cue | no log, scans | 2 CD, 673 MB
November 18, 1997 | Sony | RapidShare

The main reason for recommending these performances is that Ormandy has the rich, expressive sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra, particularly in the lush strings, that is perfect for Rachmaninov and, further, he was a masterful interpreter of this music.

Ormandy elicits a powerful performance from his Philadelphia Orchestra. In these recordings one will hear the most riveting heights of the string section of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The sheer power of the strings is most evident in the riveting finale of the 2nd Symphony, its conclusion has no equal in any other recordings I have heard. You will listen to evocative surges of power and all the contemplative mystery that one would expect to hear from this orchestra.

What else could be expected from the orchestra and conductor that pioneered Rachmaninov's work for so many years? A great first choice for these works.

CD Content

# Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27
# Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13 (lost; reconstructed from piano duets and orch. fragments)
# Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44
# Vocalise, transcription for orchestra, Op. 34/14

Sa Chen - Rachmaninov 6 Etudes Tableaux & Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition

Sa Chen - Rachmaninov 6 Etudes Tableaux &
Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition
Piano | Eac, flac, cue | log, cover | 1 CD, 231 MB
August 25, 2009 | Pentatone | RapidShare

Sa Chen is a young Chinese pianist who won third prize at the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and was a student in China of the redoubtable Dan Zhaoyi and protégé of fabled Fou T'song in London. There is no question that she is the real deal.

However, this recital disc from the center of the virtuoso pianist repertoire (six of Rachmaninoff's Études tableaux and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition) plus a transcription of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain shows a pianist who while technically secure is still an immature musician. Night on Bald Mountain, an obscure transcription made by Konstantin Chernov of Rimsky-Korsakoff's version of Mussorgsky's tone poem, is nicely played, I suppose, but the transcription is clumsy. (Perhaps I simply much prefer to hear Rimsky's orchestration, which is so evocative.) I think most people would find the work negligible and not deserving of many hearings.

Chen chooses six of Rachmaninoff's seventeen études tableaux: Op. 33, Nos. 2 in C, 3 in E flat, & 5 in G minor; and Op. 39, Nos. 4 in B minor, 5 in G minor & 6 in E flat minor. She manages the slower études fairly well, but the more sprightly études lack lightness and spark although all the notes are in place. I particularly like the lyricism of the Op. 33, No. 5 in G minor. I was not convinced by the drama of Op. 39, No. 6 in A minor, which seemed a bit labored.

Some of the same criticisms might be applied to Chen's performance of Pictures at an Exhibition, except that it is the faster movements that are better (e.g., Ballet of the Unborn Chicks in Their Shells) (although the final page of 'Limoges. La grand marché' is smudged) and the slower, more atmospheric ones (e.g. Samuel Goldenburg and Schmuyle) that don't somehow convey their pathos.--Amazon


CD Content

Rachmaninov - 6 Etudes Tableaux

Mussorgsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Mussorgsky - A Night on Bald Mountain