Rachmaninov Piano Sonata

‘Rachmaninov fans won’t want to miss this’ was Gramophone’s verdict on Steven Osborne’s recording of the Études-tableaux, and this thrilling new release is an equally essential acquisition. Osborne proves a predictably fine exponent of the Faustian Piano Sonata No 1 and is no less compelling in the selection of shorter works which completes the album.

Yevgeny Sudbin's inquiring mind, unflappable fingers, and huge heart mesh with extraordinary concentration and intensity, resulting in some of the most carefully thought-through, powerfully projected, and fastidiously executed Rachmaninov interpretations I've ever heard. A few general comments equally pertain to all of the selections. In Sudbin's hands, inner voices aren't gently coaxed from the massive, orchestrally inspired textures for ear-catching effect, but instead emerge as integral and active components.

Ideally, a piano trio should be balanced in its voices and the parts more or less equally matched in expression, but it sometimes happens in late Romantic chamber music that an overwrought piano part can create the opposite conditions. In the Trio élégiaque No. 1 in G minor by Sergey Rachmaninov and the Piano Trio in A minor by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, the piano is clearly the dominant force, because it carries most of the thematic material, harmonic textures, and dramatic gestures, and thereby reduces the violin and cello to subsidiary roles.

The very best of Deutsche Grammophon’s piano recordings on 40 CDs, limited edition. From Aimard (The Art of Fugue) to Zimerman (his prize-winning Debussy Preludes on 1 CD for the first time), comprising all the great names – Argerich, Barenboim, Michelangeli, Gilels, Haskil, Horowitz, Kempff, Kissin, Pogorelich, Pollini, Richter; and the new names – Blechacz, Grimaud, Lang Lang, Trifonov, Yuja Wang, Yundi – this is the ideal set to form the cornerstone of a piano collection.

This very generous (79 min.) program of Rachmaninov and Liszt is a sterling representation of Horowitz's mastery in these two composers. It was issued in 2003 as a centennial tribute to the pianist, and quite a number of readings derive from live concerts. the span of time is relatively short - most of the performances come from 1967 and 1068, with several more from 1962, before he ended his self-imposed exile from concertizing. The sonics from that period could be a bit thin and shallow, but they are good enough, and at times, as in Rachmaninov's Etude-Tableau Op. 39 no. 5, Horowitz's full range of sound jumps out, making one wish that everything was this present and engrossing.

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between the autumn of 1900 and April 1901. The second and third movements were first performed with the composer as soloist on 2 December 1900. The complete work was premiered, again with the composer as soloist, on 9 November 1901, with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting. This piece is one of Rachmaninoff's most enduringly popular pieces, and established his fame as a concerto composer.

With this recording Argentine-Swiss cellist Sol Gabetta completes her pair of Shostakovich's cello concertos, recorded in reverse order. Perhaps she has simply been aware of Shostakovich's still growing popularity, or perhaps she felt it was a unique challenge to apply her somewhat impetuous style to Shostakovich, who could certainly be called sober and perhaps even dour.

All of Rachmaninov’s music - from his earliest student compositions to his final masterpieces – has been collected together for the first time on 32 CDs, in what is definitively the most complete and comprehensive edition of Rachmaninov’s works ever released.