{"id":11502,"date":"2022-01-26T12:56:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T11:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=6606"},"modified":"2022-01-26T13:08:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T12:08:09","slug":"the-best-recordings-of-rachmaninovs-piano-concerto-no-2","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/the-best-recordings-of-rachmaninovs-piano-concerto-no-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The best recordings of Rachmaninov\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Michael Beek\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 26 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Following the unruly 1897 premiere of his Symphony No. 1 under a reportedly inebriated Alexander Glazunov, Rachmaninov<\/a> suffered psychosomatic pains and was creatively near-impotent for three years.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He turned to Moscow neurologist Dr Nikolai Dahl, an expert in hypnosis, who got him composing again \u2013 \u2018You will begin to write your concerto\u2026 the concerto will be of excellent quality\u2019, were the mantras that he heard ringing in his ears.<\/p>\n

Seven of the best works by Rachmaninov<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Within weeks, the 27-year-old was brimming with ideas and in a flood of inspiration composed his melodically radiant Piano Concerto No. 2.<\/p>\n
Although he had been a musical Romantic, it was only now that Rachmaninov<\/strong><\/a> began composing those long, arching tunes, supported by skin-tingling suspended harmonies, which were to become such a trademark.<\/p>\n
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The best recording of Rachmaninov\u2019s Piano Concerto No. 2<\/strong><\/h2>\nSviatoslav Richter (piano)<\/strong><\/a>Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra\/Stanislav Wislocki (1959)<\/a>DG 447 8584<\/a><\/p>\n
From the insinuating suggestion of tolling bells that opens this popular Concerto<\/a><\/strong>, and the longbreathed melody that sounds like some ancient chant unspiralling, Sviatoslav Richter is at his most incandescent.<\/p>\n
This is music in which the piano<\/a><\/strong> reigns supreme, and Richter\u2019s pyrotechnical majesty and bravado is everywhere, often giving way to moments of tenderness that are no less hypnotic.<\/p>\n
Richter uncovers a brooding melancholy that imparts a Russian accent to even the most simple of gestures. As the climax to the opening movement\u2019s development section spills over\u00a0into the recapitulation, Richter thunders out his octaves as though the weight of the world was bearing down.<\/p>\n
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Review: Rachmaninov Piano Concertos Nos 1 & 3<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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This makes the tenderness of the second subject feel all the more frail and uncertain. The exquisitely sounded slow movement also achieves a noble simplicity by avoiding self-conscious phrasal inflections and dynamic micro-shadings.<\/p>\n
Everywhere Richter refuses to take the easy way out, turning Romantic rhetoric on its head with a series of semantic double-takes that draws the music far away from the stiff upper lip romance of\u00a0Brief Encounter<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Conductor Stanislav Wislocki keeps his Polish players right on the edge of their seats and the re-mastered recording has never sounded better.<\/p>\n
Buy from Amazon<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Buy from Hive<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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