Customer Reviews

Chopin: Concerto No.1/Rachmaninov: Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini

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Excellent...superb. I am still put in awe every time i put this album in the cd player. None of the other performances of Rach's Rapsody i've heard pack the excitement, the emotion and the shear perferction of Cliburn's perfect (as usual) performance. I havn't yet heard his other version of this song with Kondrashin conducting, but i'm sure it's good too.

This item was everything I was expecting and more. Van Cliburn is astounding on every CD I have purchased and this is true to form. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone considering the purchase, Buy it! You will not be sorry.

I enjoy Chopin's Nocturnes considerably more than this concerto, into which composition he invested considerably more time and effort. It isn't Mozart, but it's good. Van Cliburn is an accomplished pianist in his own right, and this certainly factored into the decision to purchase. The true gemstone in this recording is the inclusion of the complete variations of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme from Paganini."

There is perhaps no better illustrative work to explain how classical composition establishes a theme melody, and decorates that melody with several other complementary melodies, each encompassing various groups of orchestration, to harmonize a whole experience. One is not subjected to the same boring percussion rapping meaninglessly through the same pace, while someone recites their memorized liturgical chant.
Of the twenty-four variations, the 18th has been used as an opening theme for radio & TV programing, but more famously, perhaps, this theme supplied the primary chords for the filmscore to the movie: 'Somewhere In Time'. (Re-release: ASIN: B00004W46I)
Somewhere in Time

A portion from the variations No.8, No.9 & No.10, found it's way into the filmscore for 'Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)'.
And for fellow fans of Middle Earth, those haunting chords which introduce the Argonath statues in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, from the movie: 'Fellowship of the Ring', (as pictured on the cover of the following),
The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (Theatrical and Extended Limited Edition)
have drifted right down the great river Anduin, from their home in Paganini's heart. You can hear this develop in the three variations No.16, No.17 & No.18. And Rachmaninoff captures the Maestro's spirit wonderfully in this feature. (Tracks 21,22 & 23 on this recording)

I can still remember one of those Ripley's Believe it or not True Ghost Stories about Niccolo Paganini, I read years ago, how his ghost returned and possessed an on stage solo violinist whose mediochrity was mangling one of Paganini's compositions. It would have made a good X-File.

[disclaimer]

While I consider this a prime example of theatrics by an entertainer, the life story of the artist Paganini is of an obsessive entertainer, one who by reputation, might even resort to black magic. Some sellers, savy to the novelty involved, have even priced this selection as 666 or 999.