Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.3/Sonata No.2 [Enhanced, Original recording remastered, Import]

Sergey Rachmaninoff (Composer), Eugene Ormandy (Conductor), New York Philharmonic (Orchestra), Vladimir Horowitz (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Vladimir Horowitz
• Orchestra: New York Philharmonic
• Conductor: Eugene Ormandy
• Composer: Sergey Rachmaninoff
• Audio CD (June 6, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: RCA Victor Europe
• ASIN: B00004TCPJ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #89,221 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #84 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Forms & Genres > Sonatas

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Horowitz Reissue, June 9, 2000

By 

Hank Drake (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.3/Sonata No.2 (Audio CD)

The version of Rachmaninoff's Third Concerto was originally recorded live in January of 1978 and released about three weeks after the concert. By rushing the LP into stores, RCA was able to cash in on the publicity of Horowitz's Golden Jubilee, but the sound on the original release was very poor indeed. The piano was miked too closely, and the orchestra mix was very poor. The CD released in the mid-1980s was a great improvement over the LP, but the sonics were problematic there also: The piano was mixed down too severely and seemed to recede behind the orchestra in some passages. This new High Performance reissue is a vast improvement over both earlier versions. The balance problems have been solved, and both piano and orchestra have a much warmer, deeper sound. The dynamic range has been greatly opened up--the final timpani THWACK at the end of the Concerto is quite startling.

As for the performance, this remains my sentimental favorite--even though Horowitz was in better shape in the 1951 version with Reiner than he was in 1978. (He was 74 when this recording was made.) There is something about Horowitz's phrasing, his ability to vary the tempo without losing hold of the basic pulse, and his mixing of inner voices that seems so right. It is more than mere piano playing, it is the art of PERFORMANCE. Bringing the music to life is more than putting the right finger in the right place at the right time--and Horowitz was a master of this elusive art. The Rachmaninoff Third Concerto was undoubtedly the greatest piano concerto of the 20th century, and this is my desert island performance--warts and all.

The Sonata was recorded in concert in 1980. Horowitz plays his own "compromise" version of the Sonata--which is an improvement over the rambling 1913 original and emasculated 1931 editions. It's a pity that no Horowitz Performing Edition was ever published. Personally, I prefer Horowitz's lithe, pantherlike 1968 recording on Sony to the brooding, moody performance heard here. The sound on the Sony disc is also superior, but RCA has again improved the sound over earlier issues. The piano sounds warmer and less tinny, and the dynamic range is greatly increased.

This disc is a must for all piano enthusiasts.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but not the best, October 27, 2002

By 

"bwbarton" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.3/Sonata No.2 (Audio CD)

If you want classic, hard charging Horowitz, buy his 1951 recording. If you want a poetic performance, buy Van Cliburn's 1958 recording. Both of these albums are spectacular, and listening to them is one of life's great pleasures. However, in his 1978 performance, Horowitz indulges in the sentimentality characteristic of his later career. Such romanticism is not his comparative advantage, and this recording does not satisfy so well as others.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars His worst Rach 3 on record, August 31, 2005

By 

John Grabowski (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.3/Sonata No.2 (Audio CD)

People who say this is THE BEST Rachmaninoff 3 (seems like every Rachmaninoff 3 is the best Rachmaninoff 3) probably have heard very few others. And no, it's not true that Rachy himself stopped playing the concerto after hearing VH play it in 1928. Rachmaninoff had a long and successful solo career that included many performances of this work through the 1930s and 40s...this can easily be looked up. In fact, he tired of playing it, but the public and his agents pretty much forced it on him. His own recording, made in 1939, is superb, though Horowitz's first, made in 1930 with Coates and the LSO (EMI, sadly out of print) is far better--one of the very best, in fact.

This recording, however, is acoustically harsh and brittle, fast, unfelt, and nervous. Ormandy leads a New York Philharmonic that is really not interested in responding at all (they can frequently be this way to guest conductors). With so many recordings crowding the field, I can't understand why this one is still around, except that perhaps many people are "sucked in" by the "event" surrounding the performance. But such event performances and recordings are often disappointing. (Bernstein at "The Wall," Richter's 1st Carnegie Hall performance, Argerich, Maisky and Kremer doing the DSCH E minor trio.) And, unlike some here, I refuse to give this CD brownie points because it is a recording of an "event." Let the playing determine the event, not the hype.

For some thrilling modern performances of the concerto, try Lazar Berman/Bernstein/NYPO, 1958, or Pletnev/Rostropovich/Russian Nat'l Orchestra on DG. For the best historic performance, it's Horowitz/Coates/1930. Rachmaninoff's own performance, a shade below the Horowitz of 1930, is also indespensible. This recording, alas, is not.