Customer Reviews

William Kapell Edition, Vol. 3: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini / Shostakovich: 3 Preludes

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Rachmaninoff's Second Concert is the most played work of this composer . You can make an impressive account of one hundred performances at least in the last forty years .

But to be true only seven versions deserve to be in the list of the most remarkable, and this is precisely one of them. Kapell made of this performance a farewell concert far beyond of the overindulgence and heartfelt phrase. Kapell never sounded romantic. He was a mature artist and avoided above all the cliches. He won will all the honors a honest and convincing performance without tears, but filled with noblesse.

The real winner performance of this fundamental album is Rachmaninoff's Variations. There has not ever born any pianist previous or later who had got so flammigerous, incandescent, furtive and fierce reading of this work as Kapell did it. Precision, conviction, phrasing, technique, histamina, poetry and rapture are some of the most remarkable adjectives I can find for this recording. Reiner directed admirably too to be honest. And this superb version is a real landmark and believe or not the time not only has elevated this status version, but besides has reached in the present times colossal dimensions. And I would really recommend another three additional performances: another version recently released live by Kapell and under Bernstein's batoon and two recordings by Richter: one from 1955 and the ultra known of 1958 with Stanislav Wisloscki.

Shostakovich;s Preludes are OK, but there's a name in these works: Tatiana Nikolayeva.

Kapell was a brilliant pianist in the mold of Horowitz. His playing was always exciting, new, fresh and provocative. He and Reiner were in sync and each benefited from the insight of the other.

William Kapell Edition, Vol. 3: Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini / Shostakovich: 3 Preludes [Original recording remastered]
Chopin, Rachmaninoff are my favorite piano pieces. They were Romantic composers, therefore you really feel this music. It can be heavenly and divine to listen to. And yes, it requires a brain, heart and emotions to enjoy it, and even more soul, I guess, to interpret these works.

I just bought a new CD on Amazon, pianist, William Kapell, who lived from 1922, and was killed in a plane crash Oct. 29, 1953, returning from a tour of Australia. It is mono, but in very good sound, red seal by RCA. It is called William Kapell Edition, Volume three. Rachmaninoff Concerto No 2 in C Minor , also Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, both by Rachmaninoff, and Shotakovich's 3 Preludes. This is a beautiful interpretation of these 3 works. He is accompanied by the Robin Dell Orchestra with Fritz Reiner, conducting. He has other works on CD at Amazon.

Best Rachmaninov 2nd & Paganini Rhapsody I've ever heard!

What this guy does with these pieces is CRAZY!!! Not only that but the orchestra goes off the top! And can't ask for better mono engineering!

I've been looking for a few years for a version that does justice to these huge amazing works...I finally got them!

Kapell is a meteorite!

...you better be sittin down!

How many of us sigh when Rachmaninoff 2nd Concerto or Paganini Rhapsody gets a maudlin performance suitable for an 'interpretive dance'? The sadly short-lived Kapell turned in a small but highly influential discography of imaginative readings of Rachmaninoff, Khachaturian, Chopin, Bach... While technically devastating, Kapell was no mere technician, and constantly deals out interesting turns of phrase that allow you to hear many classical 'warhorses' in a fresh way. Fritz Reiner, who had much the same ethos, is the perfect collaborator. Too bad there were not more recordings of the two together in the way Leon Fleisher and George Szell partnered. The "Robin Hood Dell" is believe to be a pseudonym for the Phila-Dell-phia Orchestra, recorded outside the realm of their usual contract.

The performances here, recorded 1944-51, sound fairly detailed. The piano is well articulated, though some of the orchestral detail is a little boxed in.

This is the best recording I've ever heard of the Rachmaninoff - filled with passion, lyricism and rhythmic drive. Rach. himself was said to have mistaken this recording for his own.

Kapell is the best pianist I have ever heard in this country and I think he approximates Sviataslov Richter. The prokofiew 3rd had such electric driving power as to be almost overwhelming.

You wonder what God had in mind when allowing this super nova to be snuffed out in an airplane crash. 31 years old! Random accident with no consideration for his special attributes and all that was yet to come. There is a heroes row in some twilight incarnation -but here on this lonely planet I never get the impression that it is ever considered for special status. Our heroes, our geniuses, our great performers are all thrust in the same impartial bin--dust and dirt, sand and debris, all that is left with those that give memories and those that remember them.

To let this genius Kapell die like a pig to slaughter shows me there is no personal caring God, only personal caring people and their dreamlike fabrications of grandfather and grandmother images in perpetuity.

The earth is the devils island dust bin of the galaxy-- many bright lights are dimmed by impartial elements watching a world they neither like nor care for---

Kapell is a sovereign pianist and superb musician irrespective of Gods interest or more probably lack there of.

M. Pinsky

With all due respect to the genius of William Kapell, his Rachmaninoff Rhapsody does not sound completely or convincingly idiomatic to my ears; it sounds more percussive than what the score calls for, seems more colored in the style of Prokofiev, and is somewhat rushed as he gallops along to get the notes performed but perhaps misses out on the lush romantic spirit of the music. Perhaps he's gotten his Russians mixed up because I'm not convinced that this was what Rachmaninoff had in mind. You can't really savor the music, and here it seems somewhat imitative of Horowitz and not Kapell as his own man. Nevertheless, it's a technically brilliant performance even though it sometimes lacks the necessary ligato lyricism that I prefer in Rachmaninoff. Had Kapell survived his tragic plane crash, I think he might have realized this and relaxed more in his future performances of the Rhapsody, because he certainly had nothing to prove as far as his command of the piano was concerned. In other words, Kapell's Rach Rhapsody does not sound particularly settled or "matured" to me, and I happen to appreciate Kapell's meticulousness a great deal. He was a great pianist and yet, in my view, was still developing his understanding of certain pieces and would have probably further balanced out his incredible keyboard prowess with additional depth, relaxation and feeling--not that it's lacking in most of his recordings. It's also difficult to gauge the influence of the perfectionist Reiner on this performance. To me, 4 stars seems actually a little high, but 3-1/2 seems about right for the reasons mentioned above. Kapell completionists will want it regardless. I have not absorbed his Rachmaninoff Concerto enough to comment on it.

Sorry. That should be three stars above.
This is a great work --so powerful you can almost see Pagnini's battle between good and evil brought out by Rachmaninoff. (It was rumored he had a pact with the Devil to play so well).
It doesn't come across for me in this recording.
There is technical brilliance here. Amazing finger work of incredible speed. But I find it empty of both the darker, threatening visage from the orchestra and the sweet moment of love that tries to 'save' the music's decent into darkness.
Yet our other reviewer from South America finds it outstanding. I agree with the first reviewer-- not enough.
That love song on Track 19 should lift the listener to a sigh of aching joy and relief from dancing madness. It is among the greatest ever written. It deserves emotion as well as brilliance.

the rapsody is a spoiler. This product is featured on many recordings and does not have that everlasting value which the products of Rach do have at least for me. Sound quality is average.