Customer Reviews

A Window in Time: Rachmaninoff Performs His Solo Piano Works

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

All of the superlatives in the reviews from other listeners are accurate. This CD will blow you away. First of all, the incredible dynamic range of the recording itself puts it in the top 10 greatest solo piano CDs of all time. Second, the power and the beauty of the performances cast piano rolls in a whole new light. I think that there has been a tendency to view recordings derived from piano rolls as less legitimate than those taken from old records. I admit that I was somewhat skeptical about it myself, expecting to hear a mechanical type of sound with limited expressive quality. Wayne Stahnke's brilliant recording techniques proved me wrong. As it turns out, when properly restored, the piano roll provides the listener with a much more life-like reproduction than any 78 could possibly do. This CD makes it very clear why Rachmaninoff was considered the greatest pianist of his time. A breath-taking experience not to be missed!

I just got this CD and with some trepidations sat back and listened intently from start to finish. WOW!! I was hoping that the negative reviews about mechanical and robotic playing would not be too accurate. Well those reviews were utterly absurd, these are MAGNIFICENT recordings! To paraphrase the liner notes, we can thank our lucky stars that we live in a time that technology can bring us this close to the great Rachmaninoff! From some of the reviews one could think this is some sort of computer generated music, robotic and lifeless. Nothing could be further from the truth. The humanity, soul and beauty of the playing leaps out at you. We owe Mr. Stahnke a debt of gratitude for this labor of love. This is art restoration of a high order, not technological interference. To fault this incredible "remastering" of the orginal rolls is like faulting the new digital transfers of old analog tape. It is not "interfering" with original recordings, it is restoration. Purist debates and Bose versus Stein arguments are meaningless when hearing Rachmaninoff play with this level of clarity and beauty of sound. Just like digital transfer of classic films or "cleaning" of masterpiece paintings, this is technology being used to increase our experience of the original intent, not to alter it. I have ordered the second one as well and will purchase every single issue of old piano roll masters that is restored like this. Don't hesitate, these are truly magnificent recordings that will not disappoint. Five stars without reservation!

Anyone who thinks this recording presents music that is flat, mechanical, boring or monotonous doesn't know the difference between a good reproducing roll realization and a dog's asthmatic breathing. I have a lot of these rolls, plus lots of Rachmaninoff 78's. In addition, I make player rolls myself. The plain fact is that this is superior work, both musically and technically. Pay no attention to those luddite whiners who think this is bad stuff. It isn't. It's fabulous.

This is the best reconstruction of historic playing you'll ever hear, in part because while Rachmaninoff is playing it's as if he were installed on a big Boesendorfer in your living room. Finally we hear why in his time R. was if anything a bigger name as performer than as composer. Wonderful music, with rich recorded sound, and the always-exquisite sound of the Boesendorfer.

I have recordings of actual Rachmaninoff works and the composer/pianist is said to play a piece the same way over many years once he is satisfied with the interpretation. Rachmaninoff may not be an impromptu improvisor like Chopin or Liszt, but I think this is purely by his preference. His prowess of the keyboard is unequalled even up to this time. The mechanical reproductions of this CD is faithful to his actual recordings. They actually sound the same to an actual performance and are played the same minus the background noise due to the limitations of recording technology of his time. This is an invaluable use of technology to give us another glimpse of Rachmaninoff's greatness. :)

I have to start by admitting that I don't understand all those fellows who proclaim that this is not Rachmaninoff, that these performances are ''robotic'', ''mechanic'', and other stuff like that. This is pure prejudice. But it is understandable. The very thought of listening to Rachmaninoff himself, a composer and pianist of genuine greatness, is enough to make one dizzy. But to have Rachmaninoff's own recordings in a fine digital sound, this does seem too good to be true. Well, it is and it isn't.

The source of the prejudice, I think, is two-fold: the sound and the processing. The latter is meticulously explained by Wayne Stahnke in the liner notes and it is a very complicated process, indeed, which involved scanning of the original piano rolls and playing them on Bösendorfer digital reproducing piano. Apart from Mr Stahnke's purely technical details, many of which I confess I don't understand, his most important point is that these piano rolls were NOT originally made for the notorious ''player piano'', a wretched device that has given bad name to piano rolls as completely incapable to reproduce the real sound of a pianist, but for reproducing piano: a far more sophisticated (and far more expensive) device which is able to reproduce every detail, even subtle nuances like pedaling, with startling clarity; such an instrument Mr Stahnke's digital Bösendorfer was, only it played, not mechanical rolls, but computer files. This is enough to make one suspicious. Digital Rachmaninoff, indeed!

As for the sound on these recordings, it has clarity and crispness, to say nothing of amount of detail or dynamic range, which makes it absolutely impossible to believe that these recordings were originally made between 1919 and 1929, and on such primitive mechanical recording device as piano rolls. And yes, many subtle nuances and colours are remarkably retained and can be appreciated as very few (if any) acoustical, or even electrical, recordings from same time allow. Switching from the ''Window in Time'' CDs to Rachmaninoff's original sound recordings on RCA is a shock. Believe me, I know. This disc was my introduction to Rachmaninoff's playing and when I later came to listening to Rachmaninoff's real recordings, I was profoundly dismayed by the infinitely inferior sound.

In his otherwise indifferent essay in the booklet, Daniel Pollock at least once hits the nail on the head: we are fortunate to have both Rachmaninoff's sound recordings and his piano rolls. If the former were missing, I readily confess that I would have been most suspicious and would never have accepted these glassy digital recordings as authentic. Well, authentic they are and aren't, but the former much more so than the latter. This is absolutely clear to anybody who takes the trouble to do some comparative analysis - and free his head of stupid preconceptions.

There are 19 pieces on this disc, and 16 them Rachmaninoff recorded for RCA as well, acoustically or electrically, usually with a gap of no more than a few years. Keeping in mind that Rachmaninoff is well-known for the conservative nature of his interpretations, which did change but a little with the passing years, the comparison between his piano rolls and sound recordings is more than valid. Well, such comparison shows beyond any reasonable doubt that at least 16 pieces of this disc are Rachmaninoff par excellence. His interpretation of virtually every piece is so unique, that one can't possibly make a mistake. Despite the jarring difference in the sound quality, these digitally reproduced piano rolls sound incredibly similar to Rachmaninoff's sound recordings. There are some differences, of course, but they are so minor and insignificant that they are not worth dwelling upon. Nor is the reason for them of any more importance.

Many of these recordings are pure revelations. Take, for example, the famous G minor prelude (Op. 23 No. 5), the haunting ''Barcarolle'' (Op. 10 No. 3) or the slightly sinister ''Polichinelle'' (Op. 3 No. 4). Rachmaninoff's sound recordings of these pieces are acoustical ones made between 1919 and 1923, before the much better electrical recordings were introduced in 1925; besides, these three pieces have some of the worst sound for their time and were never re-recorded later. Nevertheless, the original sound recordings are quite good enough to recognize Rachmaninoff in these piano rolls. And to hear the sharply accentuated march-like rhythm in the beginning of the G minor prelude or the astonishing passage work in ''Polichinelle'' is indeed a revelation that may well leave one with one's jaw dropped. Even some of Rachmaninoff's early electrical recordings, such as his own transcription of the ''Hopak'' from Mussorgsky's ''Sorochinsky Fair'' (recorded in 1925), are disappointingly subpar even for those ancient times. Hear the ''Hopak'' here: it will blow you away!

I mentioned a word of caution in the title and now I have to explain what I mean. In a nutshell, though all interpretations on this disc are unmistakably Rachmaninoff's own, the sound certainly is not. There may be numerous reasons for that - this is digital Bösendorfer, Rachmaninoff recorded mostly on Steinway concert grand, for instance - but this is beside the point. The fact is that, for all its astounding clarity of detail and fine dynamic range, the digital sound here is a trifle dry and has little to do with Rachmaninoff's own (literally) sonority which, for all their severe limitations, is quite evident in almost all of his sound recordings, including the acoustical ones. So, if you want to fully appreciate Rachmaninoff's towering pianism, you really should listen BOTH to his sound recordings and to such marvelously reproduced piano rolls. The latter will give many precious details that are otherwise difficult to discern, whereas the former will give you the real and authentic sound of Rachmaninoff. Yes, the background noise, the limited dynamic range and the often artificial sound do need some time to get used to them. But once you have done so, there is a whole new world to explore.

For my part, the most important pieces on this disc remain the three that Rachmaninoff never made sound recordings of: his own transcription of ''The Star-Spangled Banner'', and two of his own compositions, Etude-tableau Op. 39 No. 4 and ''Elegie'' Op. 3 No. 1. Having compared all ''double pieces'', I have no hesitation to accept these interpretations as absolutely artistically, if not sonically, authentic. The ''Elegie'' is the finest gem, no doubt, and is one of my greatest regrets that Rachmaninoff never made a sound recording of it (he did record all four other pieces from Op. 3, some of them multiple times). It is an astonishing piece for a 19-year-old man to compose, showing convincingly that Rachmaninoff was already a mature composer at the time. His performance, of course, is significantly faster than what is fashionable nowadays, but the beautiful melodic line or the profound sadness of the piece are never distorted or diminished, respectively.

All in all, this disc is a downright amazing technological achievement and an indispensable addition to the shelves of every serious admirer of Rachmaninoff. But keep in mind that without his complete sound recordings for RCA, you will never have the full picture, both sonically and artistically, of Rachmaninoff's real stature as a pianist. At least as far as this picture can be reconstructed from the little that's left.

I first must state that truly, for any avid Rachmaninoff collector, this is a must-have. You hear very sharply Rachmaninoff's style and his flawles, almost frightnening technique. In pieces such as liebesfreud, you have to wonder, how does he do that? Phrases melt away, jump back out, yet are never blurred. Every voice is heard. He grabs onto chords with what must be talons of steel. Rachmaninoff was an excellent pianist, nothing shows this better than him playing his own works ( and especially his transcriptions, which are beasts in and of themselves for any mortal to play..).
However, all this raving comes with a caveat: the title of the album forshawdows it well, whether it meant to or not. What we get here is only a glance through a window, not the real thing. it is one thing to look at the sun from inside, it is quite another to stand out in it. While the rolls do reproduce his amazing ability, you lose a lot of Rachmaninoff's coloring, his very subtle shadings that you can only get from a live recording. If you find some of this playing cold, do not take it to be Rachmaninoff ( though he was known to be precise in his playing). Understand that this is a mechanichal reproduction, and like an above reviewer said, is on a Bosie, not a Steinway, and it sounds like a player piano, not a piano being played.
Other than that, I would highly recommend this to anyone loves Rach.

This recording was very interesting to listen to. After a few hearings, however, I became suspicious and started also to listen to the audio recordings Rachmaninov made of the same pieces and of the earlier releases of Ampico rolls on LP's (I have these already for 20 years on tape). There are noticeable differences, and the audio recordings do sound more "human". Particularly in the Humoresque Op.10 nr.5 I find the sound too robotical. The broken chords in the fast sections Rachmaninov plays more with a "wigling hand". Generally Rachmaninov's audio recordings also contain much more improvisation and are nicer too listen too. Anyhow the CD is a very interesting edition of old music coming alive anew. I hope Wayne Stahnke will continue this series. There is still much to be transcribed (Hoffman, Busoni, Rosenthal, Friedheim, Godowski, Paderewski, Chalov to name a few...)

Although I agree that this CD is a very rare and indeed a true masterpiece, I was slightly disappointed with it overall. The recordings, albeit seem technically fine, in some places lack the feeling and expression of the 78rpm recordings. The elegie, for example, is a very good reproduction, and there is something special in the way Rachmaninoff performs it. This "something special" however, is not enough. My personal opinion, buy both CD's: this one, and the actual 78rpm transfers, and find in one what the other lacks.

Superb sound quality! This is not a remastered recording made back in the '50's. This is actually Rachmaninoff performing via a special, pressure-sensitive type player piano. It truly sounds like he was recorded live with our current technology. The accompanying booklet explains everything very clearly.

Rachmaninoff was not only an exceptional composer, he was also an exceptional (if that is a strong enough term) performer. This CD allows you to experience his performing abilities as though you were sitting with him today. Great CD for every collection, even if you only casually listen to classical music on a rare occasion.

Rachmaninoff Rocks!