Customer Reviews

A Window in Time: Rachmaninoff Performs Chopin, Tchaikovsky, and Others

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

 

 

Now, I understand what pianism is all about. Before I purchased this CD I never had the belief that what I was playing was true to the composer's intentions. Now, especially when interpreting Rachmaninoff I have the self confidence to truly ignite through my interpretation. Rachmaninoff's playing is quite simply, outstanding, an unbelievable tour-de-force, that sometimes results in the most delicate of playing, while never losing sight of the real picture. Anyone who has ever heard other playing by Rachmaninoff will revel in this new technology, and find themselves in a world that they thought existed. Those who haven't heard Rachmaninoff before: What took you so long??

A great buy.

One can only hope that Telarc keeps releasing these "Window in Time" discs until we hear all of the rolls Rachmaninoff made. My old piano prof said, "Let's just get it over with, Rachmaninoff was the greatest pianist ever." Upon hearing these discs, you will know why many people agree. The 78s don't do his playing justice. The Telarc recording of the Bosendorfer does. Pay particular attention to the Chopin. See if you can come up with adequate superlatives to describe this playing! I can't.

Those who have heard the first "Window in Time" CD have an idea of what to expect here. Wayne Stahnke has worked magic with Rachmaninoff's piano roll performances. Pay special attention to the Chopin performances -- the F-major Nocturne, for instance, is languid and rich, with amazing definition in the left-hand voicing. The Schubert Impromptu is played at dizzying speed, without sacrificing accuracy or expression. This and the previous "Window in Time" CD are excellent evidence of Rachmaninoff's astounding mastery as a pianist. Not to be missed.

This is a great CD , It will change your standard ,the sound is outoutstanding , It is a MUST BUY for Classical listener.

No, I'm not a kid. But I am quite the Rachmaninoff enthusiast;I own all his recordings, both acoustic/electric and piano roll. Before buying these discs (i.e. the two volumes of A Window In Time), I read the reviews here, and was a bit reluctant in purchasing them after having read the negative ones. They claim that "there is no music" in these cds, that the "performances" are uncharacteristic of Mr. Rachmaninoff. But after comparing these performances with those recorded years ago, they do indeed seem to be accurate. Though they were digitally transferred, the authenticity is still there. I actually wonder if the naysayers only bash this collection because of the fact that these rolls were converted in such a way, and because of this formed a harsh bias. The alternative to these recordings on Decca are nice sounding though the tempi are a bit off, as proven by the recordings of the master himself playing. This is especially evident in the G minor Prelude; the Decca version is simply too slow and simply unlike Rachmaninoff. The version here, however, sounds very much like his playing. Despite my praises, there are two flaws I find in AWIT.The first is the use of a Boesendorfer that at times sounds awkward,like in the ending of Elegy; personally I would have loved for these to have been somehow transferred onto a Steinway, and Rachmaninoff would agree with me, as he performed exclusively on Steinways. The second flaw is that, yes, that little bit of sponteneity found in the acoustic/electric recordings is missing, but of course neither anyone nor anything can reproduce Rachmaninoff's pianism flawlessly but Rachmaninoff himself. I strongly reccommend both volumes of "A Window in Time". Try not to let the negative reviewers sway you, decide for yourself.

This is a wonderful CD. The sound is as if Rachmaninoff had recorded it yesterday. The marvelous technology allows us to reach into the past and recover glories that we had thought forever lost.

What I have to say about the differences and the similarities between Rachmaninoff's sound recordings and his digitally reproduced piano rolls, I have said it in my review of the other disc in the ''Window in Time'' series. Suffice it to say here that every word is equally true for this disc as well.

By far the most important among the 16 pieces on this disc are the three Rachmaninoff never recorded sonically, either acoustically or electrically. These are Rubinstein's ''Barcarolle'', which is just another proof why the great pianist is well forgotten as a composer, and Chopin's Nocturne Op. 15 No. 1 and the Second Scherzo, which may remind us that Rachmaninoff was a ''Chopinist'' to be reckoned with. At first glance, Chopin's pieces may seem to be too much on the slow side for Rachmaninoff, but everybody who has listened to his sound recordings of Chopin - most numerous after his own works - should know that this is not at all unusual. Rachmaninoff's stupendous recording of the Third Scherzo, unfortunately available only in poor acoustical sound, is a fine example of the stark contrasts that characterize his Chopin interpretations: the octave section is insanely fast, while the second subject is taken unusually slowly. The gem on this particular disc certainly is the Second Scherzo. It takes Rachmaninoff nearly ten minutes to go through all of it, but at least he doesn't make any annoying cuts like the young Michelangelli. In fact, Rachmaninoff creates here an awe-inspiring interpretation that combines the demonic impetuosity of Horowitz with the aristocratic poise of Rubinstein. We can but divine what glorious sound Rachmaninoff must have coaxed from his Steinway in the concert hall.

Among the pieces which Rachmaninoff did record sonically as well there are fewer revelations in comparison with the other disc in the series. The reasons are two-fold. On the one hand, the program here contains a great deal more junk. One wonders whether it was Rachmaninoff's wish to record such pieces by Henselt, Paderewski and Gluck-Sgambati, or he was under certain pressure from the recording companies to produce lollipops for mass use. On the other hand, most of his sound recordings of these pieces are post-1924, that is from the electrical era, and thus do not sound so much worse than the digitally reproduced piano rolls in terms of clarity; as far as depth and sonority, and even some subtle nuances, are concerned, the sound recordings are way superior of course. Perhaps the two Chopin Waltzes (Op. 18 and Op. 34 No. 3) are the most precious among these rolls, because they allow us to appreciate details that are hardly discernible in the sound recordings of these pieces (acoustical ones from 1920-21).

In short, though less fine as a selection, this second disc in the ''Window in Time'' series is just as important for the Rachmaninoff buff as its predecessor. It goes without saying that it, too, must be listened to together with the corresponding sound recordings in order Rachmaninoff's unique pianism to be fully appreciated.

I now have two of Wayne Stahnke's projects, and have been impressed by the result of both "Window In Time" albums. Of course, I was never able to hear Rachmaninoff play, but as I listen to these recreations I find myself able to suspend reality for a few minutes and immerse myself in the sounds of the early part of the last century.
To be able to hear composers play their own compositions gives one a baseline with which to compare all other performances. Thanks to technology and an immense amount of work, we are able to hear performances by Rachmaninoff that are as close to being there as anything recorded today, in fact, it sounds as if Rachmaninoff walked into a modern recording studio and laid these tracks down yesterday. They are as far from the old piano roll reproductions as daylight is from the dark. Mr Stahnke has been able to bring more of the nuances of performance to light than I had hoped for. I certainly hope to hear more of his efforts in the future.
My first "Window In Time" was purchased purely on the reputation Telarc built several years ago for excellent sound. I was pleased well beyond my expectations. I trust you will be too.

Listening to this disc, and then to Rachmaninoff's actual recordings on RCA (many of the same pieces), is revealing. The performer on "A Window in Time" is utterly unlike the real Rachmaninoff. The Stahnke Rachmaninoff plays with almost no expression on a small-sounding piano with limited dynamic range. He is metronomic and boring. The REAL Rachmaninoff performed with color, with rhythmic vitality and alertness; none of it is here. This CD is deadly computerized ennui. If you want the Rachmaninoff piano rolls, try London's "Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff" CD; it's done on a real concert grand. It may not be elegant, but it's alive - more than can be said for this insomnia cure.

I was very disappointed to hear this recording, after hearing Rachmaninov live on the two Naxos recordings and also hearing the recordings of the Ampico rolls on Decca.

Something seems to have happened during all of the manipulation; the playing seems to have been homogenized. The rythm and tempo are no longer dynamic, and the highs and lows have been smoothed off. This is not the case with the recordings of the Ampico rolls, played back on an Ampico-equipped machine, on the Decca CD which are very dynamic and lively.

The sound on this CD is beautiful, but I'm afraid I'll only use it as background noise.