"Some previous reviewer's bashing of the prolific Ashkenazy is misguided. Just because a great artist records and sells many records doesn't mean he is from Disneyland. He's not even close to being a product of the "capitalism system" this reviewer was referring to. I own 4 other versions of these "Preludes," including those by the great Shelly, Dame Lampany and the composer himself. This set surpasses them all in terms of pure poeticism. A machine? A "cardboard piano robot"? What are you talking about?"
It is hard to imagine any pianist surpassing this!
Vivaldi Collector | 07/20/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ashkenazy plays the Preludes with perfect control, and exquisite shading. He sounds authentically Slavonic, comfortably bettering the recordings made by Alexeev, Richter, Gavrilov and Cliburn. He manages to make the famous C# minor Prelude sound fresh. In fact it is hard to imagine better performances of any of the Preludes. The Sonata, while not my favourite Rachmaninov, is also played with great authority."
Superb, as always
Vivaldi Collector | 11/03/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Ashkenazy's performance of the 2nd Rachmaninov sonata is much more gratifying than Horowitz's, in part because he plays the earlier version of this piece.
The preludes are fantastic, played with sensitivity and with those deliberate and well-thought out interpretations which make Ahskenazy such a wonderful performer. He's also able to play with amazing voicing, making the entire set sound amazingly clear from top to bottom."
Bravo!
Miguel | Buenos Aires, Argentina | 02/21/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I concur with Mr. Davey. The excellent performance of these Rachmaninov pieces is enough to consider Mr. Ashkenazy one of the most important living pianists. To the risk of being hieratic, Mr. Azkkenazy's perfomance of the Sonata No. 2 is more passionate, moving and deep than Horowitz's. There is no doubt to it. My heart accelerates and my head is about to explode every time that I hear this piece."
Great Price for Rachmaninov Great Preludes
Christopher Kosloske | 11/25/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"For the price this a very good collection to own to complete your collection of the Rachmaninoff preludes. Although you will find better individual performances of the preludes from pianists such as Moiseiwitsch, Ogdon, or Cliburn, you will not find many complete sets of the preludes. Ashkenazy handles them all well, and in addition he performs the 2nd sonata. For the 2nd sonata I don't think you cant surpass Horowitz, but this set for the works is worth the low price by a one of the great pianists of our time."