Search - Sergey Rachmaninov, Maurice Ravel, Witold Lutoslawski :: Rachmaninov: Suite No. 2, Op. 17; Ravel: La Valse; Lutoslawski: Paganini Variations

A little jewel

K. Iliopoulos | Athens, Greece | 02/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No detailed accounts here. This is a superb example of a two-piano concert. It's the second time I buy this disc: the first one was stolen (was in my car player when it was picked up) and I replaced it. I think that says it all."

Reissue of a marvelous duo-piano recital

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/18/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I avoid two-piano music almost as much as Martha ARgerich gravitates toward it, but since so much of this brilliant painist's recent output has involved a second pianist, there's no helping it. One must hear what she has to say. Here Decca has reissued one of her very best duo recitals. The magnificent account that Argerich and Freire deliver of the Rachmaninov Suite #@ (far superior to her hectoring remake on Teldec) is worth the prie of admission. The piano sound is deep and full, if a bit resonant, without the clatteriness that mars many duo-piano recordings. The interpretation itself reaches close to the ideal, in which two musicians sound like one. They communicate with freshness and spontaneity, and their understanding of Rachmainov's idiom is totally sypathetic.



The recital is filled out with one sizable work, a transcription of Ravel's Las Valse, and one smaller one, Lutoslawki's Variations on a Theme by Paganini. The performances are equally wonderful, but even at this level of virtuosic display, an hour of duo pianos became too much of a good thing for me. The Ravel is never less than capitvating, but I much prefer the orchestral version. The five-minute Lutoslawski piece is based upon the same Paganini theme as Rachmaninov's famous composition, yet it doesn't pale by comparison. Anti-modernists need not fear; Lutoslawski adhere more or less to the standard tricks of virtuosic display used by rachmaninov, with cheeky updatings that add zing and zest to the proceedings. It's an altogehter delightful romp.



My only caveat is that all these performances and half a dozen more with Argerich as duo pianist can be found in a bargain Philips Duo. On its own, this single CD is quite stingy as to overall timing (38 min.)







"