Search - Sergey Rachmaninov, Kurt Sanderling, Berlin Symphony Orchestra :: Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2

Consistently satisfying

Jon. Yungkans | Whittier, CA USA | 04/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Rosel and Kurt Sanderling take great care in balancing the overall architecture of these works in equal measure with highlighting details, illustrating more than usual how those details help support the whole edifice. It is a symphonic concept - not a mainly pianistic one, nor an overtly orchestral one, but an approach combining the best of both those worlds, illuminating the embarrassment of riches Rachmaninov wrote into them.



The benefits of this approach become immediately apparent at the start of the First Concerto. Usually, after the horns sound the opening fanfare, the pianist rushes down the keys like a pack of hounds on the hunt, and the vying back and forth that follows between the pianist showing what he can do and the orchestra trying to reassert itself undermines the structure of the piece. Not here. No note is thrown away carelessly; each passage is weighed for its maximum structural and dramatic import. A vocal quality lingers heavily over the proceedings, much to the piece's benefit, and one can hear for once how thoroughly Russian opera influenced Rachmaninov's compositional style.



The Second Concerto does not want for tension and gains in resolve, especially in its opening measures (has anyone heard the low notes in the left hand tolled as bell-like, or underpin the piano solo quite so solidly?). The lower strings are both luscious and melancholy, the piano every bit their equal in both interpretation and sound, and the lower brass a subtle but firm support for the strings, warm-sounding and never strident. I had always thought of Rachmaninov's orchestration of this concerto as string-heavy, but here the wind and brass parts are given their due, adding colors and textures I did not know were written into the piece.







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