For my cd music review I chose mvt 1 of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2. The first recording I listened to was of Rachmaninoff performing his concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra. This recording was made in 1929 by RCA. I have actually played this piece in a symphony before so it was really neat to hear the piece performed as Rachmaninoff intended. The tempo is brisk to say the least. His use of expression was amazing the sound quality was a little muffled since it was such an old recording so sometimes the pitch seems to waver a bit in the strings but I am assuming that is due to the sound quality.
The second recording I listened to was of George Vakhnadze performing the concerto with the Tbilisi Orchestra. The tempo seemed to drag a bit especially in the beginning, and while the sound quality really allowed the orchestra’s sound to surpass the quality of the first recording I thought at times the brass were too heavy. Also it seemed that pianist made a few errors and the lower notes did not come across as well as in Rachmaninoff’s recording. Rachmaninoff accented the base of his runs in a lot of places which this performer did not do. Also the end of the movement seems to lose momentum because the tempo is slowed down drastically.
The third recording I listened to was of Val Cliburn performing the concerto with the RCA Symphony Orchestra. This recording the soloist also took more time in the beginning than first recording but I don’t think it took away from the piece. The pianist also played with a more flowing sound than the second recording. The orchestra was more in tune and didn’t detract from the soloist. Overall I think that Cliburn’s expression and technique were more true to the piece than Vakhnadze. His performance just seemed to have more emotion and even though his approach to the piece is not identical to Rachmaninoff’s I think the piece was executed very well.
You mean, Van Cliburn?
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