A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Friday, June 15, 2018

Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Transcriptions (Vladimir Ashkenazy)


Information

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov
  • (01-03) Bach - Violin Partita in E major: I. Preludio
  • (04) Schubert - "Wohin?"
  • (05) Mendelssohn - Scherzo (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
  • (06) Bizet - Minuet (L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1)
  • (07) Mussorgsky - Hopak (Sorochintsy Fair)
  • (08) Rimsky-Korsakov - Flight of the Bumblebee
  • (09) Tchaikovsky - Lullaby, Op. 16 No. 1
  • (10) Polka de W.R. (after Franz Behr: Scherzpolka)
  • (11) Rachmaninov - Lilacs, Op. 21 No. 5
  • (12) Rachmaninov - Daisies, Op. 38 No. 3
  • (13) Fritz Kreisler - Liebesleid
  • (14) Fritz Kreisler - Liebesfreud
  • (15-20) Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands)
  • (21) Rachmaninov - Waltz (piano, six hands)
  • (22) Rachmaninov - Romance (piano, six hands)
  • (23) Rachmaninov - Italian Polka (piano, four hands, and trumpet)
  • (24) The Star-Spangled Banner (Smith, transcr. Rachmaninov)

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
Vovka Ashkenazy, piano (15-23)
Dody Ashkenazy, piano (21-21)
Alastair Mackie, trumpet (23)

Date: 2000
Label: Decca
https://www.deccaclassics.com/us/cat/4702912


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

Sparkling, affectionate performances in opulent sound

Having recorded a major part of Rachmaninov’s piano music, Ashkenazy continues with the piano transcriptions, a cornucopia of teasing sophistication and intricacy. Although it would be idle to pretend that he still plays with his former nimbleness and glory, his performances retain a vigour and affection and a characteristic alertness to every passing fancy and surprise. The final gigue from the Bach Suite fizzes with energy. And even when he lacks, say, Moiseiwitsch’s mercurial grace and charm in Lilacs or in the Mendelssohn Scherzo, his lightly pedalled accounts allow every quasi-polyphonic and canonic strand to be heard with a diamond-like brilliance and clarity. There is a hint of strenuousness in the central cantabile of Bizet’s L’Arlésienne, and the textures in both the Tchaikovsky and Kreisler items are sometimes more clotted than lucid or scintillating. Yet the final veloce flight in Lilacs is thrown off with all the requisite lightness and Liebesfreud is full of zip and relish. Again, Ashkenazy can be relatively dour and unsmiling in the Rachmaninov Polka (Cherkassky’s arsenal of sly winks and nudges is hardly his style) yet even here his life-long devotion to his great compatriot is never in doubt. For his encores he is joined by his son Vovka and his wife Dódy, and, in a notably vivacious performance of the Italian Polka for four hands and trumpet, by Alastair Mackie. Decca’s sound is opulent and immaculate.

-- Bryce Morrison, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY: 8
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/fvzf/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/sep/20/classicalmusicandopera.artsfeatures5
https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-Piano-Transcriptions-Sergei/dp/B00006AKUS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered as one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Some of his works are among the most popular in the romantic repertoire. His style is notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral colors. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff

***

Vladimir Ashkenazy (born July 6, 1937) is a Russian-born internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor of Icelandic and Swiss citizenship. He studied with Lev Oborin and Boris Zemliansky at the Moscow Conservatory, and won 2nd prize in the 1955 Chopin competition. Ashkenazy has recorded a wide range of piano repertoire, both solo works and concerti. His recordings have earned him five Grammy awards plus Iceland's Order of the Falcon. Midway through his pianistic career, Ashkenazy branched into conducting and steadily increased his activity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Ashkenazy

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks
Links in comment
Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
    If you are asked to download or install anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    http://hideadew.com/49zg
    or
    http://uii.io/cwB09m
    or
    http://exe.io/cY2lAkH5

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very interesting collection. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete