RACHMANINOV

 

Piano Concerto No.1 in F Sharp Minor (Studio Recording)

Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor (Live Recording)

 

Leif Ove Andsnes, Piano

Berliner Philharmoniker/ Antonio Pappano

 

Exclusive EMI Classics artist Leif Ove Andsnes here takes on two warhorses of the piano repertoire: the perennial favourite which is the Second Piano Concerto and the less well-known First. Regularly topping the Classic FM Hall of Fame, Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto is possibly the most popular of all time. EMI recorded it with Leif Ove Andsnes live in concert in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic and Covent Garden music director Antonio Pappano; the recording of the First followed a day later in the studio. This youthful work owes much to Grieg in its form but at the same time bears the hallmarks of the lyrical melody and passion which characterises later Rachmaninov.

 

This release will feature fingerprinting technology, which allows the consumer to access a bonus track by Leif Ove Andsnes via a secret page on a website which can be unlocked with information encoded on the CD.

It is good to see Leif Ove Andsnes return to the Rachmaninov repertoire.
He recorded the Third Concerto a full decade ago, in a live performance with the Oslo Philharmonic (5628372). On this new disc with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Second Concerto is also taken from live performances, given in Berlin in June this year; the First Concerto was done in the same hall, the Philharmonie, but without an audience.
If the catalogue has generous supplies of the Third Concerto, versions of the Second are legion, but Andsnes brings his own limpid musicality and wisdom to it, coupling it with a fresh, sparkling account of the First Concerto.
There is a clear-headed, rational quality to Andsnes's playing that some might interpret as coolness. He is certainly not one to wear his heart on his sleeve in the well-known, burgeoning tunes, but the more you listen to his performance of the Second Concerto, the more you appreciate the dividends that his discretion pays.
The clarity of detail is remarkable, both in the piano playing and in the orchestral. The emotional drive is sincere. The perspective of expression is finely judged - affecting and sensitive without being over-indulgent - so that the eager audience "Bravo!" a split-second after the final flourish is one that we might readily echo at home.
Geoffrey Norris, Telegraph

 

EMI4748132