Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2; Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue

Eminent Russian pianist Denis Matsuev presents his first recording with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Alan Gilbert, with Rachmaninoff’s famous Piano Concerto No. 2 and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, an album where two classical masters of the 20th century meet. Denis Matsuev has become one of the fastest rising stars on the interna- tional concert stage since his triumphant victory at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998 and has quickly established himself as one of the most sought-after pianists of his generation.

He has developed into one of the most prominent pianists of the Russian School and appears regularly with leading orchestras around the world including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Matsuev is the Musical Ambassador to the Sergei Rachmaninoff Foundation and his recording of Piano Concerto No. 2 is in celebration of the 140th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue & Piano Concerto in F

“The performance of the Concerto is the finest I have ever heard...while all parties are alive to the smallest detail, there is an irreverance and spontaneity which capture the spirit of the work like no other...Rhapsody in Blue opens the disc. It's a cracking account that inhabits the same world as the Concerto...Here again, Bollani's exuberance and panache are infectious.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2011

Gramophone Magazine
Disc of the Month - May 2011

“[Bollani] decorates Gershwin's lines with inner voices and liberally applied re-harmonisations, playing with a jazzman's rhythmic push-pull. His Concerto in F is more literal to Gershwin's text; Chailly paints broad, meticulous brushstrokes...[The Concerto] is as fine as any in the catalogue.” -- Classic FM Magazine, June 2011 *****

“[Bollani] treats most of the solo part with unexpected respect, and even un-swung rhythms. But he occasionally loosens up the text with exaggerated rubato and octave shifts...[His] clear, crisp pianism is heard to more convincing effect...in a fine, absolutely straight account of the Concerto in F. And Riccardo Chailly brings off an assured and lively performance of Gershwin's own, little-heard suite from Porgy and Bess, Catfish Row.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 ***

“This is one of the best versions [of the Concerto] I know...Bollani and Chailly reject any suggestion of heavy-breathing sentimentality in the second movement's climax and yet the music is no less effective...Chailly is sensitive and even affectionate: it is fun to hear the musicians of the Gewandhausorchester...so obviously enjoying themselves. What would Furtwängler have thought?” --International Record Review, May 2011

Gershwin By Grofé · Symphonic Jazz

“Richman’s spot-on sense of pacing, balance and emphasis guarantee that every Grofé-conjured utterance receives discerning and shapely animation. The ensemble and solo playing likely would bowl over both the composer and Whiteman.” --Gramophone

“[Mayorga's] playing is assured, with an appealing flexibility. And the contribution of Steven Richman's Harmonie Ensemble New York is a delight: beautifully recorded (you can actually hear the banjo for once), crisply played, and stylistically spot-on...Altogether, a fascinating and hugely enjoyable disc.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 ****

“Gallodoro really struts his stuff with the clarinet flourish...Mayorga achieves bristling momentum without charging through all those lovely melodies...This is the most consistently pleasing recording I've heard this year...if you think you've already got as many versions of Rhapsody in Blue as your credit card can handle, think again.” --International Record Review, July/August 2010

Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris

Dutoit's American takes like a native to Paris—as well he might given the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's near-ideal blend of French sophistication and New York street-wise audacity. One can just see Gene Kelly hoofing down the cool Parisian boulevards thinking only of Times Square. The honking taxi horns and busy rattle of xylophone draw us vividly into the hustle and bustle; Gershwin's snappy rhythms could hardly be slicker, or better co-ordinated, or more spontaneous,

and there is charm to spare in all those cheeky musical asides that Gershwin was so fond of. Not even Chailly (my other favourite version also from Decca) slips as deliciously into the central blues, lazy trumpet (superb) and crooning saxes (wonderfully decadent throughout, but nowhere more so than in the crescendo pay-off at the close), catching the luxuriance of the moment to a nicety. Dutoit is in no hurry to move on; neither are we.

There is much more where that came from in his lush account of the 'orchestral' Rhapsody in Blue with Louis Lortie a smooth, if not especially idiomatic, operator offering a credible impersonation of 1920s 'classical' swing style. In the light of the Rattle (EMI) and Litton (RPO Records/ASV) versions of the 'jaz band' original, I confess that these days I find it difficult to forego those nostalgically sepia tones for this, the opulent alternative. For my money it is only an alternative. Even so, you sense how good Dutoit is going to be from the moment that his feline clarinettist stretches into the opening solo. Just as you know from his trumpeter's misty-eyed rendition of the ''Strawberry Woman'' chant from Porgy and Bess that this account of Robert Russell Bennett's masterly Symphonic Picture is not about to short-change you either.

Russell Bennett would, I'm sure, have delighted in hearing his orchestrations so keenly observed: the melodies live and breathe in them and Dutoit again takes like a native to th style— from the oboe and string caresses of ''Summertime'' to the mordant burlesque of Sportin' Life's numbers. True, he doesn't quite rise to the rowdy reprise of ''There's a Boat that's Leavin''' as Previn and the LSO do in their terrific EMI version, but in most other respects Dutoit is fully the equal of any.

Add to the above the suitably intoxicating bongo and maraca-led rhythms of Gershwin's grand Rumba—the Cuban Overture—and a recording which, typical of the source, is both focused and airy, and I can't imagine anybody looking for this particular selection being disappointed. I haven't enjoyed a Dutoit disc more in ages.' --Gramophone 3/1990, Edward Seckerson

MP3 320 · 149 MB

Piano Music of the Americas

'Szidon's outstanding 1970 coupling of the Gershwin and MacDowell concertos on CD at last. Add one of the finest Villa-Lobos recitals ever recorded and a devastating account of Ives's wrist-crippling "Concord" Sonata, and you're in piano heaven.' --BBC Music Magazine

'. . . this is an enticing entry into his extensive piano output . . . his command of transcendental pianism as required in Rudepoêma is never in doubt . . . Szidon's ability to make this sprawling work cohere is still impressive -- as is his uninhibited verve in the Three-Page Sonata.' --Gramophone

". . . foot-tapping vrtuosity . . ." --Classic FM

2 CD · MP3 320 · 342 MB