Rachmaninov: The Piano Concertos & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

“Francis and the London Symphony Orchestra provide consistently world-class, shapely orchestral frameworks and beautifully characterised first-desk solos throughout” --Gramophone Magazine, June 2013

“What a heart-melting performance of the first concerto this is...The LSO are pin-sharp in their responses...Lisitsa’s is not a big, muscular sound but it is a lithe, well-toned one, and she lights up this most familiar concerto in ways I scarcely thought possible...Lisitsa really shines in the first and third concertos and the second is pretty impressive too” --MusicWeb International, 21st May 2013

“I marvelled at the unsentimental fluidity and togetherness with her orchestral colleagues. This is...an impressive CD showcasing for the LSO's ex-double-bass player, now successful conductor, Michael Francis...Lisitsa follows Rachmaninov the pianist's brisk cue, but she doesn't rush” --BBC Music Magazine, July 2013 ***

“it’s a delight to report that much, though not all, of the music making captured here is terrific...Tempi are swift, with pianist and orchestra perfectly synchronised...Lisitsa refuses to wallow, accentuating Rachmaninov’s jazzy boldness and dark humour...Both works [Nos. 1 & 4] need this sort of advocacy.” --The Arts Desk, 13th April 2013

Rachmaninov: Etudes-Tableaux

While there is no knowing what whimsy prompted the fine fellows from the reissue department of EMI to release Vladimir Ovchinnikov's 1989 recording of both sets of Rachmaninov's Etudes-Tableaux in its "encore" series, one can only be grateful it did. Along with rereleasing both Richter's sublime Schumann disc and Barenboim's abysmal Beethoven disc, EMI has released for the first time this vivid and virtuosic Rachmaninov recording by Ovchinnikov.

While recordings of all the Etudes-Tableaux are rare, recordings of all of them that are any good are even rarer. Even the best of them -- Ashkenazy's soulful but sometimes clattering recording and Shelley's brilliant but sometimes brittle recording -- leave something to be desired. But out of left field, Ovchinnikov does the impossible feat of being both evocative and virtuosic. While Rachmaninov repressed their programs, his Etudes-Tableaux are as much evocative as they are virtuosic and Ovchinnikov uses the latter to express the former and the result is as convincing pictorially as it is compelling technically. While not the greatest recordings of any of the Etudes-Tableaux ever made -- there are, after all, Richter's excerpts to consider -- Ovchinnikov's recording is perhaps the greatest recording of all of the Etudes-Tableaux. EMI's sound is just a wee bit close, but it is very, very immediate.

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.

Rachmaninov, Bach/Busoni, Ravel & Stravinsky: Piano Works

“In Rachmaninov's Corelli Variations, Kempf distinguishes himself for assiduous, well-integrated tempo relationships between movements, and the easy command and intelligent, symphonically orientated delineation with which he shapes the composer's thick textures...Kempf's glittering technique, supple touch and extroverted demeanour in Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka bring out the music's balletic roots” Gramophone Magazine, July 2011

“this is a colourful and enjoyable account [of Petrushka], well-characterised and full of dynamic contrast...fans of Kempf need have no qualms about acquiring this release.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 ****

“Kempf opens with a beautifully-voiced and judiciously-paced view of Rachmaninov's Variations...he finds a meltingly silvery touch for the Ravel Valses (exquisite) before a return to the Russian repertoire that he plays so well, leaving us, thrillingly, in no doubt that the piano is a percussive instrument.” --Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ****

“Kempf follows [Bach's] text faithfully, allowing each variation to shape the movement without sounding forced...[He] shows an impressive range of organ-like colour along with a pointillism that suits quick passages well...The scene of 'Shrove-Tide Fair' is a roller-coaster ride under Kempff's fingers, driven by a motoric energy that many pianists would find difficult to sustain over eight-and-a-half minutes.” --International Record Review, April 2011

Kabalevsky & Khachaturian: Cello Concertos

Mats Lidström is that rare thing, an original musician. The sheer mercurial energy which drives his performances can be both engaging and disturbing, but there is always a searching intelligence at work. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra lost much when its compelling, if unpredictable, lead cellist departed. These two concertos show him at his persuasive best, bringing lesser known works to life.

Kabalevsky’s 1964 Concerto stretches and yawns with slow pizzicato before springing into urgent life. Sub-Shostakovich in its motifs and tonality, it is nevertheless well-constructed and uses the saxophone to great effect.

In both Allegro movements Lidström achieves a lightning speed and attack and, though Raphael Wallfisch’s recording on Nimbus has a more solid beauty of tone, the Swede’s nervous anticipation makes up for the thinner sound of his Grancino cello.

Khachaturian’s 1946 Concerto would make a wonderful soundtrack to a cinematic faux-Oriental extravaganza, with its twisting major and minor intervals, and almost sleazy chromaticism. Lidström really knows how to swing, and makes the most of the memorable melodies. He also knows how to understate Rachmaninov’s poignant Vocalise to greatest effect. A most enjoyable disc all round. -- Helen Wallace, BBC Music Magazine *****

Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 1-4, Etc

With so many excellent Rachmaninov concerto recordings crowding the bins of late, you might consider Chandos' two-for-one reissue of Howard Shelley's 1989/90 cycle somewhat redundant. It's not. Abetted by richly atmospheric engineering, Shelley's intelligent, musicianly virtuosity enlightens, often inspires, and always satisfies. He's not quite so nimble as Kocsis, nor scintillating as Wild, nor should you expect the fire and ice of Zimerman's First Concerto or Michelangeli's Fourth. And despite the Scottish National Orchestra's robust sonority and the late Bryden Thomson's tasteful, idiomatic podium work, I miss the Hough/Litton edition's ravishing soloist/ensemble interplay, or the vivid detailing that distinguishes Antoni Wit's conducting throughout Idil Biret's Naxos cycle.

Still, Shelley finds details that other pianists miss. For example, he brings noticeable variety of dynamic shadings and accents to the Paganini Rhapsody's solo part, while the orchestra gathers strength as the music progresses. The Second Concerto's finale easily holds its ground in the proverbial dazzle department, and the Third is a master-class in poise and proportion. Wisely, Shelley chooses the now-unfashionable leaner, simpler cadenza that Horowitz, Argerich, Kocsis, and the composer himself preferred. While my budget Rachmaninov cycle preference remains Kocsis/de Waart, Shelley/Thomson certainly is easy to live with, and its many virtues continue to wear well. --Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com

Rachmaninov: Music for Two Pianos

Peter Donohoe and Martin Roscoe (pianos)

“Who would have guessed, when Naxos entered the CD market with buckets of budget-priced recordings by no-name instrumentalists and provincial Eastern-European orchestras, that 20 years later they would be offering the likes of this disc, featuring two of Britain's most distinguished and widely recorded pianists in the major two-piano works of Rachmaninov? The result is an hour and a quarter of first-rate music-making, and probably the finest single-disc version of the suites that I have heard.” --Fanfare

Rachmaninov & Liadov: Symphony No. 2 · The Enchanted Lake

“I'm not sure when I last enjoyed a reading of the Rachmaninov Second Symphony so much...they play here as if possessed; the brass are on especially magnificent form...by heaven, Antonio Pappano invests the piece with a passionate sense of belief...Principal clarinetist Alessandro Carbonare is exemplary on the long and haunting solo in the slow movement.” --BBC Music Magazine, April 2011 ****

Gramophone Magazine
Editor's Choice - May 2011

“Pappano is revelatory. It is rare indeed to hear the Second Symphony executed with such clarity and with such a faithful, balanced spectrum of instrumental colour but the performance goes much further than that. Pappano has passion, too, and he knows when to unleash it and when to keep it quietly in reserve.” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2011

“Pappano and his Rome-based orchestra cultivate a feeling of deliberate understatement throughout this live performance which gives Rachmaninov's Second Symphony a light, almost ethereal feeling...Although lacking in full-on power, this performance is no less intense with elegant, sophisticated playing from the orchestra, and there's still plenty of drama when required.” --Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 ****

“Pappano has a wonderfully acute ear for orchestral detail. He draws playing of remarkable alertness, polish and warmth from his Italian orchestra...when I say that his new recording is very nearly a match for Previn's classic account, I can pay it no higher compliment. Pappano is also a little more rhythmically sharp...The Enchanted Lake, played with great detail, drawing out all the delicate colours of [the] exquisitely orchestrated miniature tone-poem.” --International Record Review, April 2011

Rubinstein & Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos

“this 24-year-old German pianist may occasionally sound more relentless than giving, though the chill wind he blows through even the most lyrically assuaging passages will seem authentic to some...Less generally, Moog is at his most interesting in the mercurial twists and turns he gives the cadenzas...There may be more affecting Rachmaninov Third Concertos on record...but it is certainly among the most formidable.” --Gramophone Magazine, June 2012

Joseph Moog (piano) · Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland Pfalz, Nicholas Milton

The outstanding young German pianist Joseph Moog makes his debut on ONYX with a superb disc of two great Russian piano concertos that have had very different fates.

Anton Rubinstein’s 4th was once one of the most famous and popular concertos in the repertoire, and many of the major virtuosos performed this work into the early years of the 20th century – when the composer’s other works vanished from the concert hall. He composed 5 piano concertos which can be considered as the models for those of Tchaikovsky and later Rachmaninov. Well written for the piano and the orchestra, Rubinstein’s 4th is the archetypal Romantic concerto – big tunes, big gestures, and plenty of exciting finger - work for the soloist. The neglect of this work today is hard to understand.

Rachmaninov’s 3rd concerto was one of the works that swept Rubinstein’s concertos from the concert platform. Its combination of virtuosity, symphonic structure, plus the hallmark Rachmaninov gift for melody has made this one of the most popular works in the repertoire, from the time of its premiere in the USA, with the composer as soloist and Mahler conducting. It is one of the most technically demanding concertos in the repertoire.

Joseph Moog has already established a formidable reputation as virtuoso and received rave reviews for his recent Liszt Concertos recording.

“Moog makes easy sense of it all, his light, glittering touch deftly partnered by Nicholas Milton and his Ludwigshafen-based orchestra...it comes as no surpise that he chooses the more mercurial of the two cadenzas options, though he can pull out the big guns at the the central climax of the Intermezzo...Moog is a pianist of transcendental technique whose future should be well worth following.” --BBC Music Magazine, June 2012 ****

Rachmaninov, Shostakovich & Lutoslawski

Ashkenazy's 20-year-old Swedish protégé proves worthy of the maestro's patronage. On the evidence of this disc he is a well-balanced musician with his heart and fingers in the right places, and his chosen programme is a stimulating one.

“Jablonski, whose credentials include having been voted best jazz drummer in Sweden at the age of seven (!), revels in its high jinks, and Ashkenazy and the orchestra just manage to hang on to his coat-tails... an exciting end to an admirably played and recorded disc.” --Gramophone Magazine

Jablonski's Rachtnaninov perhaps commands more respect than excitement, but it won my respect before I was aware of his youth. Generally lucid and level-headed, his limitations show up at extremes of the character range. In particular, he does not yet have the knack of retaining communicative intensity in quiet lyrical playing, and a number of variations, such as the first Dies irae from 322", are inclined to sit back on their haunches. Some of his loudest chords are accompanied by foot-stamping, and in the famous Eighteenth Variation Jablonski's singing tone, pleasant though it is, lacks a degree of richness—the orchestra's entry at 15'55" sounds as though taken from a different, more emotionally committed take. That said, he is a very musicianly player, and the RPO's attentive contribution and Decca's superb recording help to make this one of the more satisfying accounts on record.

The Shostakovich concerto is a good choice, not just as a near contemporary of the Paganini Rhapsody, but as a bridge to the zany world of Lutoslawski. It receives a fluent, well-judged and idiomatic performance with every note in place and some lovely trumpet playing from Raymond Simmons. This is a valuable complement to the manically explosive Kissin on RCA; the even younger Russian's brashness did nothing for MEO but it strikes me as a perfectly valid response to the 'low-art' origins of so many of Shostakovich's ideas.

Lutoslawski's Paganini Variations are a 1978 orchestration of the familiar 1941 two-piano work. I had not heard this version before and was instantly captivated. Jablonski, whose credentials include having been voted best jazz drummer in Sweden at the age of seven (!), revels in its high jinks, and Ashkenazy and the orchestra just manage to hang on to his coat-tails—an exciting end to an admirably played and recorded disc. -- Gramophone [12/1992]

Live at the Royal Albert Hall

“there's an admirable lightness of touch and appreciation of rhythmic flow to her "Für Elise", and her negotiation of Liszt's "Un Sospiro" is captivating.” --The Independent, July 2012 ****

“genuine gifts for lyricism and dazzling display...those musical gifts quickly hit the ears on this closely recorded CD.... Track three is Liszt’s La campanella, intelligently shaped, its bell sounds glittering as rarely before...Lisitsa tends to play with the lights fully on, with not enough shading in the wide expanse between loud and quiet. This gets rather tiring...But at the moment there is only one Valentina Lisitsa.” --The Times, July 2012

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, Valentina began playing the piano at the age of three and performed her first solo recital just one year later. She has won prestigious awards for her playing internationally, including the Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition (together with her husband Alexei Kuznetsoff).

Valentina Lisitsa has already performed at major international venues including Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York and the Vienna Musikverein, and in countries as far apart as the Netherlands and Brazil. She has played with renowned orchestras including Chicago Symphony, Seattle Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and the Pittsburgh Symphony, collaborating with conductors Manfred Honeck, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, among others. Upcoming performances are confirmed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Philharmonie im Gasteig, Munich with Münchner Symphoniker and recitals at the Victoria Hall in Geneva and Philharmonie in Berlin.

With more than 43 million views and over 52,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, the young pianist is not only one of the fastest-rising stars of the international concert scene but probably the single most-watched classical musician, having rapidly overtaken long-established giants of the piano world in terms of global online viewing figures.

From Russia with Music

It is quite enjoyable to hear the National Philharmonic of Russia performing compositions by the country's musical heroes, and Vladimir Spivakov does a first-rate job of conducting. The first treat is Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Three Wonders," a march from the opera Tsar Sultan, which is beautiful, sparkly, and simply wondrous in the high registers. The flute and harp passage is ethereal, the strings are vast and singing, and each nuance of feeling is conveyed.

The much beloved fantasy overture Romeo and Juliet is Tchaikovsky's contribution to the album. The music builds in urgency, with fast passages played with great energy and vigor, and there is much emotion, as is fitting for the tale of the star-crossed lovers. The famous love theme is first heard in the low strings in a most elegant and restrained fashion, but when it returns it is full and lush: one can hear all the details, like the triplets under the strings. The string instruments play with perfect attacks and they are full of punch when necessary.

This is an orchestra that is perfect and precise with its timing, but its artistry is what captures the listener. Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, are each unique. The first features violently bowed passages and very 20th-century harmonies, while the second is a lovely waltz with more interesting tonalities than 19th century waltzes in its lush orchestration. The orchestra's sense of timing and tension within the lines here is superb. The third dance is moody yet bright at the beginning, and the piece has a fairytale-like quality, a rather programmatic feel. The concluding work is Three Russian Songs for Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 41, and Rachmaninov truly gets wonderful colors out of the orchestra that complement the voices.

Particularly enjoyable are the very modern-sounding string melody and harmonies in the first song, and the almost reverential quality of the second song: there is none of Rachmaninov's over-the-top Romanticism here. The last song is haunting with a march-like, militaristic feel; brief and austere, there are echoes of Carmina Burana not likely to escape the listener. Spivakov and his orchestra give a marvelous performance. The treble is certainly favored on this recording, which is sometimes advantageous and sometimes not. Another criticism of the recording quality is that the sound is rendered a bit flat, needing more ring or reverb. --allmusic.com

Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes

“It's all too easy to coarsen Rachmaninov's melodic genius with an overtly applied emotionalism, its clearly drawn lines becoming smudged. But Osborne conveys both the monumentality of these pieces, even the most fleeting, and their very human qualities. ...while there's no empty barn-storming on display here, that's not to say the technical challenges are shirked or underplayed in any way. There are few pianists who offer such range and depth of palette: not even Ashkenazy's seminal reading.” --Gramophone Magazine, June 2009

“…outstanding Rachmaninov playing of acute perception, discretion and poetic sensibility, limpid, powerful and luminous in equal measure.” --BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 *****

“Extremely impressive all round … Osborne lavishes a remarkable level of authority on every one of these masterworks, playing with a rare combination of technical ease, tonal lustre and idiomatic identification. He also has the undeniable advantage of a magnificent Steinway instrument with a rich, opulent sonority and great solidity in its bass register … In summary, Osborne goes from strength to strength as he moves through the cycle, wrapping up the final page of the concluding D flat prelude in a blaze of glory … For a truly spellbinding modern account, Osborne now holds the winning ticket” --International Record Review

 

Russian Cello Sonatas

“The meaty piano parts in the Rachmaninov and Borodin benefit hugely from [Sudbin's] near-orchestral range and depth, and his sculptor's sense of form and phrase. Not that he outshines cellist Alexander Chaushian, who displays a deeply instinctive connection with this repertoire...This is a near-ideal performance of Rachmaninov's magnificent work that stands alongside those by the greatest.” --BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 ****/*****

“Chaushian and Sudbin shows that it is actually possible to deliver Rachmaninov's Sonata full-throatedly without making it sound like a piano concerto with cello accompaniment. And they demonstrate equally that Shostakovich's Sonata does not need hysterical exaggeration of its subtexts in order to be richly communicative.” --Gramophone Magazine, August 2011

“Chausian and Sudbin provide a majestic overview of chamber-style sensitivity. Every phrase is beautifully sculpted, Sudbin subtly tames Rachmaninov's swirling solo line, and Chaushian plays with a bewitching restraint and technical clarity that works wonders, especially in the rarely-heard Borodin Sonata.” --Classic FM Magazine, June 2011 ****

“There is no lack of personality and temperament, and the bigness of [Chaushian's] sound contributes to the music's symphonic aspirations...no one plays these sonatas quite like Russian performers do. Chaushian is no exception, bringing interpretative insight and native soulfulness into play with his technical mastery...His basic sound is appealingly buzzy - that is to say, human.” --International Record Review, May 2011

Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, Isle of the Dead, The Rock

“The Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead and The Rock all have a distinctive Rachmaninov stamp, for which Petrenko has a sure ear, coupled with a stylistic acuity that enables him to point out the differences between the later and the earlier music” --Gramophone Magazine, May 2010

“Petrenko master… of encouraging expressive phrasing in counterpoint; the woodwind rockings around the heartaching saxophone melody at the centre of the first dance are as important as the main event, and the flurries which accompany a very slowly kindled reprise of the second-movement Valse triste... make the hair stand on end.” --BBC Music Magazine, March 2010

“Petrenko and the RLPO bring freshness to all three [works], responding sensitively and shrewdly to the romantic and dark-hued undertows of the earlier works and to the piquancy of the later one. Petrenko instinctively conveys the essential quality of soul that the interpretation of Rachmaninoff requires.” The Telegraph, 18th February 2010 *****

“Petrenko’s galvanising effect on the Royal Philapudlians continues to be documented rewardingly on disc...He achieves a wonderfully integrated blend of orchestral sound, yet his attention to details of instrumentation and dynamic is achieved without artificial highlighting.” Sunday Times, 21st February 2010 ****

“Vasily Petrenko conducts the RPO on tremendous form in a precise and dramatic performance of both pieces, plus the tone poem "The Isle of the Dead". Worth it for the woodwind alone.” The Independent on Sunday, 28th March 2010

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Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 · Caprice Bohemien · Vocalise

“Perhaps the most impressive feature of this new recording is the quicksilver dynamic fluidity of the orchestra - they are able to move from the boldest of fortissimos to the most tender of pianissimos in a heartbeat. There is an overwhelming sense that the musicians are moving as one with the same telepathic unity of a murmuring of starlings. It is mesmerising....This music - and these recordings - will last for a very long time.” --Classic FM Magazine, February 2012

“In the Third Symphony, which finds Rachmaninov wistfully recalling the Russia he left after the October Revolution, Petrenko and the RLPO also identify the zest, the orchestral lucidity and the rhythmic thrust that marked the composer’s later years. An exhilarating performance.” --The Telegraph, 5th January 2012 *****
 

“The RLPO strings sound leaner, perhaps, than those of Stokowski’s Philadelphia Orchestra, which inspired the composer, but they have never seemed more sumptuous than in the long melodies of the central adagio, and their brilliant articulation of virtuoso allegro passages at Petrenko’s fast tempi brings exhilarating dividends. In this magnificently played account, the stature of the music is never in doubt.” --Sunday Times, 15th January 2012

“The RLPO play magnificently...There is surging energy here allied to lucidity of orchestration and rhythmic impetus, together with that infallible sense of instrumental timbre that Rachmaninov possessed. The lyrical elements...are conveyed with heartfelt affection without resorting to any heart-on-sleeve excess.” --Gramophone Magazine, January 2012

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Chopin & Rachmaninov: Piano Sonatas

Blessed with an almost frightening talent, Hélène Grimaud is a woman of strong ideals, immense energy and exceptional tenacity. As a pianist she often divides her audience, for hers Is no usual approach to the piano repertoire. Grimaud plays from the gut, with scant regard for convention, rules or reverence. Listening to her can often make one question one’s preconceptions about a work, since she has a unique way of approaching even the most familiar pieces from an unexpected, personal perspective. Whether or not the critics approve, the process is constantly creative and the results are always compelling at a deep, psychological level, attracting a cult following worldwide.


 

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Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2; Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

"Laurenceau treats the big theme in the second movement with a ravishing lushness. The lively middle section comes off splendidly too, Laurenceau imparting a more songful character to the theme than is usual. Her finale is riveting, the closing pages ranking in excitement with almost any other recording." --MusicWeb International, April 2011

“Laurenceau is commanding, ardent, colourful and intonation perfect. She makes some of the passages...sound like they've never done before; and the final begins with splendid swagger...The Toulouse Capitole Orchestra has its virtues, not least those bright, caressing woodwind who launch the central reverie of Rachmaninov's first symphonic dance.” --BBC Music Magazine, September 2011 ***

“[Laurenceau] has the measure of the amalgam that goes to make up Prokofiev's mid-1930s style...Crucial to the overall effectiveness of the performance is Tugan Sokhiev's sharp-eared conducting of the Toulouse Capitole Orchestra, in which colour is deftly and discerningly applied, impetus strong and the shifts in the music's temperament seamlessly executed.” --Gramophone Magazine, April 2011

“Laurenceau is a seductive envoy of Prokofiev's opening gambit, drawing the listener in with a poetic and rich-sounding introduction; furthermore she is as technically athletic and tonally acerbic as is required later on...She not only plays marvellously and fantastically but has a distinct and compelling view of the concerto, relishing its contrasts of mood and also its beauty” --International Record Review, March 2011

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Rachmaninov: The Bells, Spring & Three Russian Songs

“The Mariinsky's strongest suit is probably its distinctly Russian tone...Alas, the dramatic engagement one might have expected from an opera chorus is here virtually nonexistent...The Bells itself is beautifully played, but with rather literal fidelity to the score. This approach works well enough in the funereal final movement with its echoes of Isle of the Dead. Noseda's avoidance of rubato, though, rather misses the poetry of the golden bells.” --BBC Music Magazine, December 2011 ***

 

“The big moments in this live Proms recording - like the all-choral third movement, evoking supernatural 'alarm bells' - thrill the ear, with a professional Russian chorus to add extra quality, and there's fine solo singing in the other three movements.” --Classic FM Magazine, February 2012 ****

“Noseda shapes both ['Spring' and the Three Russian Songs] works sympathetically but inevitably responds more vividly to the more expansive canvas of The Bells; all the performances have the benefit of the Russian soloists and the wonderful chorus of the Mariinsky Opera.” --The Guardian, 19th January 2012

“Noseda handles [The Bells] skilfully, with sensitivity to the contrasted moods and to the orchestral detail as well as the balance with the chorus and soloists...and the grim finale is kept at a firm and solemn pace...[in 'Spring'] Tanovitsky broods impressively as the peasant, phrasing sensitively, and Noseda does well to make formal sense of the piece.” --International Record Review, November 2011

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Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos No 2 & 3

"Here, surely, we have the truest successor to the great Russian pianists" --Gramophone

“fresh, urgent, energetic, patina-free performances…it has been a long while since this music sounded quite so coherent, and for all his considerable virtuosity it is here that Berezovsky does Rachmaninov - and us! - a very great service indeed” --International Record Review

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