Rachmaninoff.org

[Jemvie]

Hi!
1-First of all the Rach #3 is the best piano concert I have ever heard.
2-Rachmaninoff is my favorite pianist
3-I'd like to know what is/are the best recording and performance of the piano concert #3 a Rachmaninoff fan must own.
4-I currently only have Kissin's Rachmaninoff rach #3 with the Boston Symphony Orchesrta directed by Ozawa released in 1993 under the RCA label, which I was told by the guy at the store was his personal favorite. I like it a lot both in sound quality(DDD) and performance but I'd like to know if I'm missing something good.

Thanks!

[RACHBOY]

I've met mr Ashkenazy (just check the video of him in the Members section) He is a very kind, caring and interesting man.I unfortunately have seen him conduct and not play the piano. I love his recording of the Symphonic Dances with the Concertgebouw Orchestra!
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Rachboy [moderator]

[studdman]

I would strongly agree that Ashkenazy's recording of the Rach 3 is the very best!

[RACHBOY]

Hi Djusz, thanks for your favorite 3rd Piano Concerto list. Could you please expand on whey these are your favorites, so we can discuss the recordings in more detail?

[Sasha]

Very very educational!

I've got to get those CDs you guys are talking about.
I just realized that one of Rach3 I have is played by Ashkenazy.
How about the guy who played for the move "Shine" I don't remeber his name... Martin or Mark something. What do you guys think of him?

Thanks

[RACHBOY]

Hi Djusz,

thanks very much for your reply! It is very difficult selecting favorites, mostly I like one movement from one performer best idem second and third movement from yet another pianist. That is the case with for instance Tzimon Barto, Feltsman, Volodos. But for total performances I like Lugansky a lot (but more with the solo works) but I do not think he is amongst my all time favorites in the 3rd concerto.

Top for me are: Rachmaninoff's own recording (of course) because it gives me a total different and authentic feel to the concerto that no-one after that has ever given me. special Tempi (beginning!), emotional content, introspective elements and virtuoso piano playing without being "showy" (cadenza 1st movement!). super!
Furthermore Horowitz with Albert Coates is still a version where heart starts running faster. Explanation: Horowitz always makes me feel he want to go somewhere in a hurry and that combined with the historical significance of the recording and superb piano playing does it for me every time.
In a special bracket for me is Gieseking's recording (1939). He does amazing things here (and makes amazing mistakes as well) but tries to put emotion and takes risks in every single bar which I admire and adore very much which he combines with excellent long musical lines. He goes through the 1st movement cadenza like a madman in a good sense of the word. And listen how he starts the 1st movement extremely slowly and then picks up the tempo without you noticing,amazing!

more later....

Do you know if Moguilevsky's version is out on cd? I've heard it on LP and it was superb!

[rachmaninoff fan]

[Amphissa]

Rachboy, the Mogilevsky recording of the 3rd piano concerto is available on CD. Melodiya label. MEL CD 10 00656

I you do not have a local source, you can purchase from RussianDVD online here not allowedrussiandvd.com/store/product.asp?sku=37363&genreid=
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"Life without music is a mistake." Nietzsche

[morakeo]

The guy from the movie (not the actor but the real pianist) is David Helfgott. Well, his interpretations generally and not only on Rachmaninoff's works (Liszt, Chopin, Mendelssohn) are always pure and true of a person in this world that lives because of and for music. He's not that bad as people say. Of course Rachmaninoff and Horowitz are the Men of the 3rd Concerto. Horowitz played it differently than Rachmaninoff but the composer always admired his interpretation. I agree about Ashkenazy not having Rachmaninoff in him but he's not that bad either. What I believe about these more recent russian pianists, and generally, musicians is that Rachmaninoff, Schostakowitsch, Horowitz, Sofronitsky, Mravinsky etc. were musicians that lived the pre-1917 Russian conditions and the after-1917 Russian conditions and were not babies during this year, so they remember and can express this. Living a situation is something that can never be exactly described to someone who hasn't lived it. Mravinsky's Schostakowitsch's 5th, or 8th or 12th will always be the top ones. Both composer and conductor lived these two different environments. So when you hear Bernstein conducting the Schostakowitsch 5th and hear Mravinsky you think its 2 totally different pieces. Or when you hear Horowitz on Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" and Richter.

[Romain]

In my opinion...

in the category "old sound", the greatest 3rd concertos players are :

Rachmaninov
Horowitz/koussevitzky
Guilels/Svetlanov
Guilels/Cluytens

...with a slight preference for Guilels/Svetlanov.

More recently, I like above all :

Ashkenazy/Previn
Volodos
Argerich

The rhapsodic style of Argerich may not be liked, however I am always deeply impressed by her playing, which for me cannot be compared to any other one. To be frank, in such a virtuoso concerto I think she as a point.

N.B. I don't like much both Lugansky's recordings of this concerto, because he is not very committed.

[Black_N°_1]

I think one of the best recordings is those with Nikolsky during the Queen Elisabeth contest in 1987, followed by Horowitz' ones.

It's a disaster Nikolsky died in a car-crash in Brussels. He could have been one of the greatest Rachmaninov-performers.

[RACHBOY]

Interesting, I like Nikolsky, is that recording still available?

[Black_N°_1]

[Daniel Baker]

[Daniel Baker]

As far as I have heard, I enjoy Rachmaninoff's own recording the best, and I really enjoy Ashkenazy's recording. It's his best piano concerto recording. Horowitz's style is very unique and it's a nice contrast to the others.