To name one favorite among the ten is not possible, but I was most musically satisfied by the performances of Gelber, Achucarro, Zilberstein and Yuja, all of whom emphasized the lyrical aspects of the cadenza as much as the virtuoso aspect. Weissenberg and Argerich went for maximum fireworks which, in my opinion, and to my disappointment, diminished the music. Well, of course, all the pianists here are technically up to the challenge. So now we know … since Horowitz played it for Rachmaninoff back in the 1920’s (?) I am quite sure that he must have had Rachmaninoff’s OK on this.Īm a little surprised that nobody set me straight here until now. So I listened to some of Horowitz’s recordings of the piece - sure enough, he also plays it that way. So I asked myself: Where did this tradition come from - did Bolet get it from Gilels, or vice-versa? And where did it originate - perhaps with Rachmaninoff himself? It is also up on YouTube, and I never knew it, but he plays this exactly the same way: Just last night, I decided to listen to Emil Gilels in his 1949 recording of the piece with Kyrill Kondrashin. On the cadenza issue, i might agree about the “ossia” (grander) cadenza, which is overblown, but a fine rendition of the “regular” cadenza, (Rach’s own choice), keeps the flow and the expressive style, just enough grandeur without overdoing it.Ī late-in-the-game follow-up on the cadenza variant as played by Jorge Bolet … you can hear this in some of his YouTube clips playing this concerto here is one from his younger days (the link should take you directly to the spot in the cadenza mentioned): This is not to deny the 3rd concerto’s greatness, in some ways “greater” than the two “masterpieces” i mentioned, in that a mystic dimension is added, with the further Everest-like task of the interpreter having to actually master the monster while making enormous interpretive choices and decisions. The Rapsody is a masterpiece in every way structure, flow, imagination, innovation, and even making a hit-tune out of Paganini’s devilish A-minor acrobatics! The 2nd concerto is more tightly structured with such a continuous flow of rich, generous material that no cut would be possible ANYWHERE! Contrast that with the much-cut 3rd concerto (yes, even the 1st movement has suffered mini-cuts!). I have to take issue of the “masterpiece” statement and also that “no other work comes close…” There are two outright masterpieces in Rach’s piano/orch output: the 2nd concerto and the Paganini Rapsody.
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