Having been less
than kind to a similar Brilliant Classics reissue of the Saint-Saens
concertos in these columns, I am pleased to report a much more positive
state of affairs here. For a start, you get all you need on two well-filled
discs at super-budget price, and although the packaging again doesn’t
include any sort of information or booklet, the performances are all
digital and of pretty recent provenance. In fact, I would say at the
outset that the only real problem for this set will be the vast amount
of competition, some of it just as cheap.
Let me declare my overall favourite straightaway, John
Lill’s highly poetic and intelligent account of the youthful Concerto
No.1, which in his capable hands emerges as far more than a Tchaikovskian
war-horse. The bravura is all there, but is balanced against the darker,
more introspective moments for which Rachmaninov is justly famous. Try
the finale, which is always tricky to bring off, its barnstorming opening
giving way to a typically lush but slightly melancholy ‘big tune’ (around
2"15’ in on this recording); Otaka and the BBC NOW lend sensitive
support to Lill’s handling of this glorious episode, and although one
critic on its first release were worried that the pianist sounded "too
hard…and Lisztian (!)…", I have no problem at all with this performance.
Of course, it has to be said that other recordings
are equally successful both here and in the other works; my own personal
benchmarks have always been Ashkenazy (with either Previn on a cheap
Decca Double or Haitink at full-price) and Earl Wild and Horenstein
on mid-price Chandos. In fact Wild’s virtuosity is probably the nearest
we get to the ‘real’ thing (ie. Rachmaninov himself) in modern stereo,
and his phenomenal pianism is alone worth the modest Chandos price.
Moving onto what might be called the most ‘authentic’
performances here, Lugansky and the Moscow forces, we have something
of a curate’s egg. The piano playing is truly outstanding, with the
young Russian giving the sort of red-blooded readings that have one
thinking of a young Richter, Gilels or from our own time, Kissin or
Pletnev. In the massive Third Concerto, he plays the first movement
cadenza that Rachmaninov himself favoured, rather than the slightly
overblown (though undeniably exciting) alternative. This is altogether
outstanding Soviet pianism, and it is a pity that the accompaniment
is not to the same standard. True, there is the authentic-sounding vibrato
on the horn which we’re all used to by now, but this becomes almost
a wobble in the big tune of the finale, and the strings do not produce
as rich or opulent a tone as they used to in the Svetlanov days. The
recording (which seems to be a Vanguard original) is not as full-bodied
or well balanced as Lill’s Nimbus source, but doesn’t detract from Lugansky’s
playing, which is just as thrilling in the much maligned Fourth Concerto.
The famous Second Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody are
entrusted to Latin American forces, and in some ways the same criticisms
apply. I’ve always found Enrique Batiz’s recordings worth hearing (I
still enjoy a thrilling Copland disc from this team), and he certainly
whips up excitement from his Mexico forces; try the coda to the finale
of the concerto, where the orchestra are playing for their corporate
lives! Yes, there are moments of sour intonation and slightly scrappy
ensemble (the big eighteenth variation of the Rhapsody suffers a little
in this respect) but overall the orchestral playing is more enjoyable
than the Russian band. As for the solo playing, the young Jose Luis
Prats is more than up to the task, and seems to revel in Batiz’s relatively
swift tempos, which allow a no-nonsense feel to pervade.
I doubt if any serious collector (or indeed remotely
keen music lover) will be without recordings of these works. In addition
to those mentioned above, there are excellent budget alternatives from
Bernd Glemser on Naxos, Martino Tirimo on CFP and Zoltan Kocsis on Philips,
as well as numerous historical accounts including, of course, the composer
himself, most recently re-mastered on Naxos. But if you come across
the present set in one of the high street chains (I have spotted Brilliant
Classics for as little as £1.99 a disc) or fancy an alternative to what
you have, I can recommend it with the slight reservations mentioned
(I must add to those an absurdly short gap between tracks, which was
also an irritation on the Saint-Saens set). Well worth considering if
cost is a key factor.
Tony Haywood
* John Lill (piano), BBC
National Orchestra of Wales, Tadaaki Otaka (conductor)