Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Good recording of Rach's 3rd?

I love technology. Imagine how much a recording of a piece played by Liszt or Chopin would be worth today, if one magically popped up . I'm just thankful that Rachmaninov and Prokofiev came about at a good time.

I've actually sampled original Rachmaninov's own performance through itunes music store. If only it weren't for the mediocre quality. To truly enjoy the performance you need to feel the depth and clarity of the piano, and the orchestra, you need to feel its substance and power. It's difficult to do so once you've become accustomed to digital stereo recordings :-/

I have to say that Hough's recording is superb... I used to say Argerich was the best, but I'm changing my mind, and putting Hough there. He plays the final movement even QUICKER than Argerich, and it just fizzes with energy...

Very nippy in tempi, but it seems to make sense to me. The ending is an OMFG moment, as his octaves accelerate away...

The 2nd is also superb, with the same choice of briskness. No overbearing schmaltz, just a superb interpretation which lets the music breathe naturally...

And the Paganini Rhapsody is equally good. He played it live here, a few weeks ago, and it brought the house down. You've GOT to love those octaves at the end. And to watch him play them - well,...

Sokolov
Katsaris
Horowitz (1951)
Santiago Rodriguez (1994) - My favorite of all
Volodos

I second Opus Maximus' choices, except I'd replace the Horowitz with Cliburn and Katsaris (which I haven't heard -- I'm sure it's first class) with Leif Ove Andsnes (which may be the best completely live recording ever made).

Too bad the Andsnes recording was a mix of two or three different concerts

The Cliburn/Kondrashin is the best live recording, in my opinion.

Hough is my current favorite.

I severely despise the Hough recording. I prefer Helfgott's over Hough's for sure.

Harsh, but okay.

I just didn't find alot of music in Hough's recording. The Rachmaninoff 3rd is a very powerful piece, but in his hands it sounds like a circus act.

I'm probably alone on this one, though.

Yeah, I'll give the third movement to you on that point, but I thought the first movement (esp. the cadenza) was very powerful.

You think that Andsnes's live performance is better than Volodos's?

Let's say things we can't take back.

NO ONE!!! likes the Helfgott recording.

Except for the guy a while back who said it was awesome and then we all told him what we thought of his opinion and he never came back...hehe :rolleyes:

Personally, my favorites are Argerich and Volodos. And as soon as soon as I listen to the Cliburn and Horowitz version some more, I'll have new favorites; but that's just how it works.

I think I'll give Hough a listen next though; haven't even looked into this one.

I saw Stephen Hough play it live and it was phenomenal....maybe even better than any recording made of it.

I lean a little toward iamcanadian on this one (I saw him live). I don't think the extreme speed was a problem (he probably played the third movement in under 10 minutes), but I would've liked to feel a little more emotion.

Holy crap! That bests Volodos and Horowitz by 2.5 minutes! What kind of insane playing was the guy doing, and did he play anything slower than "prestissimo possible"? (I couldn't imagine the fast parts faster than Horowitz or Volodos, and I'm not sure if they should be any faster...but to cut 2.5 minutes off...that means severely speeding up the slower parts. I'm not sure how that would sound....)

Hate to say this, but you could have gone to that russian site and got those Exact Pieces played by Rachmaninoff for free.

Anyway, Good Recordings include Volodos, Horowitz and Ashkenazy, but for the Love of God - Solokov is the worst person for Playing Rachmaninoff COncertos, so don't bother with him.

And out of curiousity - Who the heck or what the heck started all this Mach 3 crap??? Have I missed the Joke???

I attended a Hough performance last year and heard another on the radio recently, and the final movement was about the same as the recording (13 mins). Both were quite messy, colourless performances, to be honest.

I do like his Hyperion recording, but once you've enjoyed the "circus act", to borrow iamcanadian's words, I don't think it bears repeated listenings terribly well.

Sokolov fans: Anyone heard the (pirate, I assume?) recording with Gergiev? Really marvellous, I think, and the piano doesn't go out of tune on this one.


David

Yes, I do, though it's a very close call. Volodos' performance has sparkle and dash, but I like the power and the overall musical conception in Andsnes' interpretation.