Over 40 years old----and still the best!
Mark Blackburn | Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada | 02/26/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"44 years ago my English-born grandfather---a gifted, classically trained pianist and music critic in Ottawa Canada---introduced me to what he claimed was "the best recording of the best piano performance" he'd ever heard. I can still see that black vinyl record with its gray 'Columbia Masterworks' label turning on my grandfather's record player---as I, with goose bumps, listened for the first time to Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. A young French pianist, Philippe Entremont was performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. Today (February 25/02) I took delivery of the "Sony Essential Classics" CD remix of this, my all-time favorite classical music recording (dispatched in record time by Amazon.com). I was again transported by the same beauty that so overwhelmed me as a young boy, this time shaken with tears of joy, and saying aloud to myself: "What a composition! What a performance! What a recording!"I was interested to learn that the re-mix for CD by engineer Chris Herles involved producer Howard H. Scott who was producer of the original recording February 1, 1958 at Philadelphia's Broadwood Hotel. Only the inadequate liner notes (so typical of today's "budget" recordings) reflect the amazingly low price of this CD which offers improved sound over the original, vinyl Columbia record. (Seems to me grandfather was always praising English and German classical recordings, and was underwhelmed by Columbia's "Masterworks.") But this CD version from Sony is a treat for the ears. According to the original liner notes (not included with the CD) Rachmaninoff composed the "Rhapsody" during a 41-day period in 1934; it received its debut with the great pianist himself as soloist less than three months later (November 7) with the Philadelphia Orchestra, under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. The meager liner notes for the CD have nothing to say about the featured pianist. The original album noted that Entremont was wildly acclaimed at London's Festival Hall (a month later March 9, 1958) with a reviewer for the London Daily Telegraph declaring "the young French pianist . . . is nothing less than a genius." The ever-conservative London Times summed up this performance succinctly: "In Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody his sparkling fingerwork and his wonderfully evocative tone coloring and phrasing completely transformed the work from the mere finger-exercise-ground we often hear into the subtle and seductive spell of the kind that Paganini himself would lay upon his listeners."Coincidentally today, from another source listed at Amazon.com, I obtained another recording of the same work, featuring Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Cleveland Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. It is a wonderful recording, beautifully played. But the Entremont/Ormandy/Philadelphia is the definitive version for a couple of reasons: Entremont when he was young was not only the fleetest-fingered pianist imaginable, but his shading, his ability to modulate his volume with feeling at breathtaking speed, has never been equaled. Beyond that, there is what could only be described as an 'organic' integration of piano and orchestra into some great, supremely coordinated, unified 'creature'---which makes this the unsurpassed performance of a lifetime.Grandpa, if you're looking down (and may we assume the music is even better up there?) your opinion of 44 years ago still holds true down here.Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg Canada"
A great recording of a great era
Mark Blackburn | 07/25/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This recording on its own really affords the listener an opportunity to peer into the great era of Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra playing Rachmaninoff. The result is truly memorable.This recording--very well done for the era--really allows the listener to hear how Ormandy brought out the intent and message of Rachmaninoff. This 1st Concerto is the version most remiscent of Grieg or Schumann that I have heard. A quite different recording. It is the 4th Concerto that really left an impression on me. Phillipe Entremont brings an entirely different approach to this piece from other recordings. His tempos, at times faster, at times slower than in other recordings, magnificently explore the possibilities of this Concerto. Throughout there is a certain huskiness to the piano playing that comes across surprisingly well. Ormandy, meanwhile, magnificently responds with his Philadelphia Orchestra playing at its heights of musicianship.One would have to listen to the original recordings with Rachmaninoff himself to get a more distinctive version of these concertos (or the Benedetti-Michelangeli recording of the 4th). And, despite all efforts, the original Rachmaninoff (with Ormandy or Stokowski) recordings are still very grainy and primitive. In this disc you will find the glorious Philadelphia sound captured in a truly well-balanced and generously spacious recording. At bargain price, any interested listener simply cannot go wrong purchasing this recording, even if one does not wish too much duplication in one's collection."
To be brief...
Shota Hanai | Torrance, CA | 04/14/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"When it comes to Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, it will has to be either Ashkenazy with Previn leading the London Symphony Orchestra on Decc, or this recordings made decades ago with Entremont, Ormandy, and the legendary Philadelphia Orchestra. Just by knowing the orchestra (long considered the nation's finest at the time) and the conductor (a major virtuoso to many critics), as well as the splendid performance on the piano, explains a lot of it. Go ahead and look for others, but I definitely recommend this and the other I've mentioned. Oh yeah.... this CD, and the other CD with Lenny and Entremont doing the 2nd, and Watts and Ozawa on the 3rd, already completes a music appreciation student's guide to Rachmoninoff's music for piano and orchestra. For just $15!!! Period."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
