Search - Sergey Rachmaninov, Manuel de Falla, Frederic Chopin :: Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini; de Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain; Chopin: Grande Polonaise

Brilliant performance, excellent recording

03/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rubinstein and Reiner produce an excellent recording of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody. The piano is clear, the orchestra is strong but not overwhelming, and the disc sounds great in all respects."

The Rubinstein/Reiner Era

Miles Hoffmann | Famous Potatoes, United States | 09/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent conclusion to a famous era. The Rachmaninoff, being recorded in January, of 1956 along with the 2nd Piano concerto of the same composer, was the lasting tribute to two great musical performing together. They had their first meeting in April, of 1954 when the duo recorded the Brahms 1st, which was an astounding success, and critics along with RCA hoped that the two would do more recordings of famous concertos together. But, Rubinstein who loved to travel and make his place in the world, became almost non-existent after the Brahms session (which is available through Classics as LSC-1831, or the ARL1-2044 vinyl release of the stereo release), when RCA had big plans to record Rubinstein again with Reiner after their two weeks of concerts together performing these famous concertos of Liszt, Schumann,Beethoven and the Rachmaninoff's two famous pieces-being the 2nd and this Variations. The duration of the two weeks of concerts put a heavy strain on these two old performers where sparks flew during the Rachmaninoff Piano concerto sessions and the RCA staff had to do some serious negoiations to remedy and contain the "sparks" that flew between these two artists. The recording sessions were completed, and the two never performed and recorded again. What a PITY!! It would have been grand to hear these two record the pieces that RCA wanted to record for posterity. These proposed recordings would have definitely been history in the making in the audiophile world. Of course, this recording of the Rachmaninoff was masterfully captured by the RCA crew of Richard Mohr and Lewis Layton. The Variations is on Harry Pearson's TAS list along with some other Reiner recordings."