Search - Sergey Rachmaninov, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky, John Barbirolli :: Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos

Best Rach 3 ever

C. Pinheiro Jr. | São Paulo, Brazil | 03/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I do not agree with Keenan Reesor's comment. Horowitz's recordings of this great concerto are among the best, and this particular one is simply amazing: his shading of tone is beautiful, the variety of his phrasing remarkable, and the brilliance of the virtuosic passages nearly incredible. It is the fastest version of this piece on record (Argerich's 1982 showing is a runner-up), but it is never shapeless or inaccurate. But all this is, of course, a matter of opinion. What is not a matter of opinion, and is therefore incomprehensible in the mentioned review, is Mr. Reesor's comment that the light touch of Horowitz's piano is a facilitating device. As any pianist will tell him - as a matter of fact, Jean-Phillippe Collard and the American critic Harold C. Schonberg have written exactly about this point - the light touch makes things much more difficult, because any mistake by the pianist, even a tiny one, is bound to produce a (unwanted) sound. In fact, only an artist with the surety of touch of Horowitz could afford such light action on the keys and get away with it. Overall, a must-have CD."