RACMANINOFF PIANO CONCERTO 2


Looking to find a Cd of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto # 2
that has body, depth and is dynamic sounding. I have purchased the following cd's and do not recommend them at all. For a emmotionally charged piece such as this I feel that the following just fall short:

1. Rachmaninoff # 2 & 3 Horacio Futierrez at Piano
conducted by Loren Mazael of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra-Telarc Digital CD-802-259

2. Rachmaninoff # 2 & Paganini theme
Werner Haas at the piano with the radio symphony Orchestra
of Frankfurt, conducted by Eliahu, Inbal
Pentatone Classic-SACD # HYBRID PTC5186-114

3. Rachmaninoff # 2 & 3-Essential Classics-Sony Label
Yefim Bronfam-piano, # SBK-89734

By the way, I have many Rachmaninoff Piano Cocerto # 3 and
have found two that are amazing. I also have three Beethoven 5th Symphonies and 2 or also excellent. So I know that the performance that you purchase makes all the difference in the sound. In the ones I mentioned its like there is no top, no bottom almost like a compressed MP3
quality. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
kjl

Showing 3 responses by audphile1

I second Sugarbrie. Ashkenazy on London is a good performance. I too prefer performance over recording sound quality. I can't say that the Ashkenazy recording sounds bad, but it was recorded awhile ago, so take that into consideration.
02-18-08: Shadorne
This is perhaps too well recorded. Try cranking it - it is meant to be played loud - it is actually very dynamic...one of the nicest recordings of piano - what speakers/amp are you using?
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Shadorne (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

I recently heard about 3 minutes of Rachmaninov 2nd concerto on a very nice system and it was loud. Too loud. To a point it was unrealistic because I simply never heard a piano that can play that loud! It was actually funny. I didn't say anything to the owner of the system when he played it at that level, but makes me wonder why people think it is necessary to play it that loud? Is it because of a poor recording quality or any other reason?