BaL 01.11.25 - Rachmaninov: Etudes tableaux

[silvestrione]

The Rachmaninov performance of the A minor is a thing of genius from start to finish. One of the great piano recordings?

I just wish some of (so many of?) his recordings weren't so loud and clattering in their sound, or is that me? I have the Naxos incarnations.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The Rachmaninov performance of the A minor is a thing of genius from start to finish. One of the great piano recordings?

I just wish some of (so many of?) his recordings weren't so loud and clattering in their sound, or is that me? I have the Naxos incarnations.

Indeed - leaves everybody else trailing in his wake. Perahia does a very good Eflat minor on one of his recital discs,
No it’s not you : The reason for the clattering is the constant use of octaves and block chords invites playing too loud ( too much arm weight with taut fingers ) whereas I suspect Rachmaninov let the fingers and wrists do the work.

[smittims]

Rachmaninov's solo records were indeed poorly recorded, and this was commented on even in 78 days. Victor engineers seem to have had difficulty recording the piano in the 1930s, in contrast to Studio 3 at Abbey Road where they got it right quite early.

In the CD era, I feel the microphones are often too close , resulting in too metallic, percussive a sound. Radio 3 engineers shoild be praised here as they often succeed in getting a natural ambience, as I noticed some years ago with Steven Osborne's Ravel recitals at the Royal Northern College.