Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Sonatas (Nikolai Lugansky)

Information

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninov

• Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36

Nikolai Lugansky, piano

Date: 2012

Label: naïve

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

If, like me, you feel that Rachmaninov’s First Sonata doesn’t quite stack up, Nikolai Lugansky’s account may just cause you to have second thoughts. Many of its figurations, rhythmic patterns and other ideas seem to be a rehearsal for (and are put to more effective use in) the glorious Third Piano Concerto which followed the composition of the Sonata. Certainly one does not need to be cognisant of the composer’s Faust-Gretchen-Mephistopheles programme to appreciate its many arresting passages. As in the Second Sonata, Lugansky’s superb performance is endorsed by the rich, full tone of the piano – which he exploits from the fullest fff in the bass to the most ethereal treble pianissimos – captured at Potton Hall by producer/sound recorder Nicolas Bartholomée.

Opinions may vary as to which of the two official versions of the Second Sonata is preferable: the original 1913 work or the considerably compressed 1931 alternative. The booklet writer states that Lugansky ‘presents his own vision of the work [by making] a number of significant cuts to [the 1913 version] by adopting here and there elements from the second one, following his own preferences and tastes’. One would only know this after buying the CD, taking it home and reading the booklet – which can’t be right. After several perusals, though, I could not spot any ‘significant cuts’ or other changes to the 1913 version beyond the appropriation of some textual alternatives from the 1931 revision. The last pages (presto) of the finale, frequently marred by blurred detail, are here not only lucidly projected but quite thrilling, emblematic of the disc as a whole: Rachmaninov-playing of a very high order.

-- Jeremy Nicholas

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sergei Rachmaninov (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music was influenced by Tchaikovsky, Arensky and Taneyev. Rachmaninov wrote five works for piano and orchestra: four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He also composed a number of works for orchestra alone, including three symphonies, the Symphonic Dances Op. 45, and four symphonic poems.

***

Nikolai Lugansky (born 26 April 1972 in Moscow) is a Russian pianist. He studied piano at the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow Conservatory, where his teachers included Tatiana Kestner, Tatiana Nikolayeva and Sergei Dorensky. Lugansky won the silver medal at the 1994 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. At the same time he began to make recordings for Melodiya and Vanguard Classics labels. Nowaday his recordings can be found on Warner Classics, PENTATONE, Onyx, Deutsche Grammophon and Naïve. In addition to performing and recording, Lugansky teaches at the Moscow Conservatory.

-----------------------------------------------------------