Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Transcriptions (Vladimir Ashkenazy)

Information

Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov

1. Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Partita in E major: I. Preludio
2. Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Partita in E major: III. Gavotte
3. Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Partita in E major: VI. Gigue
4. Franz Schubert - "Wohin?"
5. Felix Mendelssohn - Scherzo (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
6. Georges Bizet - Minuet (L'Arlésienne Suite No. 1)
7. Modest Mussorgsky - Hopak (Sorochintsy Fair)
8. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Flight of the Bumblebee
9. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Lullaby, Op. 16 No. 1
10. Franz Behr - Polka de W.R. (after Behr's Scherzpolka)
11. Sergei Rachmaninov - Lilacs, Op. 21 No. 5
12. Sergei Rachmaninov - Daisies, Op. 38 No. 3
13. Fritz Kreisler - Liebesleid
14. Fritz Kreisler - Liebesfreud
15. Sergei Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands): I. Barcarolle
16. Sergei Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands): II. Scherzo
17. Sergei Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands): III. Thème russe
18. Sergei Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands): IV. Valse
19. Sergei Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands): V. Romance
20. Sergei Rachmaninov - Six Morceaux, Op. 11 (piano, four hands): VI. Glory
21. Sergei Rachmaninov - Waltz (piano, six hands)
22. Sergei Rachmaninov - Romance (piano, six hands)
23. Sergei Rachmaninov - Italian Polka (piano, four hands, and trumpet)
24. John Stafford Smith - The Star-Spangled Banner

Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano

Vovka Ashkenazy & Dody Ashkenazy, piano

Alastair Mackie, trumpet

Date: 2002

Label: Decca

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Review

Rachmaninov’s transcriptions largely date from his concert-giving years, and it is likely that he tailored their considerable difficulties to suit his own massive, infallible hands. Vladimir Ashkenazy’s smaller hands, however, easily negotiate these challenging yet sumptuous concoctions. Notice the Midsummer Night’s Dream Scherzo’s silken double notes, the shapely lyricism Ashkenazy brings to the composer’s exquisite Lilacs and Daisies, or Wohin’s shimmering chromatic filigree. The Kreisler Liebeslied and Liebesfreud remind me of the composer’s similarly fleet, poker-faced versions; but Idil Biret’s slower tempos and greater dynamic heft in the latter allow the music’s dense harmonic activity more breathing space.

Some listeners may prefer Horowitz’s juicier Polka de V.R., or Biret’s sharper, more characterized articulation in the Flight of the Bumble Bee (just as colorful, but less pedaled), and Biret’s broader, weightier way with the Star-Spangled Banner transcription also contrasts to Ashkenazy’s more upbeat rendition (he’s playing to the ballpark, she’s playing for heads of state). Ashkenazy joins his son Vova for the six Op. 11 pieces (the duetists sound as one, as it should be), and his wife Dódy joins in for six-handed fun in the Waltz and the Romance. Alastair Mackie admirably handles the Italian Polka’s quirky little trumpet interventions. In all, a major addition to Vladimir Ashkenazy’s distinguished Rachmaninov legacy.

-- Jed Distler

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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.

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Vladimir Ashkenazy (born 6 July 1937) is a Soviet-born Icelandic pianist and conductor. He studied with Lev Oborin and Boris Zemliansky at the Moscow Conservatory. Ashkenazy won 2nd prize in the 1955 Chopin Piano Competition, 1st prize in the 1956 Queen Elisabeth Competition, and 1st prize in the 1962 Tchaikovsky Competition. He has recorded a wide range of piano repertoire, both solo works and concerti. As a conductor, he has served as principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Czech Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony and the Sydney Symphony.

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