Editorial Review:Amazon.com:These are fine performances. Zimerman's playing can be somewhat self-conscious, and at times he seems to be aware that he ought to say something new about these well-known works, but he's never less than animated. The first concerto comes across as stylish and warm, with the melodies clear amidst the sheer brilliance of the playing and the rhythms strongly underlined. The lack of mania is most welcome. (Earl Wild's performance of this work on Chandos, however, is more spectacular than any other.) The second, better-known work, is an honest, straightforward reading, with the first movement's finale expansive and grand, an Adagio of surprising affection and meditation, and a final movement in which the very familiar second melody shows up almost surprisingly in its freshness. If this lacks the tension found in some other recordings, it makes up for it in a non-garish boldness which shines. The recording of choice here is Ashkenazy's on Decca, but, again, both of these concerti are well-served by Zimerman, and Ozawa's leadership of the BSO is masterful.
--Robert Levine
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Detailed Performance
I own about every peformance of the Rachmaninoff concertos currently available in the catalogue. This rendition misses the emotional heart of both concertos.....but I like it nonetheless and the reason is because every note is so cleanly artilculated that you hear things that you will not hear in any other recording. That being said, my favorite for the first concerto is Earl Wild with Horenstein...completely electrifying. My favorite 2nd concerto is Gary Graffman with Bernstein. This is a worthy addition to the library and I heartily recommend it.
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Simply the finest of recordings...
I have over ten different recordings of the first and second concerto played by many pianists from Ashkenazy to Horowitz. I have to say that these recordings are among some of the most amazing I have ever heard. First of all, I am not sure how anyone could rate this with one star. Just simply by listening to Zimerman's playing alone should make you think twice about what you just heard. Zimerman provides one of the most amazing and fluid recordings of these works and the orchestra led by the legendary Seiji Ozawa provide nothing less than spectacular sound. This is among my favorite recordings ever made, up there with the Goldberg Variations by Gould. If you found this recording to be anything but spectacular, you probably didn't go into listening with an open mind. Throw away everything you know about Rachmaninov's works and pop in this CD and relive these concertos. You will be blown away. Bravo!
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well done
My only complaint here is that the orchestra is kept too far in the background. This is a piano-forward aural picture, as though the listener were seated immediately in front of the open lid of Zimerman's grand, with much of the sound of the Boston Symphony going past you, out into the hall. I have a recording of the old Boston Symphony playing the 3rd Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto with Byron Janis and Erich Leinsdorf; listening to Zimerman and Ozawa here, I longed for that aural picture of Janis and Leinsdorf, capturing as it does a realistic balance between piano and orchestra and the whole sound of the Boston hall.
But other than that, this is a really satisfying disc. I think it stands alongside the very best of Ozawa's recordings with the Boston Symphony: with his Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet, 5th and 7th Mahler symphonies, Berlioz Requiem, and Franck D minor Symphony. Zimerman's playing is electrifying. I'm indifferent to his recent Brahms 1st Piano Concerto with the Berliners, but this album is right on the money where the soloist is concerned, and if one could ask to hear more of the orchestra, nevertheless one hears enough to be impressed at the dialog between them and the soloist.
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A Stunning Performance
I, like many, have been listening to recordings of these concertos for a lifetime (40+ years). There are several that I love: the Van Cliburn (my first exposure to the 2nd), Richter, Janis, Argerich, and, most recently, Hough, have all had something significant to say about these works. Every once in awhile, though, someone breaks through the veneer and makes us reexamine what we think we know about the warhorses. Such is the achievment of Zimerman in this performance. I had a similar feeling about his Liszt sonata when it was released. The overall shaping of the movements and the range of jaw-dropping viruosity and tenderness will leave you speachless.
As we've seen from the reviews that preceed this one, there are some who feel that the piano is too much in the foreground, and to this is say, "thank god!" Ozawa or Zimerman or the engineers--or perhaps all three--understood that they needed to get out of Zimerman's way. This approach certainly doesn't work for other pianists, nor does it always work for the listener, but it does sometimes work for titans like Argerich, Richter and Zimerman. Look elsewhere for more balance between orchestra and piano. For sheer heart and hair-raising brilliance, though, you will not find a better recording. In fact, in my classical collection that includes thousands of recordings, I have put this on my top-ten list of greatest all-time performances by a pianist. Incidentally, Zimerman's recording of the Liszt sonata also makes the cut.
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Limitless
Under Zimerman's hands, the piano seems to have limitless possibilities. His playing can jump from bird-song whispering to a violent storm in the same breath. Truly breathtaking.
Many readers complain about the recessed orchestra sound in the 2nd concerto and I agree. But Ozawa's interpretation leans toward being sensitve and fragile. If you want the orchestra as an equal, powerful partner, try Previn (for Ashkenazy) or Reiner (for Cliburn).
BTW, Zimerman is coming to my town and I am going to hear him!