Essential Rachmaninov
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Free Music Notes for Essential Rachmaninov
Free Music Review: All the best
Hit: 5 Stars
This splendid collection of Rachmaninov is a must-have for fans of classical. Wonderful for quiet evenings at home, the background for romantic dinners, or just to enjoy on the drive to work. It's called "Classical Music" for a good reason.Free Music Review: Truly essential
Hit: 5 Stars
You can see the track listing above, so you can decide for yourself if what you want it on it. I bought it mainly for the second piano concerto so I'll only review that part thoroughly.I spent a while looking for a good Rachmaninov CD. My main objective was to find a nice version of Piano Concerto No. 2, and I can safely say mission accomplished.
Vladimir Ashkenazy does a good job with the solo piano and it moves at a pace to which I am accustomed. (Is it wrong to not like the composer's intentions? :) ) I actually prefer a performance with the London Philharmonic from the 70s slightly more than this, but all the recordings of that have a prominent hiss.
That brings me to the audio quality. Its Much better than most Rachmaninoff CDs I have found, as it has been digitally remastered. But I was a little dissapointed when playing it on my dad's audio-phile surround sound system. I felt like I was being fed the music in one lump instead of a weave of the different tones and timbres. But that's no reason not to buy it; it still sounds great on my stereo, my car stereo, and my computer speakers (I have good computer speakers) I may have been expecting too much from my dad's audio system.
In conclusion, this two disc set has nearly everything else you would want from Rachmaninoff. (They don't call it essential for nothing) There is no background hiss or hum, and the choice of performances is excellent.