With the Paganini Variations and the Second Concerto Kocsis completes his journey through Rachmaninov's works for piano and orchestra. Collectors should note that this concerto is also available on a CD coupling with the First Concerto, which (as an LP) was criticized by Max Harrison in February 1984 as insufficiently committed. For my own part I think Kocsis's feelings are strongly involved—strongly enough to override discretion in matters of tempo. Like an exuberant young owner of a powerful sports car he too often has his foot on the accelerator, leaving too little time to savour the view. Certainly in the first movement of the Second Concerto much of the second subject's nostalgia is lost in the overall haste (exaggerated lingerings here and there don't really make amends), so is the splendour of the central Alla marcia climax. Ashkenazy's new Decca account of this movement is so much maturer and riper because he allows everything time to breathe. Nor can Kocsis (like Ortiz—see page 1424) match Ashkenazy's calm in the opening and closing sections of the Adagio—or the spacious grandeur of its central peak. Even in the finale (where Ashkenazy is no laggard himself) Kocsis still wins the race. How the orchestra keeps up with him in the fugato I don't quite know. But they do, firmly and imaginatively controlled by Edo de Waart. All in all I would describe it as a splendidly spirited, youthful 'brave-new-world' Rachmaninov No. 2. But I prefer the greater succulence of expression and colour offered by Ashkenazy, the Concertgebouw and Haitink.
The Paganini Variations have a very different tale to tell, and here Kocsis's virtuosity and imaginative vitality really come into their own. Atmospheric evocation is potent, with the orchestra revelling in contrasts of colour no less than Kocsis at the keyboard. I can rarely remember being more impressed by Rachmaninov's own skills as an orchestrator than in the crystalline glints and seductive shimmers of this performance. And what a moment Edo de Waart makes of the pesante return of the ''Dies irae'' theme near the end.
The LP recording is very good! A CD version, should we get one, would no doubt make it sound even better—if the other disc reviewed here is anything to go by.'