Est 1923

Rachmaninov Piano Works

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Sergey Rachmaninov, Felix Mendelssohn

Label: Connoisseur Society

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 70

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: CD4194

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Variations on a theme of Corelli Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(9) Etudes-tableaux, Movement: No. 6 in E flat minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(9) Etudes-tableaux, Movement: No. 8 in G minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(6) Moments musicaux, Movement: Presto, E minor Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(6) Moments musicaux, Movement: Adagio sostenuto, D flat Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(24) Preludes, Movement: E flat, Op. 23/6 Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(24) Preludes, Movement: A minor, Op. 32/8 Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(24) Preludes, Movement: G sharp minor, Op. 32/12 Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(7) Morceaux de salon, Movement: No. 2 in A, Valse Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(7) Morceaux de salon, Movement: No. 3 in G minor, Barcarolle Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Lilacs Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Daisies Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Sergey Rachmaninov, Composer
(A) Midsummer Night's Dream, Movement: Scherzo (Entr'acte to Act 2) Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Felix Mendelssohn, Composer
Oxana Yablonskaya, Piano
Oxana Yablonskaya (Russian-born but American-based) offers a richly comprehensive selection of Rachmaninov's music, taking us through fiery intricacy, veiled melancholy and exultant triumph alike with masterly ease. Yet as this record progressed I became increasingly aware of how one piece sounded much like another. The stress is on a superb overall view rather than on more finely detailed qualities (the individual sound-world and emotional idiosyncrasy of each Prelude, Etude-tableau and so on). In the Corelli Variations (Yablonskaya's single large-scale offering) there is a fierce alternative to Rachmaninov's prescribed piano and Tempo di Menuetto (Variation 3) and Variation 18 gets off to a tame start for forte and Allegro con brio. Otherwise the responses, despite much elasticated rubato, are straightforward, if less acute than either Shelley or Ashkenazy.
Yablonskaya has a notable poetic success with the popular G sharp minor Prelude, moulding its phrases with all the freedom and flexibility Rachmaninov demands but rarely receives, and she can whip up a daunting storm when the composer's virtuosity is in full spate (the fourth Moment musical or the E flat minor Etude-tableau from Op. 33). Yet she lacks the delicacy and acuteness of several other celebrated Rachmaninov players. I particularly missed Moura Lympany's lyric grace in the E flat Prelude, Op. 23, Moiseiwitsch's inimitably spun line in Lilacs and, of course, the Scherzo from the Mendelssohn-Rachmaninov Midsummer Night's Dream. And her way with the Tchaikovsky-influenced Waltz from Op. 10 hardly erased memories of Nadia Reisenberg's affection and stylistic piquancy on an old long-deleted Nixa recital. None the less, even when Oxana Yablonskaya is inclined to paint in broad rather than subtle brush strokes she is, clearly, a formidable pianist, and she has been finely recorded.'

Rachmaninov Piano Works

Variations on a theme of Corelli

(9) Etudes-tableaux, Movement: No. 6 in E flat minor

(9) Etudes-tableaux, Movement: No. 8 in G minor

(6) Moments musicaux, Movement: Presto, E minor

(6) Moments musicaux, Movement: Adagio sostenuto, D flat

(24) Preludes, Movement: E flat, Op. 23/6

(24) Preludes, Movement: A minor, Op. 32/8

(24) Preludes, Movement: G sharp minor, Op. 32/12

(7) Morceaux de salon, Movement: No. 2 in A, Valse

(7) Morceaux de salon, Movement: No. 3 in G minor, Barcarolle

Lilacs

Daisies

(A) Midsummer Night's Dream, Movement: Scherzo (Entr'acte to Act 2)

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