By VG95414
30-Oct-2012

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2  

Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of the favourite, beautiful, and often played and recorded piano pieces of the 20th century. The amount of available recordings shows how popular this concerto is in the hearts of the public from movie soundtracks to pop music -- they have all been inspired by different movements of this piece. I have at least five versions of this piece. Among the ones that I have purchased or listened from ClassicsOnline for evaluation are by Noriko Ogawa BIS CD-900 DIGITAL (purchased), Lugansky, City of Birmingham Symphony, Oramo (Warner Classics) and the most recent one that I purchased is Francois-Rene Duchable, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg (Erato 825646147168). Erato is one of the veteran labels that I remember existed when I was a teenager (40 plus years ago).

This particular recording, among many others that I listened to, scored a very fair balance between performance and sound quality in my library of music. I am an Audio Technician by training, recording live performances and have been brought up in a very musically inclined family and environment. When I listen to and evaluate recordings, the first thing that grabs my attention is how good the sound is and then, the performance. A bad unbalanced sound destroys an otherwise fabulous performance. But this one for the price that the whole album is offering (6.99 US) is a well-deserved recording that both experts and beginners alike can enjoy. - Vilic Gabrielian
Toronto, Canada
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