Rachmaninov,Sergei Sergei Rachmaninov The Pianist CD

His playing presents a delicious paradox... individualistic almost to the point of recreation, while so utterly natural, so profoundly honest, you could hardly imagine the music otherwise. [Beethoven Variations[: tautness of playing, absolute rhythmic security, burbling pianissimos, knife-edged sforzandos, artful rubato and unremitting sense of purpose... delicate observations occur by the bar... [trans-criptions]: (Mendelssohn; Rimsky-Korsakov; Tchaikovsky): scintillating, full of musical interest. His reworking of Liebesleid is extremely beautiful. [his own music]... each sounds as if spontaneously improvised... The C sharp minor Prelude retains it's magic through perfect timing. That is perhaps where Rachmaninov remains most inimitable: it wasn't how he struck the keys that mattered, but when. (Gramophone)

1. Prelude C-Sharp minor (Morceaux de Fantaisie, Op.3/2) (4/1928) 2. Prelude, Op.32/6 in F minor: Allegro Appassionato (3/1940) 3. Beethoven: Variations on Original Theme in C minor, Woo 80 (Excerpts) (4/1924 to 5/1925) 4. Chopin: Ballade No.3 in A-Flat Major, Op.47 (13/4/1925) 5. Chopin: Waltz No.7 in C-Sharp minor, Op.64 No.2 (5/4/1927) 6. Chopin: Waltz No.8 in A-Flat Major, Op.64 No.3 (5/4/1927) 7. Mendelssohn's 'Scherzo' (A Midsummer Night's Dream Op.61) Arr. for Piano Rachmaninov, 1933 (23/12/1935) 8. Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Flight of the Bumblebee' ('The Tale of the Tsar Sultan') Arr. for Piano Rachmaninov, 1929 (4/1929) 9. Tchaikovsky: Tro?ka (The Seasons, Op.37A X1)(11/4/1928) 10. Carl Tausig: Valse-Caprice No. 2 (Nouvelle Soir?es de Vienne) for Piano: 'Man Lebt Nur Einmal' (After Strauss JR, Op.167) (4/1927) 11. Kreisler's 'Liebeslied' for Piano, TN Iii/5 (25/10/1921) (Arr. Rachmaninov 1921 from Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen No.1) V Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.118 (With Philadelphia Orchestra / Leopold Stokowski (Rec. 1929) 1. Moderato 9:46 12. 2. Adagio Sostenuto 13. 3. Allegro Scherzando