Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 1-4 - Hough, Litton

Hyperion SACDA67501/2 (2 discs)
Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid
Classical - Orchestral
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor Op. 1, Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Op. 18, Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op. 30, Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor Op. 40, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op. 43
Stephen Hough (piano)
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton (conductor)
Support this site by purchasing from these vendors using the links provided below.
As an Amazon Associate HRAudio.net earns from qualifying purchases.
- Sergei Rachmaninov: Concerto for Piano No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1
- Sergei Rachmaninov: Concerto for Piano No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
- Sergei Rachmaninov: Concerto for Piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
- Sergei Rachmaninov: Concerto for Piano No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40
- Sergei Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 43
Review by Mark Novak - November 12, 2004
This is a great recording! Hough covers all the bases - he's by turns rhapsodic, fleet, forceful you name it, he makes it happen in the right ways in these works. He's well matched by Litton and the DSO. I especially like the fact that these came from live sessions - the electricity is evident throughout. Very solid playing all around. A big congrats to Hyperion and these artists!
Soundwise, these are also very fine. There is a character to these recordings that is hard to define but it can be heard especially in the big crescendos where you get a good feel of the live concert venue. It's a chilling feeling, something that few orchestral CD's (or SACD's for that matter) ever have. I listen in stereo with a Hafler-type surround to rear speakers (a poor man's surround but I wouldn't want to go back to plain stereo) so I cannot comment on the actual surround part of this recording.
Caution - there is that awful noise present at the very end of disc 2 which my stock SCD-777 is suseptible to. It's unclear to me why some discs have this issue (the first disk doesn't suffer from this problem).
Copyright © 2004 Mark Novak and HRAudio.net
Performance:
Sonics:


Click here to report errors or omissions in the music details.