Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, Krystian Zimerman, piano

During the rehearsals for the first performance of Rachmaninov’s Vespers, the chorusmaster grumbled to the composer that basses capable of singing the cavernously low notes demanded in the work were “as rare as asparagus at Christmas”. Similar thoughts might well occur to executives at Deutsche Grammophon regarding new recordings from Krystian Zimerman; his new Rachmaninov record is his first since his disc of Chopin concertos in 1999. Actually, the Rachmaninov project was part of Zimerman’s original contract with the Yellow Label in 1977!

Both works have been in his repertoire since his teens, he regards them as “concertos for young pianists: full of Sturm und Drang.” Zimerman takes a comparatively measured view of the C minor Concerto, especially in the opening movement. He regards Rachmaninov’s own recording of the concerto as “an enigma…his performance doesn’t really explain what is inside this music.” It’s certainly distinctly classical in approach, cool and quite a bit quicker than average; by contrast, Zimerman is more than happy to let the great melodies stretch out gloriously without underplaying the martial aspects of the work. When Zimerman bares his teeth, he can produce playing of stupefying power; the passage from Bar 304 in the finale of the Second recalls Martha Argerich at her most abandoned. He is quite right to champion the First Concerto. It’s a fantastic piece, and Zimerman gives a performance of real stature.

As the Bostonians demonstrated in a pair of concerts at the Edinburgh Festival in 2002, they are still a classy ensemble. At Figure 5 in the first movement of the F sharp minor Concerto, the attractively wobbly horn solo indicates that they have not entirely lost their francophone sound, developed in their years with Munch. Occasionally (especially in the First Concerto) I could have done with a slightly less prominent balance for the piano, some of the woodwind solos sound a little reticent. Otherwise, no complaints about DG’s soundframe. Highly recommended.

About Zimerman’s recording pace

The scarcity of new Zimerman releases noted above isn’t exaggeration, he’s genuinely one of classical music’s most reluctant recording artists, by his own account unwilling to release anything he isn’t convinced is a unique statement rather than simply another version of an already well-served work. He plays only around fifty concerts a year, several of which he ends up cancelling, and travels with his own Steinway wherever possible, personally regulating and voicing it himself, a habit traceable back to early training as a piano technician rather than simple fussiness. That combination of scarcity and hands-on control over every variable is exactly why a new Zimerman recording, on the rare occasions one appears, tends to draw the kind of attention a routine new release from a more prolific pianist never would.