Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3

I wouldn’t be honest in saying that there are no other great recordings of Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto, but this is the only one that managed to steal my heart and my soul so profoundly that it will stay forever in my mind. Why? I suppose it is the enchanting resolve that Anna Fedorova radiates. Her command of Rachmaninoff’s legacy is incomparable in the way she combines poetry, virtuosity, and compassion. With this third and final release, covering all four piano concerti and the Paganini Variations, she demonstrates that the previous two were not just lucky shots. Her sensitive, yet authoritative readings reach far beyond the score.  (...)

One more version, you might say, among a very dense discography... we feel here a certain authority, a verticality which gives this performance an almost symphonic form and a tad less concertante. This overall cohesion is almost a bias, and we feel an orchestra accompanying the young pianist more than it really responding to her. The sound recording fully reinforces this impression with a very readable piano and an orchestra which merges perfectly behind it in a very holographic setting.

The quality of the recording from the Channel Classics label is remarkable and you really have the feeling of being present at the recording location or in the concert hall.

Anna Fedorova's performance is also part of a foolproof control, that of a lyricism of great sobriety, thus offering a less effervescent playing than that of Byron Janis with the LSO (Mercury recording) or the exuberant Khatia Buniatishvili with the Czech Philharmonic by Paavo Järvi (Sony recording). There is, however, depth, power, but also a lot of sensitivity and melancholy in the Ukrainian's playing. Each sentence seems carried by a fair balance of passion and modesty. This gives great purity to this interpretation, to the credit of both the soloist and the orchestra. This makes it an interpretation that we will listen to often, without ever getting tired of it as it avoids the pitfalls of too spectacular playing

The expressive playing and the sense of partnership is undeniably effective. Fedorova is prepared to take time to allow the lines to blossom and Rachmaninoff’s voice to speak.

With this release of the Third Piano Concerto, Anna Fedorova's wonderous traversal of the four Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos reaches a triumphant conclusion. It is a scintillating, powerful, gorgeously emotional performance.

Deeply emotional, highly communicative, technically superb—Anna Fedorova consistently stuns me, charms me, enthralls me with her performances. And yet she plays with such absolute humility that it is always the composer's music, the composer's communication, that I hear in her performances, not Anna. She is the pure servant of the music, and as such she shines as a hero in my eyes and in my musical enjoyment.

The piano scoring in this Concerto No. 3 is dense. So often I hear it as a muddle in many recordings. Not so here. Anna Fedorova unwraps, articulates, and makes clear the most densely scored of piano sections. She brings a delicate, nuanced touch to certain passages that is so frequently lost. Listen, for example, to the Intermezzo at about 8:45-10:00 where she delivers a dancing, shimmering articulation of the notes that breathes life and meaning into the music.

Her delivery is not bravura for it's own sake. It's is never a matter of "look at me, hear what I can do" - it is always "listen to what Rachmaninoff is sharing with us." Simply listen to the opening two minutes of the Finale. Where other pianists whip this to a frenzy of flash and power, Fedorova brings emotional insight. And the delicate fillips of notes beginning at 3:35 of this Finale are just a delightful bit of discovery - a sharing of wry insight. One can almost see Rachmaninoff winking at us.

For me, this concerto has always been the most challenging of Rachmaninoff's piano concertos. Anna Fedorova's performance brings a wonderful awakening of understanding about this work. With great phrasing (observe the subtle hesitation ahead of certain notes), fluidity and joie de vivre, she makes so much more sense of this work than I've heard from so many other performances. Brava!

The sound quality, as heard in the DXD and DSD 256 editions of the album to which I am listening, is yet another triumph by Jared Sacks. (Beware the 44kHz edition, which has nowhere near the clarity or resolution. Don't blame me if you listen to a CD or some streaming iteration and can't figure out what I'm talking about.)

Jared's recordings have a consistent signature sound quality over many years and many recordings: clear, detailed, transparent, and well balanced between solo instrument and orchestra. All recorded in acoustically sympathetic venues with microphones judiciously placed to allow the harmonics of the instruments to bloom and coalesce, capturing the sounds of real acoustic instruments in real natural acoustic spaces. Simply a delight to hear every time.