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Rachmaninov: Piano Sonatas 1 & 2 / Lugansky

Rachmaninov / Lugansky
Release Date: 09/25/2012 
Label:  Naive   Catalog #: 208   Spars Code: n/a 
Composer:  Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Nikolai Lugansky
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 1 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews



Following his much-praised Liszt recital, released in 2011, this new recording is the second project on Naïve-Ambroisie from renowed Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky.

Considered as one of the best performers of Rachmaninov in the world, Nikolai Lugansky is offering his very personal and accurate vision of the two piano sonatas of the composer. Both piano sonatas are monuments of the repertoire, with technical challenges and intense colours. Yet, composed 5 years apart, presenting a multitude of emotions and contrasts, they are significantly different works. Very few recordings already exist of the first sonata, that Rachmaninov intended to be a programme Read more sonata based on the main characters of Goethe’s Faust.

Press for Nikolai Lugansky’s recent Rachmaninov performances: “A rare treat closes out this Savannah recital: Lugansky's terrific account of Rachmaninov's neglected Piano Sonata No.1...Lugansky relishes the delicious, long-flowing lines of Rachmaninov's intertwining melodies.” NPR - Tom Huizenga

“Well over six feet tall like Rachmaninoff himself, Lugansky possesses a similar indomitable strength and iron-fingered dexterity and has clearly taken note of his compatriot pianistcomposer’s interpretive style in this music. […] Yet it was the depth and eloquence, the organic quality of Lugansky’s Rachmaninoff that distinguished this performance as much as the muscle and sonorous heft. Everything seemed to emerge naturally from what came before rather than a succession of brilliant isolated bursts as in so many young hotshots’ readings of this repertoire.” Chicago Classical Review

“Lugansky negotiates the coruscating technical chicanery of the Sonata [Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No. 2], yet it is the [Rachmaninov] Corelli Variations’ haunting nostalgia that really hits the emotional spot" BBC Music Magazine

"As always with his Rachmaninov, Lugansky's playing balances grand gestures with an immaculate sense of detail. It's a combination that works particularly well with the overt drama of the First Sonata, where his subtle rhythmic and emotional inflections add immensely to the gathering tension. His performance of the Second is altogether more restrained: the limpidity of the slow movement is exquisite in the extreme."

-- Tim Ashley, The Guardian [10/11/2012]

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Works on This Recording

1. Sonata for Piano no 1 in D minor, Op. 28 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Nikolai Lugansky (Piano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1907; Russia 
 Date of Recording: 05/2012 
Venue:  Potton Hall, UK 
Length: 36 Minutes 8 Secs. 
2. Sonata for Piano no 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:  Nikolai Lugansky (Piano)
Period: 20th Century 
Written: Russia 
 Length: 24 Minutes 34 Secs. 

Sound Samples

Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28: I. Allegro moderato
Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28: II. Lento
Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28: III. Allegro molto
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36 (1931 version): I. Allegro agitato - Meno mosso
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36 (1931 version): II. Non allegro - Lento - Piu mosso
Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 36 (1931 version): III. Allegro molto - Poco meno mosso - Presto

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 2 Customer Reviews )
 Forwards to the History! January 25, 2013 By Brien Chomica (Winnipeg, MB) See All My Reviews "Forty years ago we had Mr. Horowitz recording a dazzling version of his edited version of Rachmaninoff's second version of his Second Sonata! My friends and I were bouncing off the walls at University with this old LP. Well, it is time to regenerate and hear Mr. Lugansky's reconstructed-edited-enraptured personal version of the Second Sontata! The more you know the Horowitz (in his numerous CD's and DVD of it) the more Mr. Lugansky's is entrancing. -- The First Sonata of Rachmaninoff is a very fine piece, as everyone who studies this composer knows. Mr. Alexis Weissenburg has made a beautiful recording of this on DG recordings quite a number of years ago. The present recording of Mr. Lugansky is expansive, drammatic, cosmic, and world-encompassing, as the composer intended it to be." Report Abuse
 No memories erased here January 19, 2013 By Michael Gast (New York, NY) See All My Reviews "Lugansky performs these gigantic works with complete mastery: phrasing, tonal control are all there. Is this a benchmark recording? I don't think so, but it ranks among the finest I know. Definitely worth a listen, particularly for the First Sonata, a rather neglected piece. As for the Second Sonata, Lugansky's interpretation has powerful sweep and great intensity. Still, with artists like Horowitz looming in the background, it's difficult to say if his performance adds anything to the great riches already out there. Not the least of which is Yevgeny Sudbin's astonishing performance for BIS, where the recorded sound is deeper, richer, clearer." Report Abuse
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