Recordings of
Rachmaninov's
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30, are quite abundant despite the work's still-formidable technical hurdles, but this one by pianist
Anna Fedorova has what it takes to stand out in several respects. One is the program as a whole, which includes the so-called
Rachmaninov Youth Symphony of 1891, performed by conductor
Modestas Pitrenas and the underrated
Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen. This is a single movement of an unfinished symphony
Rachmaninov began in his teens and abandoned, discouraged by both his teachers and his own evaluation. However, it is entirely listenable, even if it sounds more like
Tchaikovsky (especially
Francesca da Rimini) than
Rachmaninov. The finale is
Valentin Silvestrov's
The Messenger, a solo piano work and a particularly calm example of
Silvestrov's eclectic style, here put to the unusual use of winding down a virtuoso program. The biggest draw is
Fedorova's original conception of the
Piano Concerto No. 3 itself. Her reading is to the delicate side, which may sound like a bizarre idea for this most virtuosic of concertos, but hear her swiftness and clarity, and especially her refusal to adopt an over-the-top mood in the second movement, which here takes on lovely shades. There is a certain trend to view
Rachmaninov as more of a Classicist and even a contrapuntist than he has generally been taken to be, and
Fedorova offers a fine example, backed closely by
Pitrenas. This may be the first album with a booklet ruminating whether Russian music should be played at this juncture in history (
Fedorova, a native of Kyiv, points out reasonably enough that
Rachmaninov was also a victim of the Russian state), but it certainly won't be the last.
Channel Classics' clear sound from the Tonhalle in St. Gallen is ideal. ~ James Manheim
