Richter’s Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev on Profil

courtesy of Naxos of America

This past February Profil released its latest collection of performances by Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter. The last two of these have been organized around “composer pairings,” somewhat in the spirit (pun intended) of wine pairings. The first coupled compositions by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms in an album of twelve CDs. This was followed by another twelve-CD coupling of Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin (but with a “departure” on the final CD into six tracks of the music of Karol Szymanowski). The new release consists of only eleven CDs, the first four for Sergei Rachmaninoff and the remainder for Sergei Prokofiev (again with a “departure” of five tracks of Nikolai Myaskovsky on the final CD).

There are a variety of reasons why this new album is not quite as satisfying as its predecessors. One of those reasons has nothing to do with the performances themselves, but I shall hold off on that one until the end of this examination. Nevertheless, where Rachmaninoff is concerned, there was at least one unexpected feature, which I thought I would never encounter in any collection of recordings of Rachmaninoff’s keyboard music. To my surprise, none of the five pieces from the Opus 3 Morceaux de fantaisie (fantasy pieces) were included, including the second of those pieces, the C-sharp minor prelude, which has been played to death by so many pianists (including Rachmaninoff himself for his RCA Victor recordings) that it will probably resonate forever in the afterlife.

As was the case with the Chopin recordings, Richter tends to avoid “comprehensive” approaches to published collections. Thus, just as Richter prepared his own “suite” of selections from Chopin’s Opus 28 set of preludes, there are three such “suites” drawn from Rachmaninoff sources. This first of these consists of eight pieces extracted from the Opus 33 and Opus 39 Études-Tableaux collections. This is followed by two “suites” of preludes, both of which involve selections from the Opus 23 and Opus 32 collections. Since I have other sources for these collections played in their entirety as originally published, I could enjoy Richter’s perspective without feeling that I was missing anything.

Somewhat more disappointing is that only the first two of the four piano concertos (Opus 1 in F-sharp minor and Opus 18 in C minor) are included in the collection, each given recordings of two performances. (I found it a bit interesting that the same two conductors were involved in the multiple recordings of the two concertos, Oleg Agarkov and Kurt Sanderling). A more pleasant surprise was found in two tracks of songs from the Opus 21 collection with Richter accompanying his wife Nina Dorliak.

The Prokofiev offerings are somewhat more satisfying. As would probably be expected, all three of the “war” sonatas are included, Opus 82 in A major, Opus 83 in B-flat major, and Opus 84 in B-flat major. There are also two “before” and “after” sonatas, Opus 14 in D minor and Opus 103 in C major. I was a bit disappointed that none of the Opus 75 arrangements for solo piano of music from the Opus 64 Romeo and Juliet were included. However, once again there are two of Richter’s own “suites,” one consisting of eleven of the movements from the Opus 22 Visions fugitives and the other drawn from the Opus 95, Opus 97, and Opus 102 collections of excerpts from the Opus 87 Cinderella ballet.

Of particular interest, however, are the “plays well with others” offerings. The tenth CD is devoted entirely to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, coupling the Opus 119 sonata in C major with the Opus 125 “Symphony-Concerto.” The latter is particularly distinguished because it is a previously unreleased recording of the world premiere performance. Most readers are probably raising eyebrows at this point, knowing full well that Opus 125 does not have a piano part. Indeed, that world premiere was conducted by Richter, leading the Moscow Youth Orchestra (which would subsequently be called the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning in 1953).

There is also a recording of the Opus 34 “Overture on Hebrew Themes” in the version that Prokofiev originally composed in 1919 during a visit to the United States. That version was scored for clarinet, string quartet, and piano. (An orchestral version would be composed in 1934.) The quartet players on this recording, taken from a concert performance in Moscow in 1951, were the members of the Borodin Quartet: violinists Rostislav Dubinsky and Nina Barshai, violist Rudolf Barshai, and cellist Valentin Berlinsky. The clarinetist was Ivan Mozgovenko. This performance is on the final CD, followed by Dorliak presenting a satisfying selection of songs and the Myaskovsky tracks, including his Opus 81 cello sonata in A minor with Rostropovich as soloist.

The last three paragraphs were all drawn from the track listing in the accompanying booklet, which is the usual way in which do my best to account for the necessary details. Unfortunately, my listening experiences were based on MP3 downloads of the eleven CDs; and I regret to report that two of those CDs were seriously defective, meaning, for example, that I was unable to listen to either the Opus 82 “War” sonata or the Opus 103 sonata. The Amazon Web page for the physical release includes a copy of the review that Henry Fogel wrote for Fanfare; and it reads as if Fogel did, indeed, listen to the content of the defective discs (the sixth and eighth). (The seventh disc is also defective, but I was able to reconstruct it with tracks from the sixth disc.) Thus, this appears to be a problem with preparing the files for downloads. Reviewing the appropriate Web pages, I found that the time codes for these CDs did not align with those in the booklet on the sites for both Amazon and Presto Classical.

Needless to say, I communicated this problem to both Naxos of America, which was my download source, and Edition Günter Hänssler, which distributes the Profil releases. A “decent interval” of several months has elapsed; and, as far as I can tell, the problem has yet to be resolved. However, given the current conditions, I appreciate that it may take some time before we encounter any signs of improvement. I may yet capitulate and purchase the physical version, since I tend to regard Fanfare as a credible source; but, given how many recordings are on my “listening queue” as I write this, I am not in any great hurry!