Rachmaninov – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini & Piano Concerto 3

DSD recording, Mariinsky Concert Hall, February 2009

Since winning the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998, Denis Matsuev has established himself as one of the leading Russian pianists of his generation. His interpretations of works of Russian piano music in particular have always met with the unanimous approval of critics, and so it is not surprising that he has chosen two of the best-known but also most demanding classics of Russian concert literature for his CD on MARIINSKY with Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto and the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. The artist Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra were available as congenial musical partners. So we hear a thoroughly Russian reading of the two works. The excellent acoustics of the Mariinsky Concert Hall in St. Petersburg also make this SACD recording a technical sound event.