ITEM DESCRIPTION:

This handsome and rare LP from Melodiya (C 04575-6, Soviet pressing, red/black label, stereo) features a remarkable performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor Op. 9 "Trio élégiaque" with violinist Leonid Kogan cellist Fedor Luzanov, and conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov, here at the piano – and what a splendid pianist he is! Recorded in the Large Studio of Radio Moscow on 19 May 1973, their remains one of the great accounts of this work on record, still a landmark in the Rachmaninov discography nearly 40 years on.

Kogan, Luzanov, and Svetlanov are wholly inside the composer's idiom and they play with power, with long arching lines and a deep slavic ardor – really, this is exalted chamber music making by any measure and it is also one of the great Leonid Kogan's more elusive discs.

Wrote critic J.W.  of the HMV / Melodiya LP issue of this recording (ASD 3061) in his review for the May 1975 issue of The Gramophone: " Early in his career, Rachmaninov was given great encouragement by Tchaikovsky, both personal, practical (in standing up for him against conductors, and so on) and not least in the example of his music. When Tchaikovsky died in 1893, Rachmaninov was grief-stricken; and a natural gesture, as well as a subtle and graceful one, was this Trio elegiaque. A dozen years previously, Tchaikovsky had written his Piano Trio in memory of Nikolai Rubinstein, dedicating it "To the memory of a great artist" and incorporating a set of variations that are said to contain private references to episodes in Rubinstein's life. Now Rachrna.ninov wrote his trio, also with a set of variations centrally placed: the theme comes from a work Tchaikovsky particularly liked, The Rock.

"They do not form the most distinguished movement; though there is a brilliant variation (No. 3) which Tchaikovsky would certainly have liked for its scintillating' invention and its racing figuration. Here, Rachmaninov anticipates some of the best of his Paganini Variations. For the rest, the variations are dull. He lacked Tchaikovsky's essential ability to vary an attractive idea with new harmony and new textural decor. The real weight of the piece lies neither here nor in the fervent, vehement short finale, but in the enormous opening movement. This may be, as Geoffrey Norris concedes in his useful sleeve-note, out of proportion to the rest of the work, but it is also a movement of such power, both in its deeply felt lyrical material and in the imaginative range with which it is handled, that it is in no way disproportionate with itself. The music needs this span; it embodies a large-scale response to a deeply felt event.

"The performance is worthy of the piece, in the variations doing its best to make the music convincing, and in the first movement allowing the material expressiVe breadth without loosening a very firm grasp on the large-scale form. Svetlanov is known as a conductor of vigour and virtuosity; his gifts as a pianist are in no way inferior, and with Kogan and Luzanov he completes a trio of distinction. The recording is a great deal better than many that come out of Russia, and provides a good warm acoustic together with a clean piano tone."

CONDITION:

The gradations of condition I use are as follows: MINT, Near-Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.

The condition of the jacket is VERY GOOD-. There is minor bumping/wear at corners, as well as creasing, particularly to the upper-left corner, and a former price sticker to the rear panel. However, there are no seamsplits, bends, or owners' markings, and the album remains solid, bright, and presentation worthy – overall, a solid collector's copy.

The condition of the LP itself is EXCELLENT. Although the surfaces are not CD silent, in general the playback is superb – overall, an excellent collector's copy.