PentaTone Releases Rachmaninovís Piano Concerto No. 2 And Rhapsody On A Theme By Paganini

Starring Werner Haas & The Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart Under The Direction Of Eliahu Inbal

12-Jun-03

This is a new release in PentaToneís series of Remastered Quadro Recordings. A Series that presents Philips Classics RQR recordings from the 1970s in hybrid SACD format.Werner Haasí career was tragically cut short by a car accident on October 11, 1976 when his car collided with a truck near Nancy, France. His recordings of Debussy piano works were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque and his Ravel recordings won the Amsterdam Edison Prize.ìÖIt makes me feel goose-pimply all over!Ö,î the seductive Marilyn Monroe whispers alluringly in the ear of her host Tommy Ewell upon hearing the initial F-minor chords of Rachmaninovís Piano Concerto No. 2, just before he pulls her passionately towards him ñ and wakes up from a beautiful dream! In the 1955 film The Seven-Year Itch, Rachmaninovís emotionally laden music plays at least as important a role as Marilyn Monroeís plunging neckline.The Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 18 was written in 1900/1901 under highly unusual circumstances. Deeply frustrated by the flop of his Symphony No. 1, Rachmaninov suffered a serious creative crisis, which lasted for many years: only after accepting the suggestion of psychiatrist Dr. Nikolai Dahl to undergo hypnotherapy, at the time a brand-new psychoanalytical approach, did he manage to overcome this crisis. Rachmaninov wrote the following: ìConsequently, day after day, half asleep in an armchair in Dahlís study, I listened to the hypnotic incantation: ëYou will write your concertoÖ You will work without any problemÖ The concerto will be first-class,í It may sound somewhat unbelievable, but this treatment truly helped.î And Piano Concerto No. 2, which Rachmaninov dedicated to Dahl, turned out to be a resounding success.Three decades later, in 1934, Rachmaninov composed his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 43. He wrote 24 Variations, in which he examined and analyzed Paganiniís Violin Caprice No. 24 (from Op. 1). His modern treatment of the rhythm and especially of the harmony is the truly innovative element here. The 24 Variations are dexterously interwoven, as they are almost inaudibly underpinned by the concerto form with its traditional order of movement: fast ñ slow ñ fast.Although the new SACD standard allows for five channels plus a subwoofer channel, these early recordings reissued in the RQR series are being released in their original four-channel version. Itís PentaToneís way of doing justice to the original intentions of both artists and recording technicians, and presenting their work in the best possible context with the help of 21st century technology.