Alexander Malofeev (21) now lives in Berlin which makes it easier for him to travel. But when he played Rach 3 in Sept. 2022 in Frankfurt (Germ) tears were running from his eyes. Oct. 1 st. 2022 in Amsterdam he told me he missed Russia. Mr. Ashkenazy's story about Rachmaninoff is so true. Thank you for this great video. (Holland)
It's good to hear an established and intelligent performer speaking so insightfully about Rachmaninoff. When Arrau compared Rachmaninoff's work to "cheap nightclub music" he was really betraying a musical-cultural deficiency in his own mindset.
His analysis of Rachmaninov is so sensitive and insightful. Nobody plays Rachmaninov's body of work more exquisitely and brilliantly than Ashkenazy. My one exception is Rubinstein's recording with Reiner of the Paganini Variations. His interpretation of the 18th Variation is sublime.
OMG - as a lover of all the works Ashkenazy discusses here (both concertos and Symphonies #2 & 3, Symphonic Dances and obviously, the Corelli Variations) his analysis of the ‘opening out’ and ‘closing in’ of his main themes pre and post-Russia, as well as his harmonic language, was a revelation to me...an ‘aha’ or ‘yes, exactly so’ moment as a result of which I’ll never be able to hear these themes in the same way ever again. Thank you 1000 times over for this incredible insight by the foremost Rachmaninov interpreter and musical master, Vladimir Ashkenazy...just, wow!!!
Thank you for posting this video, it has added greatly to my appreciation and understanding of both Ashkenazi and Rachmaninoff and the depth of both the music and Ashenazis interpretation.
This is wonderful and inspiring to watch. I'm playing this work at the moment and this has really made me appreciate even more how fortunate I am to be in the possession of such great music. Thank you.
I saw Ashkenazy conducting Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances at the Sydney Opera House, back when he was still conducting here. It was great, they told us they were recording a CD of the performance and I wish I could find it.
I don't know of exact emotions and feelings in this Correlli Folia version but Ashkenazi plays this perfectly and this is the greatest piano peace. When I first heard it, it made me mad.
It almost seems Ashkenazy gives a precious, limitless expression to Corelli and Rachmaninoff - as if these expressions might have been astonishing and poignant to the composers themselves when they were contemporaneous. He reaches into the past and is able to remove himself from the music -- in this way, he is a pure instrument, a vessel. Particularly with the Emporer's Concerto ... has anyone wondered if he pulls coloration and subtlety out of passages that the composers themselves might have been astonished at if they were only able to hear him perform? As if they might have even expanded on or edited what they originally wrote?
Every musician has their own ideas about various styles, periods and composing so it is all open for discussion, that is sure. Personally when it comes to Rachmaninov’s style I prefer his last masterpiece the Paganini variations in terms of ingenuity, brilliance and overall design. The solo works are not as satisfying as his piano concertante works. Most of his career he had to play to support himself and his family in exile as a star for Steinway New York so composing took a distant third or fourth, as he conducted too.
