It's possible to admire Simon Trpceski's bravura performances of Sergey Rachmaninov's piano concertos No. 2 and No. 3 without focusing too closely on the recording's problems, because this pianist brings so much passion, character, and brilliance to his playing that it overrides complaints one might have about the orchestral imbalance or inadequacies of sound quality. Accompanied by Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Trpceski throws all of his energy and élan into the solo part, and his vitality ...
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It's possible to admire Simon Trpceski's bravura performances of Sergey Rachmaninov's piano concertos No. 2 and No. 3 without focusing too closely on the recording's problems, because this pianist brings so much passion, character, and brilliance to his playing that it overrides complaints one might have about the orchestral imbalance or inadequacies of sound quality. Accompanied by Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Trpceski throws all of his energy and élan into the solo part, and his vitality carries these extremely familiar concertos along, where a lesser pianist might not have made them sound as convincing. However, the piano part is sometimes in danger of being washed out by the thick orchestral textures, and the swelling of sound in bass-heavy passages seems artificially boosted through mixing. Rachmaninov's orchestration is especially opaque in the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, so special attention should have been paid to adjusting the dynamics of the lower...
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