The fine Steinway & Sons label has attempted, in various ways, to re-create the pianistic world of a century ago, in which a recital of music by Rachmaninov would have been a common entry indeed. In his adopted United States, the recital might have been by the composer/pianist himself. Famous for his powerful hands, he is associated with sounds that could make the walls ring in a good-sized symphony hall, but the fact is that for an ordinary piano recital, which might often have taken place in a smaller space, more intimate ...
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The fine Steinway & Sons label has attempted, in various ways, to re-create the pianistic world of a century ago, in which a recital of music by Rachmaninov would have been a common entry indeed. In his adopted United States, the recital might have been by the composer/pianist himself. Famous for his powerful hands, he is associated with sounds that could make the walls ring in a good-sized symphony hall, but the fact is that for an ordinary piano recital, which might often have taken place in a smaller space, more intimate approaches are reasonable. That's what you get in this enjoyable album by Sandro Russo. Russo chooses works that generally respond well to his elegant, rather refined treatment, starting off with the comparatively rare Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28, with its general inspiration by Goethe's Faust and its inward atmosphere. Russo goes on with works that connect with each other in more or less subtle ways that he explains a short booklet note. Some of them are...
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