If Rachmaninov's early piano works betray their immaturity, they not only possess characteristics that would blossom to greater effect in the Preludes, Etudes-tableaux etc but are already ablaze with romantic rhetoric. Codas are often clumsy and abrupt and the Mazurka from opus 10, to take a single instance, outstays its welcome and is an inflated tribute to Chopin.
Elsewhere there is so much to wonder at and relish, and never more so than when played by Boris Giltburg with all of his red-blooded all-Russian warmth and authority. The 'Elegie from opus 3 is given with a gloriously full cantabile, moving from dark and brooding beginnings into impassioned life. In the following Prelude Giltburg brings a special intensity to its sometimes tired and over-familiar life. Polichinelle, too, could hardly be given with greater brio.
Wherever you turn Giltburg makes it difficult to imagine performances of greater strength and conviction. He includes both versions of the Humoresque from opus 10, the revision a glittering and lavish aadvance on the first edition, also both versions of Melodie, the revision again an ornate advance.
A pianist with an immense ever-expanding repertoire Boris Giltburg is born for Rachmaninov and his latest offering confirms his instinct for Russian poetry shown in his earlier recordings.. I would never want to be without Steven Osborne's and Howard Sheley's Rachmaninov cycles. Shelleys includes the PIano Concertos and the Pagnini Rhapsody and remains of an enviable musical grace and fluency, complementing Giltburg's weightier performances. Naxos's sound is as natural as it is opulent.
Bryce Morrison