Donald Satz wrote:

>It strikes me that the recordings Ashkenazy has made of the Rachmaninov
>Concertos, conducting or performing on piano, constitute a healthy
>percentage of all available recordings of the Concertos: his set with
>Haitink, the set with Previn, a Decca Legends disc, and his conducting
>efforts on Ondine, Teldec with Helene Grimaud, and the Decca set with
>Thibaudet.  The man must really like Rachmaninov.

I may be wrong, but I believe that at least at one time he was a member
of the Rachmaninoff Society.

It really does seem odd to me that with his incredible knowledge of
Rachmaninoff's music, coupled with his incredible technique and musicianship,
I have never warmed to very few Ashkenazy recordings of the music of
Rachmaninoff.

>As I told my wife, I need to retire from my current profession in order
>to cover all the music I want to review.

Most of my working and off hours are spent listening. There is never
enough time, which makes it all so wonderful.

>time late at night for intense listening.  Last night, my intent was
>to listen to Sergio Fiorentino's recording of Schumann's Kreisleriana.
>Unfortunately, I was in a stupor for the first four movements and totally
>asleep for the last four.  That kind of regimen will get me nothing
>except my beauty sleep.

Here I go with a shameless plug...

One of my favorite recordings of Kreisleriana is on our label Pierian...
James Mathis in Concert Pierian 0011/12.

Karl