Bob Draper wrote:
>I am steadily downgrading my opinion of Rachmaninov. His symphonies
>aren't up to much and others on this list have said that the piano
>concertos are poorly structured. ...
Listen to R's own recording of his 3rd concerto and of his 3rd symphony.
Still not great music upon repeated listening, I suppose - and the concerto
recording has a number of flaws - but when you first approach these
recordings, many things that sounded gratuitous or redundant before become
blindingly clear. Everything fits together into an inevitable whole and
many details are so vivid as to evoke a flood of near-pictorial
associations while one is listening.
Felix Delbruck
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