Rachmaninov
Symphony 2
Vocalise
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Ivan Fischer
Channel Classics
CC SA 21604

Summary: Fresh, heart-felt, and youthful.
Imprints: Previn and Ashkenazy, also familiar with the Pletnev.

The first thing you'll notice about the opening of the first mov't is
the careful attention to phrasing and dynamics in the strings.  While
Previn's and Ashkenazy's strings act as the anonymous but beautiful
blowing leaf that beckons our ears to follow from one scene to the next,
(not a bad thing), Fischer's assert themselves right off; one realizes
that this is going to be a decidedly un-homogenized performance, where
every instrumental choir struts its stuff, unashamedly.

The first and third mov'ts always make or break this symphony for me.
Being more freely rhapsodic than the symmetrical 2nd, and the Rondo 4th,
conductors have more room to put their stamp on these mov'ts.  Ashkenazy
has always been a favorite of mine; I love the way he--with the help of
the Concertgebouw of course!--lets the horn line soar in counterpoint
above the dark velvety string lines.  Oh, how he luxuriates, yet holds
things together without awkward gear changes.

The Fischer is very different: the words feverish, impulsive, and
clarifying come to mind, but I want to be careful here-to me such words
have always been code for intellectualization and/or pile-driving ahead
at the expense of voluptuousness.  While Pletnev's version, hailed for
such "shaking of the cobwebs," did come off to my ears as simply thin-lipped
and expedient, Fischer's does not-he "shakes" but doesn't miss any of
the passing beauties, thanks to his attention to shading, phrasing, and
tempo relationships--I found myself exhilarated as well as indulged.
(I'll always pull out the Ashkenazy though, when I want to wallow in
sheer velvet sheen.)

There are some very lovely turns of phrase in the long-limbed string
melody of the 2nd mov't Allegro, and transitional passages everywhere
are invested with compellingly dark and imaginative hues-opportunities
missed by Pletnev, Previn, and even Ashkenazy.  The Finale dances along,
capped by a thrilling and spacious coda.   In fact what lingers in my
ear overall having listened to this version was its almost "baroque-like"
rhythmic vitality both overt, (in the 2nd and 4th mov'ts), and underlying,
(1st and 3rd).  Fischer remembers what many forget: Rachmaninov, he gots
'da rhythm too.  (I hasten to add that Fischer never impugns Rachmaninov's
eroticism and dark-hued lyricism-the orchestra soars when it has to, and
the central climax of the 3rd mov't adagio.well, I'd describe it but
we'd all blush.)

This SACD/CD hybrid plays on regular CD players, 2-channel SACD players,
(you'll love how the strings sound), and in SACD 5.0 surround.  (No
subwoofer information.) I listened in 4.0 surround, (no center), and
it's very surround-friendly-huge soundstage and great imaging, even with
my imperfect rear speaker placement.  (To hear those great percussive
accents on bass drum and cymbal explode from their own space behind the
orchestra was thrilling.) Compared to the Fischer/Dvorak surround
recordings on Philips, the Channel recording came off comparatively a
little less reverberant, but probably more true to reality, especially
if one were sitting in a hall full of people.  Never was the sound less
than warm and inviting and the bloom, (expansion), during climaxes was
everything one could wish for.  A winner.

"John Smyth" <[log in to unmask]>