Mariinsky: Denis Matsuev — Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Shchedrin — Gergiev (Hybrid SACD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• UPC: 822231858720
• Catalog Number: MAR0587
• Product Type: Hybrid Super Audio CD (SACD)
• Brand / Label: Mariinsky
• Soloist: Denis Matsuev (piano)
• Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra
• Conductor: Valery Gergiev
• Composers: Sergei Rachmaninov, Igor Stravinsky, Rodion Shchedrin
• Release Year: 2015
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Piano concerto, 20th-century orchestral

Product Features

• Format: Hybrid SACD — playable on all CD players; HD stereo and surround layers read by SACD players
• Discs: 1
• Total duration: 66:25
• Sound: DSD; multi-channel 5.0 and stereo mixes
• Recording: Live in DSD, November 2014 & April 2015, Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
• Booklet notes: English, French, German, Russian
• Manufactured in Austria
• Condition: New / Factory sealed

Overview

This is a Russian pianist on home ground. Denis Matsuev, the Mariinsky Orchestra, and Valery Gergiev recorded these three concertante works live in the Mariinsky's own hall, and the programme has a clear logic — three Russian composers across a century, each writing for piano and orchestra in a different idiom.

Rachmaninov's First Concerto opens, heard in the composer's leaner 1917 revision rather than the youthful original. Stravinsky's Capriccio follows in its 1949 version — spiky, neoclassical, full of wit. Then Shchedrin's Second Concerto, the most modern voice here, with its movements titled Dialogues, Improvisations, and Contrasts.

There's a quiet poignancy to the disc, too: it's dedicated to Maya Plisetskaya, the legendary ballerina and wife of Shchedrin, who died shortly after the sessions. Captured in DSD with multichannel and stereo layers, this hybrid SACD plays on any CD player while offering high-resolution audio to those equipped for it.

Interesting Facts

• The recording is dedicated to the memory of Maya Plisetskaya (1925–2015), wife of Rodion Shchedrin and dedicatee of his Piano Concerto No. 2; she died shortly after the sessions.
• Rachmaninov's First Concerto appears in his 1917 revision, completed the same year he left Russia, recasting a piece he had first written as a teenager.
• Stravinsky's Capriccio is given in the 1949 revised version; the composer wrote it as a vehicle for his own concert appearances.
• Denis Matsuev won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1998 and is one of the most prominent Russian pianists of his generation.
• The Mariinsky label is the in-house imprint of the St Petersburg theatre, recording its own orchestra and conductor Valery Gergiev directly.

Track Listing

Rachmaninov — Piano Concerto No. 1 (1917 version)

1. I. Vivace — 12:08
2. II. Andante — 6:07
3. III. Allegro vivace — 7:50

Stravinsky — Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (1949 version)

1. I. Presto — 6:57
2. II. Andante rapsodico — 5:33
3. III. Allegro capriccioso ma tempo giusto — 5:08

Shchedrin — Piano Concerto No. 2

1. I. Dialogues: Tempo rubato — 10:04
2. II. Improvisations: Allegro — 4:28
3. III. Contrasts: Andante – Allegro — 8:10

Publishers

℗ & © 2015 State Academic Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg, Russia. Produced, edited, mixed and mastered by Philipp Nedel (b-sharp); recording engineers Martin Kistner & Fyodor Naumov. Manufactured in Austria.

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