Anna Fedorova - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 (2020) [DSD64]

Low-key might not be what listeners, imagining the great composer-pianist with the giant hands, come to Rachmaninov for, but it's worth hearing this interpretation from pianist Anna Fedorova, and letting it sink in. These readings, with the little-known Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen under Modestas Pitrenas, might qualify as offbeat in more ways than one. Compare Fedorova's tempos in the Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1, with those of Denis Matsuev, to take a muscular Russian reading from the years before this one, and the contrast is striking: Fedorova is more than two full minutes slower in the first movement, and in general, she favors not only slow tempos but quiet dynamics. Her playing is elegant, and in the upper registers, it has an unusual sparkling quality deployed to excellent effect in the four Preludes that form the central act of the program. She is also attractively reflective in the quieter passages of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43. Again, Fedorova is not for everybody: the appearance of the "Dies irae" melody toward the end of this work is here more a passing mood than a warning, but her playing grows on the listener. Myra Hess rarely played the Russians, but if she had, it might have come out something like this. ~ James Manheim