Piano Street's Classical Piano Blog

Alongside the second and third piano concerti, Rachmaninoff´s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini” is probably among his best-known. It has frequently been used as theme music for motion pictures.
In the comfort of his own Villa Senar on Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, which he designed himself to be reminiscent of his family estate, Ivanovka, in Russia, Rachmaninoff composed the Rhapsody in 1934.

Here is an excerpt with the excellent pianist Mihail Pletnev and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Alexander Melnikov’s extraordinary 2006 Scriabin recording for Harmonia Mundi tickled our curiosity about what was to come.
And our wish came true. Alternating in the roles of soloist and accompanist (with soprano Elena Brilova) , his latest Rachmaninoff recording adds up to one hundred percent presence.
Melnikov delivers some of the most intelligently musical and technically impressive Rachmaninoff interpretations available. Based on his direct sensitivity and deep insight, Melnikov has accomplished a recording with unique sound and colours.
The “Etudes-Tableaux”, Op. 39 and the “Six Songs”, Op. 38 (1916-17) can be described as the composer´s pre-revolutionary creative peak followed by a very long silence. In 1931, it was a desillusioned man in a new era recalled the past and produced the “Variations on a Theme by Corelli” (twenty variations on Arcangelo Corelli’s Sonata for violin, violone, and harpsichord which, itself, is a set of variations on the European musical theme, La Folia).

Alexander Melnikov had close artistic ties with the late Sviatoslav Richter, who regularly invited him to participate in his festivals in Moscow (December Nights) and his chamber music festival in La Grange de Meslay (Tours, France). In recital, Melnikov appears regularly at the world’s leading concert halls and festivals, and has performed with numerous renowned orchestras and conductors. He was featured as a BBC New Generation Artist from 2000 to 2002.

Audio samples from Amazon.

The 2008 proms series has been announced, with several piano-centric events.
The complete Rachmaninoff piano concerti will be performed as part of the series, plus the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, by pianists Yevgeny Sudbin, Nicolai Lugansky, Boris Beresovsky, Steven Hough and Olga Kern. Murray Perahia will also return to the Proms for the first time in 20 years. For the full program schedule point your browser to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2008

26 new tracks have been added:

Chopin – Preludes op 28 no 6 and 7
Clementi – Sonatinas op 36 no 2 and 3
Handel – Minuet in G HWV 450
Hummel – Rondo
K̦hler РSonatina op 300
Lemoin – op 37 no 3 and 6
Mozart – Sorrow March K453a
Mozart – Minuet in F K94
Mozart – Rondo in F K15hh
Oesten – op 155 no 2 and 4
Rachmaninoff – Prelude c#-minor op 3 no 2
Rameau – Minuet in C
Satie – Three Gymnmopedies
Schumann – Wiegenlied op 124 no 6

All recorded in Swedish Radio, Studio 3 on Steinway model D.