Unmissable Rachmaninov from Boris Giltburg

This is a significant release from Naxos: Rachmaninoc's Piano Sonatas No. 1 & 2, plus an arrangement of the orchestral tone-poem The Isle of the Dead.

The First Sonata, D-Minor, Op. 28, dates from 1907/08. Its heft might be a contributing facto in its neglect: as Giltburg says in his excellent booklet notes:

I grew up in unquestioning ignorance of Rachmaninov’s First Piano Sonata. Like Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto (there are three!) and Dvořák’s Piano Quintet (there are two!), Rachmaninov often seems to have written only one piano sonata – that in B flat minor. 

The First Sonata was composed in Dresden and is contemporaneous with the Second Symphony (another long, powerful, big-boned work). Few, if any, pianists understand the Sonata's workings better than Giltburg, and it is this, alongside his flawless technique, that seals the deal. His ability to delineate textures through variety of touch is a miracle in the first movement (and throughout, for that matter!). He keeps passages lesser pianists might meander through on a tight leash, and momentum wins through. The effect is truly compelling. In a conversation with the great Russian musician Konstanin Igumnov, Rachmaninov revealed that, like with Liszt's Faust Symphony, each movement was based on a character from that great legend (Faust, Marguerite, Mephistopheles, in that order). Giltburg sees the first movement as Faust's quest for knowledge, while reminding us of the terseness of Rachmaninov's thematic palate. Like Liszt's B-Minor Piano Sonata, he says, a few motifs pervade. And of course, one of those is the “Dies irae”:

The second movement, then, is Marguerite (Gretchen). Lighter, more fantastical, and Giltburg's reactions are wonderfully quixotic. This is Giltburg, and Rachmaninov, the storytellers:

The finale surges forth unstoppably. In his notes for the release, Giltburg speaks about how he honours Rachmaninov's layering - maintaining simultaneous voices and going each one individuality. He does all this and more: there is an imitative section that seems to link to the fugue in the Liszt B-Minor Sonata. This finale is full quarter of an hour (less 3 seconds!) and Giltburg makes it absolutely compelling. His pedal work is also noteworthy, never over-used, and he is unafraid to take his foot fully off:

Here's Giltburg in a music video of the entire sonata (38"30, just faster than the disc's 38"47):

This is not Giltburg's first rodeo when it comes to the Second Sonata: thee is a recording by him on Orchid Classics, in the wake of his success at the 2013 Queen Elizabeth winner.

The Second Sonata begins with a massive statement of intent: grand, gestural, but en melts into the most Rachmaninov-esque lyricism imaginable. There is more of a sense of musical concentration here, though: the first movement is 8" 22. Giltburg is magnificently muscular when the music calls for it, and those Rachmaninov bells are unmissable, tolling descents:

It is a more persuasive performance than his earlier Orchid Classics account:

Giltburg finds an awesome sense of inevitability in the central “Non allegro” (a strange indicator if ever there was one). There is a glorious sense of unfolding here, and how he relishes the wonderful harmonic twists in the music:

It goes significantly deeper than the Orchid reading:

The finale, too, is no mono-dimensional journey, but one that contains moments of great interiority alongside the scampering angst:

This whole Naxos performance is a terrific accmplshment (the same could be said for the entire disc!). Here's a complete performance, in a Naxos video:

The performance of The Isle of the Dead uses a transcription by George Kirkov which has been adapted by Giltburg. It is a glowing performance, and that ability Giltburg has to build tension over long spans pays use dividends here. Plus, shorn of orchestral colour, the processes of the work become so clear:

Compare that with the orchestral original and you'll see what I mean: here's, fittingly, another pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra:

If you don't know the Rachmaninov Piano Sonatas, this is a great place to start. The disc is available a Amazon here. Streaming below.