Editorial Reviews : What a story there is behind this recording! When Van Cliburn won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the height of the Cold War with his playing of this concerto, it created an international sensation. The recording followed immediately thereafter, and Cliburn was launched on an international career of unprecedented celebrity for a classical musician. Perhaps the attention was too much, too soon, given his subsequent burn-out and retirement from public life. Fortunately, we have these unique recordings to document what was, by all accounts, a genuine phenomenon. This is the disc 'heard 'round the world.' --David Hurwitz
Buyer Reviews : By means of comparison, this is the best ever recorded work of Rachmaninov's 2nd Concerto. I tend to buy classical cd's, lp's, and tapes and compare the soloist's and orchestra's performance to other recordings of the same work. There is a cd out with Andre Watts performing Rach 3 and Phillip Entremont playing the Rach 2, as he does well; However without such *clarity* of emotion as Van Cliburn, and without that gut-wrenching desparity. In most places you can even find the old recordings of Sergei Rachmaninov performing his second piano concerto, but he plays it almost... impatiently; Like he was waiting to hurry up and get the performance done so he could go bar-hopping.
Tchaikowsky's 1st is a great performance by Cliburn, no doubt, and I'm sure many people would buy this recording for that particular piece. But, the performance of the Rach 2 is simply unsurpassed. Within the first 15 seconds, in the opening bars of Rach 2 part 1 you are dropped into a world of very brooding darkness. Sergei has a way in the Rach 2 of making these ever-so familiar patterns and rhythms repeatedly milk the life out of you. So no, this is not a wedding album. :-) Also, this is not your typical, pompous, arrogant British tea party classical music either. It's alot more for the lovers of true classical music and those who can absorb real emotion.
