Steven Osborne: piano
Lossless: Ape (img + cue + log) = 324 mb
Lossy: Mp3 (lame "preset standard") = 121 mb
Pdf booklet included
Total playing time: 78:31
Recorded 2008 | Released 2009
INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW 'OUTSTANDING' AWARD
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE INSTRUMENTAL CHOICE
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE
THE TIMES CLASSICAL CD OF THE WEEK
THE SUNDAY TIMES CD OF THE WEEK
DAILY TELEGRAPH CD OF THE WEEK
MUSICAL OPINION RECORD OF THE MONTH
Recording:
7–8 and 20–21 August 2008, Henry Wood Hall, London
Hyperion CDA67700
Track listing:
1. Prelude Op.3, No.2 in C sharp minor (Lento)
2. Prelude Op.23, No.1 in F sharp minor (Largo)
3. Prelude Op.23, No.2 in B flat (Maestoso)
4. Prelude Op.23, No.3 in D minor (Tempo di minuetto)
5. Prelude Op.23, No.4 in D (Andante cantabile)
6. Prelude Op.23, No.5 in G minor (Alla marcia)
7. Prelude Op.23, No.6 in E flat (Andante)
8. Prelude Op.23, No.7 in C minor (Allegro)
9. Prelude Op.23, No.8 in A flat (Allegro vivace)
10. Prelude Op.23, No.9 in E flat minor (Presto)
11. Prelude Op.23, No.10 in G flat (Largo)
12. Prelude Op.32, No.1 in C (Allegro vivace)
13. Prelude Op.32, No.2 in B flat minor (Allegretto)
14. Prelude Op.32, No.3 in E (Allegro vivace)
15. Prelude Op.32, No.4 in E minor (Allegro con brio)
16. Prelude Op.32, No.5 in G (Moderato)
17. Prelude Op.32, No.6 in F minor (Allegro appassionato)
18. Prelude Op.32, No.7 in F (Moderato)
19. Prelude Op.32, No.8 in A minor (Vivo)
20. Prelude Op.32, No.9 in A (Allegro moderato)
21. Prelude Op.32, No.10 in B minor (Lento)
22. Prelude Op.32, No.11 in B (Allegretto)
23. Prelude Op.32, No.12 in G sharp minor (Allegro)
24. Prelude Op.32, No.13 in D flat (Grave)
Reviews:
International Record Review
Extremely impressive all round … Osborne lavishes a remarkable level of authority on every one of these masterworks, playing with a rare combination of technical ease, tonal lustre and idiomatic identification. He also has the undeniable advantage of a magnificent Steinway instrument with a rich, opulent sonority and great solidity in its bass register … In summary, Osborne goes from strength to strength as he moves through the cycle, wrapping up the final page of the concluding D flat prelude in a blaze of glory … For a truly spellbinding modern account, Osborne now holds the winning ticket.
Classics Today
It's easy to fathom why this disc garnered high praise from the British press, along with my ClassicstodayFrance.com colleague Christophe Huss. Steven Osborne meets the considerable pianistic demands of Rachmaninov's Preludes with effortless aplomb and elegant, world-class mastery. In addition, Hyperion's superior engineering absorbs the music's wide dynamic range, striking an ideal balance between ambient resonance and pinpointed detail.
Granted, some listeners may find Osborne's luminous tone and yielding cadences too soft-grained in impact next to more angular and forceful performances of certain pieces: think of Richter's animation and transparency in the Op. 23 No. 4, Gavrilov's swashbuckling Op. 23 No. 2, or Horowitz's sexy phrasing of Op. 25 No. 5's harmonically gorgeous coda. Yet Osborne's intelligence and authority grow more persuasive over repeated listening.
How marvelously he structures the G-sharp minor Op. 32 No. 12's obstinate accompaniment around the long cantabile lines, and similarly so in the C minor Op. 23 No. 7. Impressive power, drive, and suppleness define an A minor Op. 32 No. 8 that arguably rivals Ashkenazy's nimble paradigm. The B minor Op. 32 No. 10's desolate chords are weighty yet full of inner lilt. And the ubiquitous C-sharp minor Op. 3 No. 2 convincingly fuses forward sweep and firm, orchestral sonorities. While I wouldn't sacrifice Weissenberg, Fiorentino, or Ashkenazy among my favorite complete Rachmaninov Prelude cycles, collectors seeking the best combination of sound and interpretation will gain long-lasting satisfaction from Osborne's formidable achievement.
Fanfare USA
The velvet tone with which Osborne caresses the tendrils of the melody at the beginning of op. 23/6, the stunning clarity of the gesture in op. 32/6 and the fingerwork in op. 32/8, the gloriously saturated climax of op. 31/13… the subtly of color and his unerring control of phrasing and dynamics over long musical spans, the lyricism never turns saccharine, the introspection never turns to self-pity, and the melancholy never glowering… Osborne is arguably at the top of the list.
BBC Music Magazine
While a number of Rachmaninov’s preludes are perennials in recital programmes, others show up with much less frequency, but Steven Osborne’s superb disc reveals the rewards to be had by listening to all 24 at a single sitting.
His imagination eloquently encompasses the music’s broad spectrum of expression. He brings fresh ears and insight to familiar preludes such as the C sharp minor, the B flat major, G minor and G sharp minor, and he approaches the structurally more perplexing and potentially diffuse E minor with a clarity that illuminates and strengthens its inner drama.
Vladimir Ashkenazy’s mid-1970s recording for Decca (475 8238) has long led the field in this repertoire, and nobody would want to be without it, but Osborne brings a captivating finesse and lucidity to Rachmaninov’s textures, as well as thinking himself into that equivocal world where melancholy and bliss, introspection and dynamism coalesce.
The juxtaposition of major and minor modes at the end of the B minor prelude encapsulates that ambiguity in just a few bars, but there are many other instances where Osborne’s playing hauntingly hovers between reflectiveness and rapture.
He also sees deep into the music’s inner layers. So often in these preludes, it is an idea running through the alto or tenor voice that carries a particularly poignant message, a trait that Osborne senses instinctively and conveys with subtle judgement of tonal perspective.
This is outstanding Rachmaninov playing of acute perception, discretion and poetic sensibility, limpid, powerful and luminous in equal measure.
The Guardian
Though Rachmaninov's 24 preludes might seem to make a satisfyingly round number in musical terms, and each contains a piece in each of the major and minor keys, the set was never conceived so systematically. The most famous of them, in C sharp minor, had been part of Rachmaninov's Op 3 set of piano pieces; in the early 1900s, he composed 10 more as his Op 23, and finally, in 1910, decided to make a proper job of it all by producing another 13 for the remaining keys, which were published as Op 32. Steven Osborne preserves that chronology in his performance, beginning with the C sharp minor and following it with Op 23 and then Op 32, so that the development of Rachmaninov's piano writing and his enrichment of its harmonic language seems totally natural. These are wonderfully natural performances: the best on disc since Vladimir Ashkenazy's set from the 1970s, with Osborne always alert to the variegated surfaces of the music, yet mindful of the deeper currents that run beneath. His sound is perfectly judged, never overbearing in even the heftiest passages, and translucent enough to allow the inner lines, which often in Rachmaninov have an expressive life all their own, to be heard. A lovely disc.
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Classics Today
It's easy to fathom why this disc garnered high praise from the British press, along with my ClassicstodayFrance.com colleague Christophe Huss. Steven Osborne meets the considerable pianistic demands of Rachmaninov's Preludes with effortless aplomb and elegant, world-class mastery. In addition, Hyperion's superior engineering absorbs the music's wide dynamic range, striking an ideal balance between ambient resonance and pinpointed detail.
Granted, some listeners may find Osborne's luminous tone and yielding cadences too soft-grained in impact next to more angular and forceful performances of certain pieces: think of Richter's animation and transparency in the Op. 23 No. 4, Gavrilov's swashbuckling Op. 23 No. 2, or Horowitz's sexy phrasing of Op. 25 No. 5's harmonically gorgeous coda. Yet Osborne's intelligence and authority grow more persuasive over repeated listening.
How marvelously he structures the G-sharp minor Op. 32 No. 12's obstinate accompaniment around the long cantabile lines, and similarly so in the C minor Op. 23 No. 7. Impressive power, drive, and suppleness define an A minor Op. 32 No. 8 that arguably rivals Ashkenazy's nimble paradigm. The B minor Op. 32 No. 10's desolate chords are weighty yet full of inner lilt. And the ubiquitous C-sharp minor Op. 3 No. 2 convincingly fuses forward sweep and firm, orchestral sonorities. While I wouldn't sacrifice Weissenberg, Fiorentino, or Ashkenazy among my favorite complete Rachmaninov Prelude cycles, collectors seeking the best combination of sound and interpretation will gain long-lasting satisfaction from Osborne's formidable achievement.
Fanfare USA
The velvet tone with which Osborne caresses the tendrils of the melody at the beginning of op. 23/6, the stunning clarity of the gesture in op. 32/6 and the fingerwork in op. 32/8, the gloriously saturated climax of op. 31/13… the subtly of color and his unerring control of phrasing and dynamics over long musical spans, the lyricism never turns saccharine, the introspection never turns to self-pity, and the melancholy never glowering… Osborne is arguably at the top of the list.
BBC Music Magazine
While a number of Rachmaninov’s preludes are perennials in recital programmes, others show up with much less frequency, but Steven Osborne’s superb disc reveals the rewards to be had by listening to all 24 at a single sitting.
His imagination eloquently encompasses the music’s broad spectrum of expression. He brings fresh ears and insight to familiar preludes such as the C sharp minor, the B flat major, G minor and G sharp minor, and he approaches the structurally more perplexing and potentially diffuse E minor with a clarity that illuminates and strengthens its inner drama.
Vladimir Ashkenazy’s mid-1970s recording for Decca (475 8238) has long led the field in this repertoire, and nobody would want to be without it, but Osborne brings a captivating finesse and lucidity to Rachmaninov’s textures, as well as thinking himself into that equivocal world where melancholy and bliss, introspection and dynamism coalesce.
The juxtaposition of major and minor modes at the end of the B minor prelude encapsulates that ambiguity in just a few bars, but there are many other instances where Osborne’s playing hauntingly hovers between reflectiveness and rapture.
He also sees deep into the music’s inner layers. So often in these preludes, it is an idea running through the alto or tenor voice that carries a particularly poignant message, a trait that Osborne senses instinctively and conveys with subtle judgement of tonal perspective.
This is outstanding Rachmaninov playing of acute perception, discretion and poetic sensibility, limpid, powerful and luminous in equal measure.
The Guardian
Though Rachmaninov's 24 preludes might seem to make a satisfyingly round number in musical terms, and each contains a piece in each of the major and minor keys, the set was never conceived so systematically. The most famous of them, in C sharp minor, had been part of Rachmaninov's Op 3 set of piano pieces; in the early 1900s, he composed 10 more as his Op 23, and finally, in 1910, decided to make a proper job of it all by producing another 13 for the remaining keys, which were published as Op 32. Steven Osborne preserves that chronology in his performance, beginning with the C sharp minor and following it with Op 23 and then Op 32, so that the development of Rachmaninov's piano writing and his enrichment of its harmonic language seems totally natural. These are wonderfully natural performances: the best on disc since Vladimir Ashkenazy's set from the 1970s, with Osborne always alert to the variegated surfaces of the music, yet mindful of the deeper currents that run beneath. His sound is perfectly judged, never overbearing in even the heftiest passages, and translucent enough to allow the inner lines, which often in Rachmaninov have an expressive life all their own, to be heard. A lovely disc.
Gramophone (click to enlarge)
Click here to buy / listen
Click here to download
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