Vladimir Ashkenazy’s way with the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto noticeably mellowed in the years between his blistering 1963 premiere recording on Decca with Kirill Kondrashin and this 1986 reading. That’s not to say it became mushy or dull, but it is certainly heavier, characterized by a prevailing darkness that calls to mind Stravinsky’s description of Rachmaninov as a “six-foot scowl.” Ashkenazy’s rich tone and emphatic phrasing assures an overall somber cast, while Bernard Haitink draws similarly-countenanced playing from the Concertgebouw Orchestra–the low strings especially. However, there is a respite from the gloom in the quite touching rendition of the lyrical slow movement.
Concerto No. 4 is supposedly a lighter work, but it’s hard to tell in Ashkenazy’s equally stern reading. Again he summons robust tone from his instrument and manages to make the first movement’s main theme sound uniquely grim. For his part, Haitink heightens the drama with threatening horns in the second movement. Even so, the performers render the brighter finale with the requisite zest. Decca had only recently begun recording in the Concertgebouw, and it shows in the sound’s abundant reverberation and early digital glare. Still, the sense of space and sonic bulk communicated by the recording matches the performances, and for some listeners this will be preferable to the dynamically limited sound of Ashkenazy’s interpretively superior 1970s renditions with André Previn.
