Rachmaninov’s Chopin Variations date from 1902-3, a time of renewed inspiration following a major creative crisis brought on by the failure of his First Symphony. This fruitful period also resulted in some of his best and well-known works like the Second Concerto and Second Suite for Two Pianos. If the Chopin Variations aren’t quite on that level, Idil Biret certainly takes the composer’s prolix, upholstered keyboard layout in her stride, giving the spiraling passagework a firm, rhythmic backbone. The disc’s remaining works are essentially chips off the master’s block, but not necessarily cast-offs. Biret may not equal Horowitz for necromatic color in the Moment musical Op. 16 No. 2, but her gaunter sonority and tighter rein on matters of rubato hold their own in such heavy-duty company. She makes what she can out of morceaux like the assured teenager’s cleverly constructed Lento in D minor, a pair of canonic exercises and a Fughetta, and paints the evocative Oriental Sketch in playful pastels, in contrast to the composer/pianist’s darker basics in his memorable recording from the twilight of his discographic career. This is one of the strongest entries in Biret’s complete Rachmaninov cycle.
