Jésus López-Cobos’ Rachmaninov Second gets off to a less than promising start. Despite the beautifully resonant tone from Cincinnati’s low strings, the music suffers from a lack of vitality, as if it were groggily awakening rather than dynamically unfolding, as it does under Ormandy. It seems at first that the Allegro’s failure to take wing could be blamed on the conductor’s slow pacing, but one listen to Svetlanov’s or Rozhdestvenksy’s darkly dramatic readings at even slower tempos squelches that excuse. It’s a matter of rhythm and accent, or the lack of it. A disappointing lack of verve spoils the usually exciting development section, where Temirkanov and Pletnev exhibit far more passion. Even the climactic reprise of the lyrical second theme sounds strangely devoid of ardor, though Lopez-Cobos’ immaculate orchestral balances allow us to hear much inner detail.
The Scherzo’s brisk opening signals a new surge of life in the performance, and although Lopez-Cobos maintains a decidedly light touch, things proceed far more compellingly from here on. The nicely flowing and beautifully phrased Adagio generates substantial feeling, and the finale skips along joyfully at its unexpectedly quick tempo. Suspecting that there was more to this recording than originally met my ear, I played the first movement again and discovered that this disc needs to be played at high volume to get the full impact of Telarc’s stunningly clear DSD sound. Now the music had greatly increased presence, but the performance, alas, remained on the tepid side. Oh yeah, the Vocalise is just fine. So, it’s an excellent disc for audiophiles, but Rachmaninov lovers would do better with the listed alternatives.
