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Ohlsson's Rachmaninoff Third Concerto
Posted by steve luciani on August 17, 2025, 2:35 am
Mr. Moore's recent review of Lim's Rachmaninoff Third prompted me to audition several other recordings of this work. One I never previously heard before was what I think is an absolutely stunning performance by Garrick Ohlsson, accompanied by Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony.
How different this one is! To my ears, it's much more warm and lyrical than most performances, but certainly not lacking in fireworks.
I searched the MusicWeb archives for a review, but couldn't find one. I'm wondering if any reviewers here have heard this performance and what they might think of it?
I couldn't find this recording on Amazon (the label is ASO media), and it seems to be a "download only" release on Presto. But I DID find it on Apple Music, and will give it a listen soon. I do like a lot of Ohlsson's recordings, but I'm just hoping that this one is not too S-L-O-W! ;-)
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Mr. Moore's recent review of Lim's Rachmaninoff Third prompted me to audition several other recordings of this work. One I never previously heard before was what I think is an absolutely stunning performance by Garrick Ohlsson, accompanied by Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony.
How different this one is! To my ears, it's much more warm and lyrical than most performances, but certainly not lacking in fireworks.
I searched the MusicWeb archives for a review, but couldn't find one. I'm wondering if any reviewers here have heard this performance and what they might think of it?
I listened to the Ohlsson recording yesterday - once on my small system in the computer room, and once on my main system in the living room. In the living room, my wife listened too.
We both thought that this was a very good performance indeed, and it was definitely not too slow. ;-)
In fact, my frustrations have more to do with the engineering than with the performance itself. For one thing, the sound is just a little dry for my taste, and I wish that this recording would have been issued in Dolby Atmos (or at least 5Ch) in order for the listener to get some control over the "wetness" of the sound.
For another thing, the balance is skewed too much in favor of the solo piano, so that the orchestral contributions don't always hold their own in their dialog with the piano. One really noticeable example starts with the second bar after rehearsal number 50 in the third movement, where both the piano and the woodwinds have alternating statements of the double-dotted motive (well, double-dotted in the piano, effectively single-dotted in the winds), with the piano directed to play pianissimo. But on this recording, I can hardly hear the winds as they exchange that motive with the solo piano, and I have to think that that can't be what Rachmaninoff had in mind.
At the other dynamic extreme, some of the orchestral outbursts are simply lacking in enough power for my taste. BTW, this recording isn't the only one which has these kinds of faults (or at least what I would call faults). Yuja Wang's miraculous feat of playing all the Rachmaninoff piano/orchestra works in one concert was captured by DG with The Dude and the LAPO in VERY inconsistent sound, with some of the same kinds of problems as are heard in this Ohlsson/Spano recording.
I feel terrible that I've gone on at such length about the engineering deficiencies on this Ohlsson recording, because I think that the performance deserves better. As I just mentioned, it's not as if this recording is the only one with these shortcomings. Nevertheless, we both felt that the performance was excellent indeed, and we were both glad to have heard it. Thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention!
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Mr. Moore's recent review of Lim's Rachmaninoff Third prompted me to audition several other recordings of this work. One I never previously heard before was what I think is an absolutely stunning performance by Garrick Ohlsson, accompanied by Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony.
Thanks so much for the thoughtful review, and I'm glad you enjoyed his playing. I definitely agree with your critique of the balance between piano and orchestra. We should expect better engineering from a modern recording from this century.
After I posted this, I did some searching, and found two more Ohlsson performances, both live. A 2014 with Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony and a 2020 with Spano and the BBC Symphony.
You're absolutely right in saying the orchestra should be more prominent in parts. Ohlsson himself points it out in an interesting discussion of the work I linked below.
Thanks again for indulging me by listening to this one. Appreciate it! :)
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