Rachmaninov: Morceaux De Fantasie Etc – Review

RACHMANINOV: MORCEAUX DE FANTASIE ETC – REVIEW

guardian.co.uk
Thursday 2 August 2012 21.48 BST

Nareh Arghamanyan (Pentatone)
Andrew Clements

Armenian born Nareh Arghamanyan is still in her early 20s, but
her first place in the 2008 Montreal piano competition is the most
prestigious in a whole sheaf of awards that she has picked up over
the last decade. This Rachmaninov collection certainly confirms
that Arghamanyan has a remarkable technique, but also suggests
that musically she is not the finished article yet. Her selection
encompasses virtually all of Rachmaninov’s composing career, from
his Op 3 (the Morceaux de Fantasie, which include his best known
solo-piano piece, the C sharp minor Prelude) to the Variations on
a Theme of Corelli Op 42, of 1931. It’s a daunting series of pieces
that she confronts head on, swaddling the pieces in rich, warm tone,
but after a while the sheer unremitting intensity of her playing, and
its rather limited range of colourand dynamics , begin to wear. You
long for some genuinely quiet playing, and for Arghamanyan to ration
her use of the sustaining pedal more carefully. It tries just a bit
too hard to impress.

From: Baghdasarian