They are very good.
My personal favorite is Vasary with Yuri Ahronovitch and the London Symphony (DG).
-->http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...000009CMR?keywords=vasary rachmaninov&qid=1445363579&ref_=sr_1_1&s=music&sr=1-1

Earl Wild with Jasha Horenstein & the Royal Philharmonic is highly praised, and rightly so.
-->http://www.amazon.com/Piano-Concert...RID=0E8QRHX1PXJ6X1FVDQAX&dpID=51Tg0z+gwHL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160,160_

 

Thanks! Since they are quite affordable I will check them out on Spotify. I'll let you know!

 

I am partial to the recent recordings by Stephen Hough with Andrew Litton leading Dallas.

The composer's own recordings are interesting for reference but have quite poor sound.

 

Balthazar: don't you think the piano on the Hough recording is too buried in the soundstage? I find it hard to hear.

 

I have no trouble hearing the piano, but I see what you mean -- the piano sound isn't so isolated and highlighted. Perhaps it has something to do with the live recording process?

I rather like how the piano at times blends seamlessly into the orchestra. There is little of the banging that Rach recordings are frequently criticized for. I'll give these another listen today...

 

I have and can recommend this set

 

View attachment 76835

I have and can recommend this set

I second this :tiphat:

 

There are several Ashkenazys, inclduing the early set with Previn and the later one with Haitink, plus the earliest no.3 with Fistoulari. The 3rd with Previn has an unusual, impressive broadness, including in the cadenza - quite a fascinating contrast to most other recordings.

Some interesting single recordings are

- Richter/DG in 2, Lang-Lang/DG
- Argerich in 3 + the early, historical, poor sound Horowitz ones such as with Reiner, Barbirolli and Coates
- Michelangeli in 4
- Rubinstein/Sabata in the Paganini Rapsody (historical, poor sound)

 

Argerich and Michelangeli for me. Argerich is stunning.

 

Fwiw, I think Ashkenazy/Previn is great (and can usually be had very cheaply). If you'd like a larger box including other famous symphonic works, Jansons is also an excellent option:

http://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-Pi...00006HM8V/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1445697154&sr=8-2&keywords=rachmaninov+jansons

 

I joined specificly to give you guys my reccomendation. This may be my only post since you often focus on post-ww1 composers and I don't want to to comment on them until I have much more experience with them, which I might never have- I love my 19th-century, Debussy/Stravinsky-era and Baroque composers Soooooo much, but who knows....
Anyway, I reccomend Rachmaninoff's own recordings.
First, and most importantly- these performances may change your life. Really.
second, it is the composer himself.
3rd, he is maybe the greatest pianist in history.
finally, the sound. I know there is hiss in the background, but the Presence of the music... Oh. My. God. It feels like Rachmaninoff, the piano and the entire Philadelphia Orchestra is two feet away... or less!
And the way Rachmaninoff and the Orchestra perform..... Wow. Seriously, maybe my favorite recording of anything, including Led Zeppelin and the Bohm/Birgit Nilsson Tristan.

Just my two cents' worth.

 

Love Rachmaninov 2 & 3 piano concerto, 2nd symphony, Vocalise and prelude op 23. These are just to name a few of his works. Magical composer.

 

If you want all four concerti and PagRhap by the same performers, then Askenazy is a good choice. But why not sample around? Entremont recorded a fine version of 4th on vinyl in 1960s. Argerich's 3rd is too manic for me. Lisitsa's 2nd is lovely. And Stephen Hough is an excellent Rachmaninoff interpreter, in my opinion. Others will disagree, which is as it should be.

 

leif ove andsnes is my choice for the third

 

I find Ashkenazy as the soloist a little syrupy myself. For full sets, Wild/Horenstein is probably my favorite, but Hough/Litton, Kocsis/de Waart, Thibaudet/Ashkenazy, and Andsnes/Pappano are all really good. And Rach himself is of course authoritative (although I feel maybe a little dryer than is my real ideal).

Not sure that one should shop for these as a set though, the reality is I listen to 2 and 3 many times more than i listen to 1 and 4. 2 and 3 have great non-set versions--Richter/Sanderling in #2 is basically unmatched, Yuja Wang/Dudamel and Janis/Dorati have great #2 and #3s.

 

Has anybody heard "5", by the way? I know - he didn't write it himself. It's based on the 2nd Symphony. I probably would never have listened it to myself since it's not "original", but I became familiar with it before I knew he didn't compose it.
Surprisingly, it's definitely worth a listen. YouTube has a nice Schmitt-Leonardy recording.

 

I surely didn't, now I will, thank you very much.

 

Rachmaninoff played his concertos like no one else. He was simultaneously cool, heroic, and poetic. His fine sense of rubato - imaginative, infinitely subtle, never exaggerated - and his ability to execute the most complex and delicate filigree with utter clarity and a nonchalance which is never superficial, made him an aristocrat of the piano. Defying the impression we sometimes have of his music, he played without a trace of sentimental indulgence or histrionics, and from under his huge, powerful, sensitive hands these works emerge in their full stature.

Of others I have, Wild is exciting but driven, Hough consciously taking a Rach-like approach but missing too much of the poetry. Horowitz's Third is incomparable in its own way (Rachmaninoff agreed) and must always be heard, Ashkenazy is warm (under Previn or Haitink) and a solid recommendation, there's a gorgeous, meditative First Concerto by Volkov, an interesting Second by Katchen, and a classic Third by Cliburn. Many like Argerich in the Third; for me she's a little overheated, more Argerich than Rachmaninoff.

Whatever your modern preferences, give the composer a chance to teach you something about his music and about playing the piano. The sound is boxy and shallow, but it doesn't matter.

 

I have the Schmitt-Leonardy CD. It makes for an interesting listen, and the performance is excellent, but in the end I prefer my Rachmaninov "neat".

 

I know what you mean about Argerich but it is an exhilerating performance. I like the Entremont performance with Ozawa.

 

Boris Berezovsky for Mirare

 

Nikolai Lugansky (piano) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo.
Sublime.

 

Ashkenazy for a complete set, though I would rather choose each concerto by individual merit.

I love Cliburn in No. 3.

 

I think the Lisitsa set is tremendous.

 

Andsnes seems to believe that playing Rachmaninov doesn't always mean playing harder and louder.

 

View attachment 96645
Andsnes seems to believe that playing Rachmaninov doesn't always mean playing harder and louder.

Good call. The orchestral accompaniment on that set is top-notch too.

 

The recordings by Rachmaninov himself with Stokowski and Ormandy are definitive for me, even if the sound isn't the best by today's standards.

 

Lots of great choices but I think now Daniil Trifonov in the Rachmaninov 3rd cannot be ignored.

This may be redundant, but I don't like these: Rach (for Rachmaninov) or Khatch (for Khatchaturian). Bach is OK!

 

Trifonov in Rachmaninov 2 and 4 from DGG.

Lots of great choices but I think now Daniil Trifonov in the Rachmaninov 3rd cannot be ignored.

On the way in October:

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Rachmaninov: Suite From Partita In E For Violin (after J S Bach)
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Daniil Trifonov (piano)

www.prestoclassical.co.uk says:
>>>Grammy winner Daniil Trifonov presents a cycle of Sergei Rachmaninov's highly virtuosic Piano Concertos.
Recorded with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the orchestra most closely associated with the composer with which Rachmaninov himself famously recorded the set of concerti over 80 years ago.
The two-part "Journey with Rachmaninov" begins with DESTINATION RACHMANINOV - DEPARTURE, including the great Piano Concerto No. 2, probably Rachmaninov's best-loved work, paired with the equally beautiful and rarely performed 4th Concerto. These voluminous works are contrasted with a taste of Rachmaninov the master miniaturist, with solo piano transcriptions of Bach's Partita in E Major.<<<

 

I suggest the second by Licad & Abbado

 

In addition to Rachmaninov's own recordings, I think highly of the set from pianist Agustin Anievas & conductor Rafael Frübeck de Burgos (along with Wild/Horenstein, Ashkenazy/Previn, and Vasary/Ahronovitch):

https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-...rds=augustin+anievas+rachmaninov&dpID=61ew05AQSnL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninoff...3ad-11e8-b57f-bb83f84ca79e&pd_rd_i=B000003FGS&psc=1&refRID=HQV055E9WB1F0JYE15DC
https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Concer...AQMJ/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1531164109&sr=1-2&keywords=wild+rachmaninov

Among individual recordings, I wouldn't want to be with Vladimir Horowitz, Emil Gilels, Lazar Berman, and Bruno Leonardo Gelber in the Rach 3rd, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli in the 4th, and Sviatoslav Richter in the 2nd:

https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninoff...00FYHQ1&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=0GRTZRE7CE8AY00FYHQ1
https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-...e=UTF8&qid=1531161545&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=bruno+leonardo+gelber+rachmaninov
https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninov-...1-1&keywords=richter+rachmaninov&dpID=51H87PJZ8LL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Piano-Concer...=1-2&keywords=gilels+rachmaninov&dpID=51lSZuz5SxL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Rachmaninoff...eywords=lazar+berman+rachmaninov&dpID=61O6y1QLG-L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Ravel-Concer...eywords=michelangeli+rachmaninov&dpID=61s2e5uxgNL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Among digital era sets, Mikhail Rudy's EMI set is good (along with Ashkenazy & Haitink).

My two cents.

 

 

The Ashkenazy set is very good. There are no cuts and the original cadenzas are used. But I would concentrate on various performances of the PC#3. This is the piece worth exploring performances of. The recommendations for this piece are endless, but I would google the piece into into your browser and start with You Tube. Enjoy.

Dan