Rachmaninov: 24 Preludes / Osborne

Steven Osborne, piano

Gramophone Award Finalist - Instrumental 2009
Gramophone Editor's Choice - June 2009
‘A catalogue of revelations on how the Russian composer’s piano music should sound … one of the finest performances I’ve ever heard from the Scottish pianist—Osborne presented a textbook demonstration of clarity of thought and purpose … a philosophy which banished notions of Rachmaninov’s music as turgid, densely textured emotional upheaval in sonic form. This was so clear it had a rare purity, wholly refreshing the music in all its parts’ (The Glasgow Herald) ‘Textures that on the page look impossibly convoluted emerged wonderously clear, fluent and beauteous’ (Financial Times) Steven Osborne’s live performances of Rachmaninov’s preludes were greeted ecstatically by critics and audience alike: a new benchmark for performances of these works, and a new departure for this most subtle and sensitive of pianists. Now Steven has committed the complete cycle to disc—a surprisingly rare recording venture in itself. His matchless musicianship has rarely been so blazingly evident as it is here. Also apparent is his deeply individual relationship with the repertoire. This is a disc to treasure. Praise for BRITTEN Piano Concerto CDA67625 ‘Steven Osborne yields nothing to the great Sviatoslav Richter in the punchiness and fine-tuned filigree of his playing’ (Gramophone) ‘Osborne exults in Britten’s dazzlingly pianistic writing, and we get to hear the original 1938 version of the concerto’s third movement, a dazzlingly beautiful Recitative and Aria … a thrilling disc’ (Sunday Times) ‘Osborne takes the opening Toccata of the concerto at quite a lick, but his quick-witted pianism is up to the task, and it is matched throughout by some incisive and perceptive playing from Ilan Volkov’s BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. All in all, it is a match for the composer-conducted classic recording by Sviatoslav Richter’ (Daily Telegraph) ‘Osborne’s account of Britten’s 1938 Piano Concerto is full of fire and wit. He dazzles in the long, unrelentingly fast first movement … he plays the sour second movement with breezy nonchalance, the third with a heavy improvisatory tread and the Prokofiev-like March with mock-heroic fanfares and percussive virtuosity’ (The Times)

Price: $22.98