COMPANY: Alpha
ARTIST: Lukas Geniusas
CATEGORY: CD
COMPOSER: Sergei Rachmaninoff

Product: 3760014199974

Out of stock

Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 1 & Preludes Op. 32

Lukas Geniušas (piano)

The pianist Lukas Geniušas has recorded the original version of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata no.1 in the composer’s Swiss home Villa Senar (Sergei & Natalia Rachmaninoff) and on his own piano, an unusually long Steinway & Sons model, presented to the composer and concert pianist by the manufacturer to mark his sixtieth birthday. The difference between the original version of Sonata no.1 and the second version, shorter by more than 100 bars, is not just a question of length, according to Lukas Geniušas: ‘There is a lot lost between the first and second editions. I know it goes against the grain, but I would name this sonata to be one of, if not the best Rachmaninoff’s solo piano work. Its shattering might, its splendor and scale can only be likened to the Third piano concerto, which was written soon after.’ The programme is completed by four preludes from the Op. 32 set.

Rachmaninoff: Piano Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 28
Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op. 32 No. 2 in B flat minor
Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op. 32 No. 7 in F major
Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op. 32 No. 8 in A minor
Rachmaninoff: Prelude Op. 32 No. 13 in D flat major

Gramophone Magazine

December 2023

Editor's Choice

Christmas 2023

There’s no playing to the gallery in Lukas Geniušas’s Rachmaninov with a difference, though he could certainly reach to the back of the largest concert hall with his resonant fortissimos .

December 2023

Comparisons are odious in this instance. Anyone with more than just a passing interest in Rachmaninov will need to have this excellently recorded disc on their real or virtual shelves.