Strongly virtuosic, warmly expressive, and brilliantly colorful, Nikolai Lugansky's performances of Rachmaninov's Four Piano Concertos plus his Paganini Rhapsody and Chopin and Corelli Variations are fine as far as they go. But they go no further than virtuosic, expressive, and colorful. As brilliant as his playing is -- and Lugansky sails through the hardest passages of the hardest pages of the hardest fin de siècle Russian piano composer's music with the greatest of ease -- as expressive as his playing is -- and ...
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Strongly virtuosic, warmly expressive, and brilliantly colorful, Nikolai Lugansky's performances of Rachmaninov's Four Piano Concertos plus his Paganini Rhapsody and Chopin and Corelli Variations are fine as far as they go. But they go no further than virtuosic, expressive, and colorful. As brilliant as his playing is -- and Lugansky sails through the hardest passages of the hardest pages of the hardest fin de siècle Russian piano composer's music with the greatest of ease -- as expressive as his playing is -- and Lugansky understands every accent, every dynamic, and every phrase marking with complete sympathy -- and as colorful as his playing is -- and Lugansky illuminates every shade from pensive blue to passionate red in Rachmaninov's piano writing -- Lugansky's playing doesn't say much about the content of the music, and why, aside from the fact that it's virtuosic, expressive, and colorful, it should be performed. The musical depth and emotional power of Rachmaninov's concertos are missing...
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