With one very significant exception, Rachmaninov's early piano works are performed far less frequently than his later piano works. The exception, of course, is the Prelude in C sharp minor, certainly the most popular piano piece Rachmaninov ever wrote. But for all its popularity, Rachmaninov's Prelude is always performed as an excerpt from his five-movement Morceaux de fantasie from 1892 and the Morceaux, along with its companion, the six Moments musicaux from 1896, are nearly unknown to all but Rachmaninov's biggest fans. Even Vladimir Ashkenazy, probably the world's greatest living Rachmaninov interpreter, has heretofore recorded the C sharp minor Prelude only as an excerpt on a two-LP set devoted to Rachmaninov's complete Preludes. But in 2003, even Ashkenazy recorded Rachmaninov's Prelude in context of the Morceaux de fantasie along with the Moments musicaux. The resulting disc is incontrovertible proof that Rachmaninov's early piano works are just as good as his later piano works. Indeed, they may be even better. In Ashkenazy's amazingly virtuosic and completely compelling performances, Rachmaninov's early piano works sound more passionate, more romantic, more tragic, and far more daring than his later piano works. Ashkenazy's inclusion of two short, expressive, and nearly unknown piano works from 1917 makes the program more interesting and his addition of two songs transcribed for piano solo including the ever-popular Vocalise makes it more attractive. Decca's digital piano sound is as deep, lush, rich, and warm as its best stereo piano sound, which means that it's as real as sitting in the same room with Ashkenazy.
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