To celebrate Rachmaninov's 150th birthday anniversary, the Classical Network's Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler has selected "ideal" performances for each of the composer's Preludes Op. 23, without repeating any artist from one piece to the next.
"I'm trying to present a wide range of pianists in excellent performances, which may not necessarily be the 'best' recorded versions, yet they all have wonderful qualities," says Jed. "Of course I didn't include certain obvious contenders like Sviatoslav Richter or Vladimir Ashkenazy, but they've gotten plenty of attention from me on previous episodes. I really wanted to showcase some Prelude performances that wouldn't readily come to mind yet always thrill me."
Jed won't say which pianist is playing what Prelude; "You have to tune in to find out!" But you will be hearing from the following artists, and not necessarily in this order:
Ethel Legniska, Claire Huangci, Sergei Babayan, Andrei Gavrilov, Byron Janis, Moura Lympany, Constance Keene, Augustin Aneivas, Zoltan Kocsis, Ronald Brautigam, Andrey Yaroshinsky, Howard Shelley and Sergei Rachmaninov himself.
Listen to Between the Keys this Tuesday night at 10, with a rebroadcast Wednesday at noon, exclusively on The Classical Network and WWFM.org.
