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BY PAUL FESTA
Rachmaninov's music has always been invaluable, if not for its intrinsic merit, then for its ability to help us distinguish between two character types. Pluck a random person from a subway train or sidewalk and place her in a concert hall where Rachmaninov's music is being played. If she dissolves into a puddle of salty Russian tears, she is certain to be a member of the human race; if she runs sneering from the hall, she is most definitely a critic.

After growing up an ardent fan and advocate of the composer (to the extent that an unfriendly middle school classmate signed my seventh-grade yearbook, "To Mr. Paul 'Rachmaninov's 3rd Piano Concerto' Festa"), I completely forgot about this music from about the age of 16 until this week, when I received from London Records the disc of Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing, among other works, the fourth piano concerto, with the Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy. On hearing the disc, I realized that I had indeed become a critic.

But let me put aside for a moment my newfound dislike for Rachmaninov. Let us forgive him, momentarily, for prolonging the 19th century for more than 40 years past its natural expiration, and for giving us such works as the C-sharp minor prelude (referred to by the composer in his later years merely as "It"). Because it is pointless to rail against one of the century's most enduringly popular composers, let us ask not whether this music is worth listening to, but whether we should wish to listen to another recording of it.

Under the best of circumstances (which does not exactly describe the current state of the classical music recording industry), it is extremely taxing to justify a new Rachmaninov disc. Not because for every new entry there are perhaps thousands of predecessors, but because by 1941 the composer himself had recorded all four of his piano concertos as well as the "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" with the Philadelphia Orchestra, along with a number of solo works. If one must listen to Rachmaninov's music, why not listen to Rachmaninov play it? And as if the recorded legacy of his own interpretations weren't enough of a deterrent for the modern Rachmaninov player, the composer's friend and compatriot Vladimir Horowitz produced some of the most electrifying musical moments on record performing this stuff. Attempting to produce a relevant recording of a Rachmaninov concerto in the shadow of these definitive performances is about as thankless a task as writing a sequel to the Old and New Testaments.

These performances by Thibaudet and Ashkenazy would have been nearly revelatory 50 years ago. They are technically flawless, lyrical and full of dramatic tension. And to his credit Thibaudet has chosen to include the less-well-known second piano sonata and Corelli variations. But for the bulk of the program it would take a listener much subtler than I to discern what these artists have to say about Rachmaninov that hasn't been said on record many times by now. The industry awaiting its Mohammed is likely to wait a little longer.
SALON | March 25, 1998