Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 3

"The composer's potent wind and brass writing emerges with similar assurance and purpose in the D minor concerto. Biret injects fresh blood into Rachmaninov's vertiginous patterns, lifting the pedal where others put it down, slowing down where others speed up, and finding motivic counterlines that even Horowitz left untapped. She labors under the weight of the "harder" chordal cadenza (I prefer the lighter alternate one), but the slower tempo enables us to actually hear the pitches in the loud descending chords after the climax. While the finale ...moves with cogency and confidence. In sum, this beautifully engineered disc tells much about these oft-recorded works we think we know better than we actually do." ClassicsToday