Artist(s): Rudolf Serkin, piano
Conductor - Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra - The Philadelphia Orchestra
Recording Info: Recorded by Columbia Records recorded March 1959
I. Allegro Moderato 18:00
II. Largo Con Gran Espressione 10:50
III. Allegretto Con Spirito 8:45
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Serkin's Reger Concerto
May Max's ghost read this review in the grandest room in his house, for this is an excellent release. That Columbia ever agreed to record the work with the full Philadelphia treatment remains a cause for surprised celebration. Other reviews have remarked sufficiently on the relative quality of the recorded sound, I'll just add that to my ears this release improves considerably on the sony CD.

I love the big piano in this recording
Not only how Rudolf Serkin played out gorgeously, I am also indulged into the HDTT remastered recording.

Serkin at His Finest
Max Reger (1873-1916) was not a great composer, but his decidedly romantic - spiced up with a touch of acerbity and clearly influenced by Brahms - Piano Concerto is very accessible and well-worth listening to. The great Russo-Bohemian, turned American pianist Rudolf Serkin gave the first US performance of the work in Minneapolis in November 1945 with Dimitri Mitropoulos and in March 1959, he, Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra gave a celebrated account of the work at Carnegie Hall, which they recorded with equal aplomb for CBS a few days later. With regard to the sound, as everyone who has heard the Analogphonic LP and HDTT remasterings of CBS tapes knows, the sound engineers often captured something far more vivid than found on the original discs, which is what you get here. On first label British and American pressings the piano sound is certainly weighty, but there is a lack of clarity and much the same can be said of the orchestra, as was often the case back then the piano is too dominant and the dynamic range is flat. Turn to the HDTT DSD256 and there is far more more clarity, the sound is much more alive, the dynamic range is greater and because the orchestra has greater presence the internal balance seems better.


Powerful performance by Rudolf Serkin
This is quite a powerful performance by Rudolf Serkin. Recorded in 1959 with excellent sound quality on this transfer. This is an excellent example showing that there are some really nice sounding recordings within the Columbia catalog. Serkin and Ormandy perform this work like "hand in glove" -- great synergy of interpretation with neither seeking to overshadow the other. Of course, the usual Columbia tendency to spotlight their soloist shows up here from the original recording. The piano just occupies a different acoustic space in front of the orchestra. But this is just the nature of Columbia's artistic choice in how their concerto recordings were mixed. But, nothing detracts from the ravishing playing of both Serkin and the Philadelphia Orchestra strings, which are themselves a unique sound. HDTT's transfer is excellent: clear, clean, highly detailed, and transparent, with very little to no noise. Bob Witrak is simply a genius and getting from his tapes the purity of sound that he achieves here. Well done!
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