I recorded this in my own studio at home on my Blüthner - the one with Abel natural felt hammers on it and the Jubilee plate. I've got five of the preludes recorded, and I will finish the Op.23 set. I've learned a lot specifically from recording them. One thing I've learned is that while we don't think of Rachmaninoff as a period composer (even though it's now 120 years since Op.23 was composed), there's a lot happened in performance practice and aesthetics that are very different from his time. I absolutely did not aim to make a recording that follows or honors historical performance practice but I did let the instrument guide some of my decisions.
Firstly I feel that the tone of this piano in this room suits a slightly slower tempo. The score says only Maestoso and has a suggestion of 80bpm to the quarter which is a little faster than I played, but not by much. The softer hammers seem to want more time for the sound to develop. I'm not being dogmatic or overly prescriptive, there are pianists from the 19th Century who played very fast on pianos similar to this one, but I just like that sense that the tone has time to bloom before moving off the note. Maybe it's really gilding the lily here.
Secondly the idea of fortissimo is entirely different on a set of Abel natural felt hammers on a 19th century piano. If I play fortissimo the way I would on a new concert grand in a hall, the piano kind of develops an ugly edge to the sound very quickly, so it has to be more "internal". It's a fortissimo that's more about strength than it is volume.
Thirdly, this piano suits a far more motivic phrase structure than it does the long phrases one might hear coming from certain places. But then, looking at the score, that's what's written as well.....
I've already shared it with a friend of mine who did her performance degrees in Moscow and she liked it (breathes a sigh of relief) so I plucked up the courage to post it here.
