Nareh Arghamanyan - Rachmaninov: Morceaux de Fantaisie / Etudes-Tableaux / Corelli Variations (2015) [SACD]

What does Sergei Rachmaninoff mean to me? Is he another cryptographer of this eternal mystery called “music”? Or is he a creator? Perhaps a wandering musician? Or perhaps even more than simply a great composer and pianist? What is he disclosing to me by means of his sometimes sombre, sometimes tender, sometimes encouraging and ennobling music? Am I able to hear him, am I able to at least transfer his feelings and emotions to the audience? Why do I play his compositions? Will anything change in this mad, mad world if I do not perform them? … Fantasy, imagination, absorbing beauty, illu-sions, blinding visions, powerful outbursts, bright colours, divine serenity, striving for light and eternity… Rachmaninoff’s music is full of all these elements and that is also why it attracts and moves me. But is that all? …
Reviews:
Audiostream
“I listened to the wonderful DSD recording of Narel Arghamanyan performing Rachmaninov; Morceaux de Fantasie; Etudes-Tableaus, and the Corelli Variations. The dynamics of the recording were stunning with the full power and majesty of the piano reproduced in a convincing manner. The low-level background silence allowed the subtle venue acoustics to be easily identified.”
Steven Plaskin for Audiostream
Piano News
She realises the skilful phrasing and changes with a fine sense for legato and finds unique shades for every single variation. Nareh Arghamanyan shows with this CD that she is wonderful pianist whose career is worth looking out for.
(July, 2012)
FONO FORUM
Already the first bars of the Elegie from Morceaux op. 3, with their pastose legato, create a dense, melancholy atmosphere that is rarely heard these days; and no later than the following, dramatically and highly differentiated played c sharp minor Prelude, it becomes obvious that Nareh Arghamanyan is an excellent interpreter of Rachmaninov’s music.