Rachmaninoff: Reflections Inon Barnatan

• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943): Symphonic Dances Op. 45 (Arr. for Piano by Inon Barnatan):
• 1 Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances Op. 45 (Arr. for Piano by Inon Barnatan): No. 1, Non Allegro 11:51
• 2 Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances Op. 45 (Arr. for Piano by Inon Barnatan): No. 2, Andante con moto. Tempo di valse 09:31
• 3 Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances Op. 45 (Arr. for Piano by Inon Barnatan): No. 3, Lento assai - Allegro vivace 13:48
• Moments Musicaux, Op. 16:
• 4 Rachmaninoff: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16: No. 1, Andantino in B-Flat Minor 07:17
• 5 Rachmaninoff: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16: No. 2, Allegretto in E-Flat Minor 03:18
• 6 Rachmaninoff: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16: No. 3, Andante cantabile in B Minor 06:53
• 7 Rachmaninoff: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16: No. 4, Presto in E Minor 02:56
• 8 Rachmaninoff: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16: No. 5, Andante sostenuto in D-Flat Major 04:00
• 9 Rachmaninoff: Moments Musicaux, Op. 16: No. 6, Maestoso in C Major 04:37
• 14 Romances, Op. 34:
• 10 Rachmaninoff: 14 Romances, Op. 34: No. 16, Vocalise (Arr. for Piano by Inon Barnatan) 05:52
• Preludes, Op. 32:
• 11 Rachmaninoff: Preludes, Op. 32: No. 12, Prelude in G-Sharp Minor 02:56
• Total Runtime 01:12:59

Info for Rachmaninoff: Reflections

Inon Barnatan presents Rachmaninoff Reflections, offering some of the composer’s most cherished piano works, including his Moments musicaux, Prelude in G-Sharp Minor and Barnatan’s own arrangement of the Vocalise. The centerpiece of this project is Barnatan’s breathtaking new piano arrangement of the Symphonic Dances.

His other Pentatone discography consists of Time Traveler’s Suite (2021), Beethoven’s complete cello sonatas with Alisa Weilerstein (2022), as well as complete recordings of Beethoven’s piano concertos together with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Alan Gilbert (2019 and 2020).

Inon said about the project, “A few years ago I came across an unforgettable recording from 1940, in which Sergei Rachmaninoff plays through his Symphonic Dances on the piano for conductor Eugene Ormandy, before Ormandy led the Philadelphia Orchestra in the premiere performance of the orchestral version of the work. While it’s not clear Rachmaninoff knew he was being recorded (he did not allow any other live recordings of his playing), this private performance offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the powers of one of history’s great pianists, and an extraordinary insight into the way he intended the piece to be performed. It also got me thinking...

Since childhood, I had been moved by the power, beauty, and complexity of the orchestral version of Symphonic Dances. Later, I loved collaborating with other pianists to perform the two-piano version (which Rachmaninoff created before the orchestral version) alongside other pianists, but hearing the composer play it alone on a single piano, I got a tantalizing new perspective on how the score must have been conceived, and how a solo piano version could promise a new dimension of spontaneity and flexibility. All I had to do was create it.”

Inon Barnatan, piano

Inon Barnatan
“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (New York Times), Inon Barnatan has established a unique and varied career, equally celebrated as a soloist, curator and collaborator. Barnatan is a regular soloist with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors, and served as the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic for three seasons. During the pre-pandemic period of the 19/20 season Inon played with the symphony orchestras of Minnesota, Dresden, Barcelona, Stockholm, Ottawa, Innsbruck, Tenerife and Los Angeles, recreated Beethoven’s legendary 1808 concert with the Cincinnati Symphony, and finished recording the complete Beethoven piano concertos with Alan Gilbert and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, released by the Pentatone label in 2020. When public concerts stopped during the pandemic, Inon recorded concert films and streamed performances with numerous orchestras, including the Boston, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Detroit, New Jersey and San Diego symphony orchestras, conducted Mozart and Beethoven concertos from the keyboard with the Seattle Symphony, performed the US premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s piano concerto with the New World Symphony, and played numerous recitals and chamber music performances online. The coming season sees his return to the Chicago Symphony and London Philharmonic, his debuts with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony orchestras, and the Pentatone release of his “Time-Traveler Suite” album, a program merging Baroque movements by Bach, Handel, Rameau and Couperin with movements by Ravel, Ligeti, Barber and Thomas Adès to create a unique baroque-inspired suite, culminating in Brahms’ Variations on a theme by Handel. The recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award, Barnatan is also a sought-after recitalist and chamber musician, and in 2019 he embarked on his first season as music director of La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest in California, one of the foremost music festivals in the US. In the 19/20 season he played solo recitals at Carnegie’s Zankell Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall and reunited for a European tour with his frequent recital partner, cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Passionate about contemporary music, he has commissioned and performed works by many living composers, premiering pieces by Thomas Adès, Sebastian Currier, Avner Dorman, and Andrew Norman, among many others.

"a complete artist: a wonderful pianist, a probing intellect, passionately committed, and a capable contemporary-music pianist as well.” (Alan Gilbert, Music Director, New York Philharmonic)

Booklet for Rachmaninoff: Reflections