Rachmaninoff: Variations on a Theme of Chopin, (Chochieva)

Rachmaninoff’s Variations on a Theme of Chopin are often gently disparaged as a juvenile work -- too long, too rambling, too dark and remorseless. Chochieva’s stunning performance reveals this work for the masterpiece it truly is. Where other pianists regularly leave out variations (something Rachmaninoff himself often did in performance), Chochieva plays all 22 variations, and brings to them a great deal of air and light (seriously -- all the dark passages are played with such tenderness!), along with breathtaking phrasing, remarkable contrapuntal clarity, and a vivid sense of imagination. Neither is there self-indulgence -- the tempi are brisk, with Chochieva’s recording clocking in at about 3 minutes shorter than the average. And thus the is revealed not at all as long or rambling, or dark -- instead, it is tightly knit, full of warmth and generosity, one of the most relentlessly beautiful works Rachmaninoff ever produced (listen to those slow variations -- I really don’t think th