The adjective most
likely to be brought to mind by Lilya
Zilberstein’s Rachmaninov playing is
"lovely". Not that it lacks
power. In the last piece the chords
ring out imperiously against a whirlwind
of figuration, yet the chords are always
rounded in tone, the figuration never
obtrusive. Paradoxically, your jaw may
be made to drop more easily by players
who are making heavier weather of it
all. She is also always ready to relax
whenever a new harmonic vista allows.
The same thing may
be said of the whole cycle. Textures
are clear but full, the melodies and
counter-melodies arch gracefully around
each other, there is a natural sense
of give and take to the rubato. These
are very musical moments indeed.
And yet, if you go
to Rachmaninov himself in no.2 – the
only one of the set he recorded – you
realize there is more to be found in
the music. Zilberstein’s melodies soar
proudly above the sea of arpeggios,
but with Rachmaninov the arpeggios take
on a life of their own, almost as if
someone else is playing them. He is
just that little bit tauter in his definition
of the structure.
Still, if we are going
to reject all performances that are
on a lower level than those Rachmaninov
gave or might have given that won’t
leave us with much and I can’t imagine
anyone being disappointed with these
performances. It is, I repeat, lovely
playing.
Likewise in the Mussorgsky,
while Zilberstein certainly doesn’t
lack panache or grandeur – there’s a
scintillating explosion in the link
between Limoges and Catacombae
– the parts that remain in the mind
are the softer ones. I tend to groan
with anticipated boredom when anybody
starts Il Vecchio Castello as
slowly as she does, yet she creates
an atmosphere of inconsolable heaviness
of heart that captured and held me.
Catacombae and Con Mortuis
are probingly and atmospherically played.
Several of the intermediate Promenades
are notable for their sense of poetic
reflection and Gnomus has mystery
and shadow as well as grotesquery. The
Tuileries and the Ballet of
the Unhatched Chicks, on the other
hand, are delightful. This isn’t always
the most hard-hitting Pictures
but it must be one of the most attractive.
By contrast, a version purporting to
be by Joyce Hatto is plainer but also
tougher, at times more vivid, and will
make a genuine alternative when identified.
In the last resort neither knocks you
for six like Richter.
Ah, the "Hatto"!
I confess I asked to review this disc
following a tip-off. In my article on
Hatto, "Some thoughts, some questions
and a lot of letters", I pointed
out that the "Hatto" Pictures
has an unmarked, but magical, piano
at b.21 of Bydlo where the melody
suddenly goes up high, and I invited
readers to tell me of any other recordings
which do this. Nobody answered directly,
but a newsgroup discussion drew attention
to the fact that Zilberstein makes this
piano. And indeed she does, but
there are countless other differences
of tempo, rubato and dynamics. Besides,
if the two performances had matched
it would have opened up a new chapter
in the scandal, for the Zilberstein
came out a year after "Hatto"!
I note that the Zilberstein uses the
Wiener Urtext Edition. I haven’t seen
this, but if it has a piano at
this point then there may be quite a
few recordings that follow it. All the
same, the majority probably use the
Pavel Lamm edition, which is also supposed
to be Urtext, so I appeal again to readers
to help assemble a list of recordings
which have this sudden piano
in Bydlo. One of them will have
to be the "Hatto". Incidentally,
a performance of the Rachmaninov op.16
pieces by "Hatto" was described
as "truly great" by Bryce
Morrison as recently as the February
Gramophone. This was a "Hatto"
I never got, but I should say the present
disc is too recent to be its source.
My apologies to Lilya
Zilberstein for dragging Hatto into
this review, but at least I can assure
her that her Mussorgsky has not been
pillaged. And recommend her excellent
disc. It is also finely recorded. Though
the location is not given this is a
co-production with Sudwestrundfunk,
Stuttgart, so presumably their studios
were used. Many collectors will want
this for the relatively rare Rachmaninov
but they will, I am sure, be glad to
have the Mussorgsky too.
Christopher Howell
Lilya Zilberstein (piano) 
