CD: Denis Matsuev: Unknown Rachmaninoff

So this Siberian guy walks into a Swiss villa...

No, it's not the beginning of a rather lame joke. It's what actually happens when you round up the winner of the 1998 International Tchaikovsky Competition and set him loose at the personal piano of another Russian composer, Rachmaninoff, with some early compositions by the same.

And so with this CD young Mr. Matsuev presents two previously unrecorded piano pieces, Rachmaninoff's Fugue in D Minor and an arrangement of the Suite for Orchestra in D Minor.

So the play list and the piano are themselves the newsmakers: two world premieres, played at Rachmaninoff's own Steinway and not Mr. Matsuev's usual Yamaha.

That said, Denis Matsuev is not the first classical star to record using Rachmaninoff's piano. Mikhail Pletnev got there first with his Hommage a Rachmaninov a few years back.

As for other comparisons, Matsuev has been touted as a natural successor to Vladimir Horowitz, and perhaps it is daring to make such an assertion relatively early in his career. However, I'd observe that Matsuev is his own man, a real contender -- or, as Tim Page put it, "an absolute powerhouse of a pianist."

And he has an open love affair with jazz, as he explains in an interview for Russia Today. Safety note: Turn down the sound on your computer before you click on this link.

What we are concerned with here, though, is his interpretation of Rachmaninoff, particularly the early pieces that make up the world premiere recordings. I found the piano version of the Suite for Orchestra in D Minor particularly engaging, but was equally happy to hear the various etudes and preludes here, plus Sonata No. 2, also included on the album. More than one reviewer has commented that several of the works contain passages with a raindrop-like effect -- a shower of notes, if you will, even though at other moments it all becomes a cascade.

But Matsuev asserts himself satisfyingly in the stormier passages, and is then ready to charm and sparkle and whisper when the moment calls for it. If you want a sense of his technique, there are a few opportunities online to check it out, perhaps starting with this one.

But don't come away with the impression Matsuev's repertoire is rather confined. Yes, he thrills audiences with concert programs and encores comprised Russian material, but he also makes room in his career for a jazz festival and for recording the works of Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann.

That said, Rachmaninoff is quite enough for this time out, and of course it's clear that Matsuev has the heart (and hands!) for a lifetime of performing Rachmaninoff.