Chopin • Rachmaninov
Chopin: Piano Sonatas Nos 2 & 3; Rachmaninov: Variations on a Theme of Chopin
Peter Donohoe (piano)
SOMM Recordings SOMMCD0679 81:35 mins
Death stalks Chopin in this recital. It’s in the funereal chords, unyielding as gravestones, of the Prelude in C minor, which opens Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme of Chopin. Through the tolling rhythms and heavy tread of the Marche funèbre and the whirling-chill of the finale of the Second Piano Sonata, Peter Donohoe taps into darkness with playing that’s full of passion, in a programme that brings together three Romantic masterpieces.
Fate was never far from Rachmaninov’s thoughts, so perhaps it’s no surprise that he found kinship with the Polish composer – and after he’d finished his Second Piano Concerto, he embarked on writing his 22 variations on that C minor Prelude. They evolve so naturally that it feels as if Rachmaninov could have written the theme himself – perhaps it takes one genius, exiled pianist to know another.
Throughout, Donohoe’s approach has a robust honesty and an appealing straightforward feel, with an instinct for the emotional rises and falls. Perhaps, though, there could have been a greater emphasis on the bel canto line, those uncomplicated singing melodies.
Yet the two Chopin Sonatas pour out with impassioned energy, particularly the wild Second, written after the composer was on the cusp of death thanks to tuberculosis and a bone-chilling winter in Mallorca. The Third Sonata is less radical, but nonetheless full of riches – and Donohoe is alert to its myriad moods. Rebecca Franks
