(The following comments relate to Lugansky's CD of
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto Nos. 3&4)
"These performances do not have the slightest trace of ostentation. He produces a wonderful sound, allows phrases to breathe naturally and the music to unfold freely. In short he is content to serve Rachmaninov rather than his own ego. He plays the cadenza that Rachmaninov himself recorded rather than the overblown alternative favoured by the majority of pianists these days, and in the Fourth Concerto his playing is wonderfully fluid. There is ample virtuosity, but it takes second place to poetic fantasy. To put it in a nutshell, Lugansky is a real artist whose thoughts about the music carry more weight with this listener than many barnstorming virtuosi."
