Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 for two pianos

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Rachmaninoff

Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (arr. Callaghan & Takenouchi)

59:24

I.Largo – Allegro moderato21:37

II.Allegro molto10:05

III.Adagio12:24

IV.Allegro vivace15:18

Recording date11-13 February 2022

Recording locationWyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth, UK

ProducerAdrian Farmer

EngineerAdrian Farmer & Simon Callaghan

Release date4 November 2022

LabelNimbus Records

Catalogue numberNI8110

Duration59:24

the carefully crafted arrangement combined with their playing that maximises the lingering sound of the pianos makes it highly gripping... a superbly captivating listen.

Record Geijutsu (Japan)

Jan 2023

It’s a remarkable achievement and in the hands of Callaghan and Takenouchi, we have not a substitute but a virtuosic new work.

Interlude (Hong Kong)

Oct 2022Source

What Callaghan and Takenouchi have accomplished is, in a word, remarkable: to translate the symphonic scope of the large-scale opening movement into a twenty-one-minute treatment for two pianos is alone impressive; that they extended that artfulness to the work in its entirety is all the more striking. To have distilled the textures of Rachmaninoff's symphonic design into a pianistic form that's as gripping is surely no small feat.

Textura

Mar 2023Source

Their inquisitive nature is at the source of this arrangement, and they succeeded in assimilating this symphony’s deep lyricism and dramatic splendours into their pianism through the arduous work of converting Rachmaninoff’s orchestral writing into that for the piano.

Record Geijutsu (Japan)

Jan 2023

With Hiroaki Takenouchi (piano)

Composers have been arranging orchestral works for two pianos and for piano duet since the eighteenth century, putting symphonies within reach of the drawing room and their own music in front of a wider public: four-hand versions abound of symphonies by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and Haydn. Rachmaninoff arranged his own first and third symphonies for four hands but left no two-piano version of the Second — the omission that prompted this new arrangement by Simon Callaghan and Hiroaki Takenouchi. Their aim was to stay as close to the original as is practical while making a genuine piano work rather than an unsatisfactory imitation of the orchestral one, embracing the two instruments' limitations as well as their capabilities.

Of course, our motivation was also to be able to enjoy playing this magnificent masterpiece which we had cherished for as long as we could remember!

— Simon Callaghan & Hiroaki Takenouchi