Search - Rachmaninoff, Mendelssohn, Franck :: Piano Concerto 2

"Brief Encounter" revisited

09/03/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Eileen Joyce playing Rachmaninoff second in the movie "Brief Encounter." The movie was wonderful, but I fell in love with the pianist who played the concerto in the movie. Unlike some pianist who blaze through technical fireworks, Joyce performed with taste, feeling and sensitivity. It is so good to have her complete recording of Rachmaninoff second here. The impression I get from her playing remains much the same. Joyce's playing is very beautiful (but not too slow, thank goodness!) and elegant, backed well by Leinsdorf. Other selections in this CD is equally excellent. The sound is a bit dim by the standard of the day, but without distortion, so it should be relatively easy to listen if one is used to listening to old recordings."

Best of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto #2

Mara Kurtz | New York, NY USA | 08/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I too loved the music in my very favorite film in the world, "Brief Encounter," and searched for a long time to find the soundtrack. This CD was a delight to discover and, despite having a number of others with different pianists playing #2, this is by far my favorite. I have listened to it over and over and it never disappoints. Brings me right back to 1945, sitting in that railroad car as it pulls out of Carnforth Station in Northern England, mist and rain, hopes and dreams. Eileen Joyce is wonderful and the rest of her performance on the CD is equally enjoyable. I don't mind the less than perfect acoustics - it all works perfectly."

Eileen Joyce plays concertos.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 11/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This admirable CD is the best souvenir of the Australian pianist Eileen Joyce (1912-1991) playing concertos. Reputed to have a repertoire of more than 70 concertos, Miss Joyce, a very comely figure, frequently liked to schedule several concertos in one concert, appearing in a different dress for each of them. At one such concert, which I attended amongst an audience of school children, she assured her audience, when answering questions, that there were so many things on which to concentrate during a performance that there was never time to be nervous.



The Mendelssohn concerto gets an alert and colorful performance here, Miss Joyce phrasing the andante movement beautifully and providing plenty of sparkle in the third movement. The tempo chosen for the first half of the Frank variations seems excessively slow. Elsewhere, in this performance, there are signs that pianist and conductor are not entirely in agreement. The Rachmaninov concerto gets an "old-fashioned" treatment. The little Turina piece, for piano and string orchestra, offers eight minutes of quite special material crafted so expertly as to make one wish it were heard and recorded more frequently.



The recordings, dating from the late 1940s except the Turina (1936), are made to sound eminently "comfortable" and natural on this 76 minute Dutton CD.

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