The sound is vivid, transparent and spacious, with transients such as string pluckings and percussion almost palpable. The record surfaces are impressively silent . . . The Rachmaninoff is a true classic, the young Byron Janis very much in the quicksilver spirit of the composer's own 1939-40 recording. The opening is thus brisker than today's norm, and rightly so, but there's no shortage of expressivity.

A standout . . . Mr. Janis's playing has Horowitzian fire and stunning clarity, even when he whizzes impetuously through elaborate passagework. Yet, there are also directness and assurance, qualities that somehow seem American. The sound on this vinyl recording is natural and warm, without a trace of the clinical, cool clarity that critics of digital technology attribute to many CDs.

. . . I heard Byron Janis' technically fearless and lyrically probing performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 -- with Dorati and the LSO in lean, sometimes fierce form . . . and the sound was full and beautiful on the new LP, the piano coming through with impressive power and clarity.