November 29, 2023
Naxos has released audiophile editions of two acclaimed Vox recordings conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring the first and third symphonies of Rachmaninov. Karl Nehring of Classical Candor characterized the albums as “excellent performances, excellently recorded, making them eminently recommendable for fans of these gorgeously tuneful symphonies.”
RACHMANINOV, S.: Symphony No. 1 / Prince Rostislav (St. Louis Symphony, L. Slatkin)
The premiere of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 1 in D Minor was a notorious failure. It took until the 1940s for the work to gain recognition, and it contains much that is recognisable from the composer’s later works—brooding intensity, lyricism and yearning, orchestral colour and grandeur, written in a profoundly Russian manner. Unperformed during his lifetime, Prince Rostislav exudes Rachmaninov’s familiar qualities of melancholy and voluptuousness; and both works feature his pervasive use of the Dies irae theme. These acclaimed VOX recordings conducted by Leonard Slatkin were originally issued in 1977 and 1982.
RACHMANINOV, S.: Symphony No. 3 / Symphony in D Minor, “Youth” / The Rock (St. Louis Symphony, L. Slatkin)
Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 3 in A Minor is a radiant synthesis of the composer’s early and later periods. Poorly received at the time, its lyricism and colour are pervasive, and it has duly taken its place in the repertoire, not least because of its warm-hearted voluptuousness, rhythmic vitality and inventive structure. Written in 1891, a single movement is all that exists of the Symphony in D Minor, ‘Youth’, while The Rock is an early example of Rachmaninov’s powers of descriptive intensity. These acclaimed VOX recordings conducted by Leonard Slatkin were originally issued in 1979 and 1982.