Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2

John Wilson and Sinfonia of London release their second album of Rachmaninoff. The Second Symphony was mostly composed in Dresden – where Rachmaninoff was escaping the political and professional pressures of Russia – in 1906 – 07. An hour’s worth of music, the symphony is one of his largest works after the operas, and is widely viewed as one of his greatest works. It was possibly of some significance to the composer, following the less than auspicious début of his First Symphony (which he withdrew after the première).

Telarc To Release All-Rachmaninoff Recording by Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

The RCO's performance history of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony is strangely uneven. Already three years after its completion the symphony was performed by Willem Mengelberg in a program that also boasted the composer as soloist in his own Piano Concerto No. 3. After that the symphony was on the program once more in 1921 and then there's a gap of 59 years. From 1980 on no less than ten conductors (including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Kondrashin and Kurt Sanderling) put it on the RCO's music stands. The latest RCO incarnation proved to be an ideal performance. With Mariss Jansons at the helm, mind and heart of this piece are totally balanced and the opulence of the RCO's sound at the Concertgebouw iss perfectly suited to Rachmaninoff's most beloved symphony.

One of Rachmaninoff’s most popular pieces, the Second Symphony is an indulgently melancholic and sentimental work: a magic box of the late-Romantic orchestra. Dramatic sections played by the full orchestra contrast heart-breaking swells that only this composer could have written.

Sergey Rachmaninov’s orchestral works were composed between 1887 (when he was not yet 14) and 1940 (the beginning of his final years).

In their third edition together, the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko pay homage to Sergei Rachmaninoff on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

“I don’t want to betray that constantly sounding tone in me, through which I hear the world around,” acknowledged Sergei Rachmaninov. This tone stimulated by the intonations of folk melodies and bell ringing, and the imagery of the Russian landscape, permeates his Second Symphony. It became a landmark work for the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra, whose performances in the leading concert venues of Europe and Asia were widely admired.

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.

The Chineke! Orchestra return to Signum in a new live orchestral recording from the Royal Festival Hall, London. Drawn from exceptional musicians from across the continent, the orchestra is part of the Chineke! Foundation – a non-profit organization that provides career opportunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) classical musicians in the UK and Europe. Their motto is ‘Championing Change and Celebrating Diversity in Classical Music’.

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London on 3 October 2014 (The Isle of the Dead) and 14 December 2016 (Symphony No. 1).