After his enormously popular piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (which are always among the most performed concert works), the most admired of Sergey Rachmaninov's large-scale orchestral compositions are his symphonies No. 1-3, the Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead, The Rock, and the choral symphony, The Bells. They are imbued with the composer's characteristically brooding expressions, rich harmonies, and somber, mysterious themes, and their place among the great post-Romantic masterpieces is ...
Read More
After his enormously popular piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (which are always among the most performed concert works), the most admired of Sergey Rachmaninov's large-scale orchestral compositions are his symphonies No. 1-3, the Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead, The Rock, and the choral symphony, The Bells. They are imbued with the composer's characteristically brooding expressions, rich harmonies, and somber, mysterious themes, and their place among the great post-Romantic masterpieces is unchallenged today, despite a period in the mid-20th century when critical opinion was sometimes unkind. This box set is a good response to any rigid prejudices because Mikhail Pletnev's performances with the Russian National Orchestra do full justice to Rachmaninov's music and make the case for his skills as a symphonic composer. Yet Rachmaninov's orchestration is occasionally problematic because it is often dense and situated in the orchestra's middle range, so it takes a conductor of...
Read Less
Add this copy of Rachmaninov: Symphonies Nos.1-3; the Bells; Symphonic to cart. $70.86, good condition, Sold by ICTBooks rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wichita, KS, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Deutsche Grammophon.