Posts tagged as "philadelphia-orchestra"

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2; Symphonic Dances

April 29, 2016

Rachmaninov was so horrified by the disastrous 1897 premiere of his First Symphony that he became ‘a changed man,’ to use his own words. For two years after that fateful evening, he composed almost nothing, and occupied himself by conducting operas in Moscow and by concertising at home and abroad. The trauma caused Rachmaninov to […]

Rachmaninov: The Bells; Spring; Three Russian Songs

April 29, 2016

Asked in later life to name his favourite works, Rachmaninov chose not his orchestral masterpieces nor those for piano but two of his choral works, the ‘Vespers’ and this ‘choral symphony’ of sorts, ‘The Bells’ based on verses by Edgar Allan Poe. It is good to welcome back Dutoit’s spacious and beautifully recorded account and […]