Rachmaninov: Symphonies Nos. 1-3


Rachmaninov: Symphonies Nos. 1-3
Walter Weller
Label
Decca
Catalogue No.
4800824
Barcode
00028948008247
Format
2-CD
About

Although they have been intermittently available, Walter Weller’s cycle of the three Rachmaninov Symphonies have hidden their blazing light under the Decca bushel for far too long. Recorded in absolutely thrilling Decca sound with L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (No. 1) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (Nos. 2 and 3), these three masterpieces are now collectively issued on Australian Eloquence. Weller’s view is at once trenchant and expansive. He is able to extract the last ounce of emotion from such symphonic-scapes as the slow movement of the Second – taken at a seemingly dangerously slow tempo but which, with his unerring shaping of that popular movement, seems just right. Grippingly emotional, these readings will now take their rightful place in recording history with such other great stereo recordings as those by Eugene Ormandy and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

TRACK LISTING / ARTISTS

SERGEI RACHMANINOV
CD 1
Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13*
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44+

CD 2
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44+
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27+

L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande*
London Philharmonic Orchestra+
Walter Weller

Recording information

Recording producers: John Mordler (No. 1); Michael Woolcock (No. 2); Christopher Raeburn (No. 3)
Recording engineers: James Lock (Nos. 1 & 2); James Lock, John Dunkerley (Symphony No. 3)
Recording locations: Victoria Hall, Geneva, Canada, August 1972 (Symphony No. 1), Kingsway Hall, London, United Kingdom, May 1973 (No. 2), March 1974 (No. 3)