BaL 12.03.16 - Rachmaninoff: Symphony no. 3 in A minor

[BBMmk2]

The RPO/ Litton is not really "available" in the UK as a CD, the Amazon examples all being second-hand, but it is available at a download, and was on my list from the start.

Ah right, thanks, EA, I must've missed that.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm undecided: Previn or Ashkenazy?

[ardcarp]

I'm posting this having deliberately not read today's posts, as I haven't yet heard this BAL. However I have pursued (into the early hours, as everyone's away ) and again today my listening to various performances of No 3, and wanted to set out my reactions first, before hearing the survey or knowing who 'won'.

Based on suggestions earlier in this thread, I've heard these performances for the first time:

Kletzki - as mentioned above, thrilling in the outer movements but for me ruled out by horrendous woodwind tuning in the middle movement

Jurowski - oddly bland in performance and recording

Maazel - likewise, lacking fire and a somewhat dull recording, I found

Svetlanov (USSR Symphony) - pretty gritty and exhilarating but allowance having to be made for the uneven, echoey live recording (though it's undeniably an atmospheric 'live' experience, with a tangible sense of being in a massive concert hall, albeit sitting towards the back. Must have been overwhelming on the night!)

I've also re-listened to these recordings which I have in my collection

Ashkenazy - terrific performance, stunningly played, but a recording that I find makes the upper strings sound steely and unpleasant when playing full out. But VA really has the knack of delivering the rubato without losing the pulse and impetus of the music

Previn - doesn't have the 'just right' factor of his performance of No 2 imo... I found some of his No 3 sounded oddly like Brahms, it's somehow not idiomatic... Other passages were too stop-start, with a rather 'automatic'-sounding approach to rubato. There are also some vagaries of woodwind tuning in the middle movement, to my ears

Pletnev - pretty horrible, no impetus, all languorous lingering - made me think of someone looking admiringly at themselves in the mirror, running immaculately-manicured fingers through lustrous silken locks. Boomy acoustic too.

Jansons - fabulous. All the fire of Ashkenazy, perhaps the solos a notch less characterful, but a better recording, just the sort of sound-stage I like - I especially love the edgy presence of the bass instruments and timps, giving real fibre. This is the one I want to hear again.

Ever thought of a retirement job, Calibs?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm undecided: Previn or Ashkenazy?

The Ashekenazy is available as a Twofer at under a fiver ("Used - very good"). Together with the forthcoming Previn box at under £18, you might not need to choose! Taken on this week's BaL, I was greatly attracted by the Ashkenazy - but the Twofer is spoiled by having a side break after the Scherzo of the Second Symphony!

[HighlandDougie]

Together with the forthcoming Previn box at under £18,

FHG

Do you have a link for this - or any more info?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

FHG
Do you have a link for this - or any more info?

I think Bryn mentioned it earlier, HighDoug - I think it's this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A61C9F6?keywords=rachmaninov%203%20previn&qid=1457871855&ref_=sr_1_2&s=music&sr=1-2

... which I'm presuming will be another of those bargain boxes of the complete Previn Rachmaninov orchestral works - and which I'm hoping will finally sort out the sound quality on the Second Symphony.

[Petrushka]

The Ashekenazy is available as a Twofer at under a fiver ("Used - very good"). Together with the forthcoming Previn box at under £18, you might not need to choose! Taken on this week's BaL, I was greatly attracted by the Ashkenazy - but the Twofer is spoiled by having a side break after the Scherzo of the Second Symphony!

I ordered the Ashkenazy yesterday. Not too bothered about the side break in the Second Symphony as I have that as a single issue anyway.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I just knew that there had to be a Previn box coming up soon - any chance of a link please?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A61C9F6?keywords=rachmaninov%203%20previn&qid=1457871855&ref_=sr_1_2&s=music&sr=1-2

... see caveat in #66

[Petrushka]

I think Bryn mentioned it earlier, HighDoug - I think it's this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01A61C9F6?keywords=rachmaninov%203%20previn&qid=1457871855&ref_=sr_1_2&s=music&sr=1-2

... which I'm presuming will be another of those bargain boxes of the complete Previn Rachmaninov orchestral works - and which I'm hoping will finally sort out the sound quality on the Second Symphony.

That doesn't look like a Previn box to me. It looks like a single 'import' issue of the Rachmaninov 3 plus, at a guess, the Intermezzo and Women's Dance from Aleko which all formed part of the original LP. It's all a way of getting punters to part with their cash before they get mass duplication in an attractive box.

(I spotted the link and edited accordingly - you were too quick!)

[Bryn]

The information on the Amazon sites is less than helpful. My guess is that what is to be released is a re-issue of:



in Warner guise.

[HighlandDougie]

FHG

Thanks. Warner Classics are re-releasing a number of Previn albums in Japan on 20th April, including Rachmaninov's 1st and 3rd, The Bells and the Symphonic Dances but not, according to their website, the 2nd (the release also includes Previn's DSCH recordings). I would surmise that these will have been re-mastered, it being the Japanese market, so that might indicate a box to come from Warner Classics in Europe in due course. I hope so - and also hope that Sony/RCA re-release the earlier LSO recordings for RCA (if the Japanese re-mastering of the Walton 1st is anything to go by, that would be well worth acquiring).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

FHG
Do you have a link for this - or any more info?

Oops - it was your own #50 and Bryn's response that spurred my comments More definite news nearer the end of April - but I hope Bryn's right (and, if wrong, only because they also add the Ashkenazy/Previn Piano Concertos, too - AND the Piano Duet pieces, please!)

But Pet is right to point out how Odd it is tht such a box should be heralded by a title referring only to the Third Symphony "etc".

[Petrushka]

The information on the Amazon sites is less than helpful. My guess is that what is to be released is a re-issue of:



in Warner guise.

I'm not so sure. What seems to happen is that several CD 'import' issues appear, grossly overpriced, with original LP cover artwork, then the same thing appears on the UK market at a more reasonable price. You then get the whole lot plus more in a nice attractive box. See the Perlman Warner issues as an example. This is what makes me feel certain that a Previn box will appear before too long.

You can't accuse the record companies of not milking the back catalogues for all they're worth.

[cincinnatus]

The Ashekenazy is available as a Twofer at under a fiver ("Used - very good"). Together with the forthcoming Previn box at under £18, you might not need to choose! Taken on this week's BaL, I was greatly attracted by the Ashkenazy - but the Twofer is spoiled by having a side break after the Scherzo of the Second Symphony!

I have the 3 cd set which I think is a better option. Each cd has a symphony so no breaks. And the 'fillers' ( Isle of the Dead, The Bells, Symphonic Dances) have all been the recommended choice on BAL.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I forget where I read it, but someone once rather unkindly said Rachmaninoff composed only two symphonies - the 2nd and the 3rd. It certainly used to be like that.