Customer Reviews

Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 / Vocalise

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The recording of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony on this CD could very well be one of the very best Telarc has ever made. The sound is so rich, so incredible, and close (which sometimes isn't the case with Telarc even though the sound quality is always consistently high). Rachmaninov wrote sections of thick strings that sound ultra lush. This recording captures all of the details from this wonderful symphony. In fact, there are details that are caught that I've never heard myself. Perhaps, this is because the recording is in sparkling new digital sound using Telarc's famed DSD technology. One note, the Amazon.com reviewer is correct. The recorded volume is low. You will have to turn up your stereo louder than most CD's but you will be pleasantly surprised at the wonderful sound that is produced.

Beyond the mere recorded sound of Rach's 2nd Symphony is a great performance. Lopez-Cobos is probably an unexpected source of a great interpretation of a Russian composer. Nevertheless, he delivers a stirring performance. Lopez-Cobos seems to have paid close attention to making sure the symphony flows well. In other performances, there is sometimes a choppiness especially in the shifting of melodic lines within the first movement. Not so in this performance. The orchestral playing is tight, lyrical, and flowing----BEAUTIFUL! One more note just because it was striking to me. The typani strokes in this are caught extremely well. If you know the symphony well, you will perhaps hear the tympani in places you've never heard before on record. So, try out this recording and hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I have and am still enjoying.

Read the chapter on Sergei Rachmaninov in the old two-volume Pelican survey of "The Symphony," edited by the late Robert Simpson, and you will find that, by the mid-1960s, the Russian's reputation had reached its nadir. Simpson, who himself wrote the chapter, calls the Second Symphony (1908) "diffuse" and refers to the composer's tendency to "take the easy way out." Simpson stints the Third (1936) even more than the Second, while reserving some praise for the (then) newly discovered First (1897). Perhaps the underestimation comes from Simpson's having been a totally different kind of composer from his subject; but Simpson's assessment might have been made by many another at that date. Of Rachmaninov's three symphonies, one heard only the Second in the concert hall, and then only in a performing edition with many cuts. On record, the situation differed but little. Things have changed a great deal in forty years. All three of Rachmaninov's symphonies have found their way back into the repertory and are especially well represented in the compact disc catalogues. The current critical consensus probably places them above the piano concertos in musical seriousness. New recordings appear all the time, and the Second, with the cuts restored, exists in many recorded editions. The new release from Telarc with Jésus López-Cobos leading the Cincinnati Symphony certainly takes its place in the front rank of "R2's." In sumptuous sound, it rivals Valéri Polyanksy's performance with the Russian State Orchestra on Chandos. (The Telarc recording is via one of those proliferating new processes -- whatever the explanation, it booms out magnificently from the speakers.) The Second's First Movement begins with an introduction that glowers darkly; it's Rachmaninov at his most melancholy. It then blossoms out into a gorgeous, insinuating theme that the composer develops leisurely but ingeniously. Many performances push the First Movement and press the climaxes for all that they're worth. López-Cobos holds back (as does Polyansky) so that greater weight can be placed on the three remaining movements. The Slow Movement glows; the Scherzo is wild, and so is the terrific Finale, which, at last, bears the full weight of the composition. The sound is wonderful, with plentiful detail and a spacious "stage." The "Vocalise" is likewise nicely done, coming across as more serious than it usually does. Marvelous. Recommended.

This recording from Telarc featuring the Cinncinati Symphony

under Jesus Lopez-Cobos is one of the better perfomances of the

Rachmaninioff Symphony no. 2 that I have heard in a long while.

Maestro Lopez-Cobos lets the work breathe and unfold in a natural

manner, the music is never forced or rushed. The inner orchestral

sounds are allowed their time in the spotlight. While some will

say that this recording will not replace the ones by Ormandy,

Previn, or others, I say that it can be placed along side of them

and not have to feel like it is second best. It can hold its

head high with any other recording of these works.

This issue is a strong addition to one of the most crowded works in the recorded repertoire. Lopez Cobos beautifully stretches out the first movement to over 20 minutes without an exposition repeat. Overall, the conductor's approach is slower, and a throughly measured interpretation of the symphony. This approach does not detract in any manner from the climactic junctures that listeners expect from this work.

This recording compares well with other recently issued or re-issued recordings. I compare it below to some others I have heard recently:

-Previn, Telarc, reissue: surpassed by this one.
-RCA, St. Petersburg Ph.: distinct but equally excellent.
-Previn, EMI, reissue: surpassed by this one (I just do not get it as to why the old Previn recording is regarded as so great).
-Jansons, EMI: surpassed by this one.
-Ashkenazy, Decca: still the benchmark.
-Bychkov, Philips: distinct, equally excellent, and sadly unavailable.

I do not find the need to turn up the volume as other reviewers have stated. On a 60 watt receiver, and 88dB speakers, this recording delivers spectacular acoustics at slightly above 1/4 volume (9 o'clock on the volume knob.) At any rate, the Telarc engineers have delivered a nearly unbeatable sound quality with this recording.

This has to be one of the great undiscovered gems of Rachmaninoff performance. Lopez-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony deliver a bold, lush and expressive reading of Rachmaninoff's most celebrated (and most recorded) symphony, making just enough of the "big tunes" to send a chill down the spine but never lingering so much that the forward momentum lags. The Scherzo movement (Allegro molto) has lots of snap too. This is the kind of performance that makes a convincing case for the Rachmaninoff Second as a true masterpiece. An added bonus is the glorious Telarc sound.

I'm pleased to have discovered this CD almost a decade after it's original release, and needless to say I recommend it very highly!