Customer Reviews

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 / Vocalise / Aleko- Intermezzo & Women's Dance (Great Recordings of the Century)

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This classic recording from 1972 is my favorite of the Rachmaninov 2nd symphony, better in my opinion than more recent ones by Mariss Jansons (EMI) and Mikhail Pletnev (DG). Previn's Rachmaninov symphony cycle with the LSO was a landmark achievement, and the 2nd is the best of them. It's a passionate, heart-on-sleeves performance of total commitment. And what a slow movement! I doubt the clarinet solo has ever sounded lovelier. EMI's choices for "Great Recordings of the Century" have not been uniformly wise, but this one is right-on. This (third) digital remastering has restored the gloriously warm and rich sound of the original; in terms of sound quality the Previn is fully competitive with Jansons and Pletnev, and the performance beats them both. At mid-price, don't hesitate.

...this is the best Rachmaninov 2nd available. Previn and the LSO recorded it after having toured the then Soviet Union and you can hear that experience in this recording. Normally, English musicians play with a bit of a stiff upper lip, but not here. Previn and the LSO delve into the slightly over-the-top emotionalism of this piece and produce a rich, romantic recording.

Only the Temirkanov recording (from around the same time) come close to this one in real emotion. Every other, more recent recording I've heard sounds dreadfully routine compared to Previn and Temrikanov. (Could it be that people are embarrased by the overt emotion here?) Many of those performances sound LONG, as well, because it has to be admitted that this symphony has padding. Previn and the LSO play as if it's all great music and sweep you right along with them.

If you don't have this music, you should (assuming you like a good emotional wallow once in awhile), and this it the version to get. (If you can find the Temrikanov around cheap, get it as well. It's a bit more fiery than Previn if less overtly beautiful.)

ANDRE PREVIN's wondrous recording of Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony for EMI is, justifiably, one of the treasures from the EMI catalog. This edition also includes a famous version of the Vocalise (though not ultimately as good as the Stokowski-EMI), plus Aleko -- the latter is more than just a filler track. On the technical side, this transfer is as close as possible to the old LP in terms of sonics and integrity. A nice job from the buddies at EMI. Among the 'competitors' to the Previn you'll find significant accounts by Edo de Waart (Philips), the excellent Anissimov (Naxos), Lopez-Cobos (Telarc), Ashkenazy (Decca), Jansons (EMI), the illuminating Temirkanov (RCA) and the exquisite Svetlanov (Moscow Studio). In my opinion, none of them can clearly surpass (or let alone equal) the Previn-EMI. The Previn-RPO on Telarc is no competition to the earlier LSO session : If the RPO is a 'very good' recording, then the LSO is a 'great' recording -- there's also a huge difference in term of interpretation that clearly makes the EMI disc a winner on all counts.

Other than Vladimir Ashkenazy's performance of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (I believe), this classic reading with Andre Previn leading the London Symphony Orchestra---the first fully uncut performance of the piece---is the only performance of this wonderful work that I've heard, and frankly I'd be just fine having only this recording in my library to represent the work. Previn's tempos in all four movements may be deliberate, but still the reading as a whole never fails to convince. What matters most with this piece is that Rachmaninov's great melodies and soaring emotion are not shortchanged by either conductor or orchestra, and on that level the LSO and Previn do not disappoint. They are masterful in all four movements, but it is the third movement Adagio that a listener will most likely remember most. It may be slow (Ashkenazy was slightly brisker here, while Mikhail Pletnev, in his more recent DG recording, even more brisk and unsentimental) but it still packs an emotional wallop.

The couplings are also very good, particularly the short and sweet "Vocalise." Right now, this is one of my favorite classical recordings, and my enthusiasm for it is not likely to lessen anytime soon.

Andre Previn is the master of the fair-to-middling performance, and a prime example of not getting better with age. But here he pulls off a great performance in demonstration-quality sound. I was floored after so many disppointments. His early Seventies period with the LSO may just be Previn's best, worth exploring for other unexpected gems. In any event, the British critics who perennially sing the praises of this Rachmaninov Second are surely right.

P.S. 2012 - We live in a new world of Russian conducting, and good as it sounds, this classic Previn account sounds a bit genteel and must give way to Russian competition from Gergiev and Jansons.

This is one of my favourite recordings. It captures the emotion of a live performance and is a tribute to the tour Previn and the orchestra made of Russia two years before. The string playing is superb, and the clarinet solo in the 3rd movement (Jack Brymer) a revelation. Amazing!

I seem to be the only dissenting voice here, but I have to give my opinion on this rendition of Rachmaninov's 2nd. The main reason that I don't think this is a great version is the tempo, it is too slow. For my taste, the Ashkenazy with the Concertgebouw Orchestra on London is better suited to this symphony. Ashkenazy's pace seems to bring this work to life, whereas Previn and other conductors seem to think a slower pace is better. If you like slower tempos you will love this Previn rendition. But if you prefer a quicker (but not rushed or hurried) tempo, go with the Ashkenazy.

My first memory of this recording goes all the way back to 1974 when a family friend gave this LP to my parents for their 15th wedding anniversary. I was all of 10 years old at the time, but the impact of hearing such devastatingly romantic music when so young forever changed my view of romance... and classical music!

36 years of living with this recording in its various re-releases has not diminished my opinion that there is no other recording in the catalogue - and I've heard at least twenty others - that even comes CLOSE to conveying Rachmaninov's almost frantic and desperate plea:

"Don't you understand what the world is about to lose with the advent of the "New Music" being perpetuated by the likes of Mahler, Strauss, Schoenberg, Webern, Berg and a hellacious host of their notorious cronies? The deep waters of change are washing over everyone who hold the musical virtues of the past century dearer than life itself! Tchaikovsky is dead... Brahms and Dvorák are dying and my own poor offerings are looked upon as ancient relics to be shelved for future scrutiny! What's to become of this golden age of honour and humanity? It cannot long survive the ruthless savagery of recent musical developments. Where can we retreat but to the abyss? All is lost... our melancholy musings are, one by one, being laid to rest in unhallowed ground... but in one thought I take courage; to my dying breath will I say it aloud: our time will surely come again!"

That time came in the late 1960s when André Previn - only recently given command of the great LSO - produced a recording of Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony that people will be talking about for all eternity! But don't take my word for it, just listen and marvel at the magnificent old-world string playing of those inspired Britons, the air flowing around the instruments like a breath of ecstasy from heaven, all the equal of anything ever bowed by Karajan's mighty Berlin Philharmonic...

...and that alone is reason enough to add this magnificent recording to your collection!

The road leading to Previn's heavenly consummation, however, was not in the least devoid of hazardous detractors and conniving critics!

Previn's accomplishment seems all the more remarkable when one learns that this recording was made at a time when Rachmaninov's music was definitely NOT in vogue. Although many recordings of his music had been made since the 1940s, most conductor's chose to employ scores that had been ferociously edited and revised (mostly by Rachmaninov himself!) and therefore yielded recordings that were not true to Rachmaninov's original conceptions.

Previn, to his everlasting credit, wanted to change all that... and was immediately confronted by a legion of short-sighted nay-sayers (EMI's acrid, imperceptive and unsagacious Walter Legge included) that just couldn't understand the worth of such unashamedly romantic and tiresome "Russian music."

This avant-garde recording did much to reverse such near-sighted views and orchestras, conductors, musicians and audiences the world over have never ceased in their rapturous enthusiasm for the wistful, yearning music of Russia's most amazing composer-pianist.

Whatever you do, purchase and cherish a copy of this recording before the next generation of EMI magnates decide that it's no longer worth a place in their rapidly dwindling catalogue. As we have already seen with Klemperer's EMI recording of Bruckner's 6th Symphony, not even the "Great Recordings of the Century" are beyond the swing of the financial scythe.

Whole-heartedly recommended!

It's this recording with which yours truly came to know this symphony. After hearing Ashkenazy in comparison, although he definitely has some worthy things to say in this work, there still is no question that THIS recording deserves all the accolades it has been getting - most certainly I recommend it with all my heart!!!!

Yes, I know that some people to this day even despised - and still despise - Rakhmáñinov as a composer and think he (and also Chaykóvskiy!!) was too sentimental if not maudlin, as if everything had to be classically-restrained (even to an extreme!), following the Gręco-Roman Apollonian ideal of "nothing in excess". To make matters worse, those same nincompoops were creatures of "their" time, an anti-Romantic time where much good stuff was dismissed as sentimental "belly-aching" and composers like Elgar, Puccini, Rakhmáñinov and Richard Strauß all were scorned as 2nd-rate or worse because they couldn't or didn't feel in sympathy with the brutality of the "new-age" of its time as espoused by the Neo-classicism/Neo-Baroquism of a Prokófjev, Stravínskiy or Hindemith - or the uncompromising dissonance of Ives, Bartók or the Second Viennese School (Schönberg and his pupils Berg and von Webern)!!!

With that same kind of attitude, one could just as readily disdain J.S.Bach or Johannes Brahms as not being "of his time" - why must one fit a stereotype of some sort of "political correctness" in order to be welcomed in this evil world? That kind of attitude is all too much part of totalitarian thinking that shows itself in such atrocious, inhuman régimes like Communism, Fascism, Nazism and Islām - most certainly it's something this writer can't do other but hate and despise with all his being!!! Furthermore, nothing however could conceivably be further from the truth. It was such people during his lifetime that pushed him into cutting his works in a futile attempt to suit their "constructive" criticisms (which were most DESTRUCTIVE instead!!!). Thank goodness for this recording proving how Rakhmáñinov's music deserves to be treated as the 1st-rate treasure that it most certainly is - what a pity that he was forced to earn his living and provide for his family via piano-recitals (his greatness as a pianist notwithstanding) to the exclusion of further conducting and compositional activity, as well as for that he died in the midst of his last tour as a concert-pianist. We can only be grateful for what he DID leave us, and all the more so when sung, played and conducted with the love and commitment this performance and recording manifest!!!

I'll never be completely won over to this music. I have no problem with Romanticism, even extreme Romanticism and I love the Russian composers. ( I'm Russian myself. ) But Rachmaninov will always be one of those once in a while composers, at least for me. Previn was a big advocate for Sergei during his years in London and this recording is a testament to that. Thank God, Previn doesn't do the repeat in the first movement as some latter day conductors have. ( Pletnev for example. ) Previn re-recorded this music as well as much else for Telarc in the 1980s and none of it was as good as what came out of the London era.

Previn's performance here on EMI is orgasmic, with stunning orchestral playing, especially the all important strings. The slow movement is mesmerizing and beautiful, even if the music does sound like you're standing in your living room during early evening, lit by candle light, pressed against the window, watching the rain outside and sobbing to yourself because your girlfriend says she doesn't love you anymore. It's all a bit too syrupy and emotional for me.

It's like The Beatles with "Yesterday" or any number of their maudlin love songs. Cry me a river! I've always had a problem with The Beatles on this point. Rachmaninov rises to greater heights and this music is about destiny and death, those over the top romantic sentiments come through in this recording. It's fun to be swept away from time to time. Then I'll go and listen to Anton Webern or Stockhausen to get into another frame of mind altogether.

The shorter pieces on this album are just as well done and just as heartrending and sentimental. For the record, my favorite Rachmaninov piece is the tone poem, "Isle of the Dead." That's a sure fire masterpiece.