Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead & Symphony No. 1
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LPO–0111
Made in Lithuania
1 audio CD
© 2019 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd.
℗ 2019 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd.
Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, London, on 3
October 2014 (The Isle of the Dead) and 14 December 2016 (Symphony No. 1).
Producer: Andrew Walton, K&A Productions
Engineer: Deborah Spanton, K&A Productions
Total playing time: 64:51
Released: 15 March 2019
CD: Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead & Symphony No. 1
Rachmaninoff The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13
Vladimir Jurowski conductor
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The works on this disc were recorded live in concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, Vladimir Jurowski. The Isle of the Dead, Rachmaninoff’s dramatic tone poem inspired by a black and white reproduction of Austrian painter Arnold Böcklin’s work of the same name, darkly charts a soul’s journey to its final rest, drawing on plainchant melodies connected with the Latin Requiem mass. In contrast, much of the drama of the First Symphony happened off the page; its disastrous premiere left the younf Rachmaninoff with crippling self doubt , and writer’s block. Removed from its unfortunate history, the youthful First Symphony shines; its exhilarating themes hinting at Rachmaninoff’s mature work yet to come.
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The rocking of the boat, the lapping of the waves … Jurowski’s Isle of the Dead unerringly beckons us to our final fate. The playing is first-class.
BBC Music Magazine, July 2019
Vladimir Jurowski ... finds an excellent balance between the stern militaristic rhythms, the composer’s doom-laden motif that threads its way throughout the symphony, and all that romantic flexibility Rachmaninoff’s orchestral score needs.
Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 Record Review, 16 March 2019
Download the CD booklet