Rachmaninov - Symphony no.2, Prelude in C sharp minor (orch. Stokowski)
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Label: Chandos
Cat No: CHSA5309
Format: Hybrid SACD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Orchestral
Release Date: 31st March 2023
Contents
Works
Morceaux de fantaisie, op.3 » no.2 Prelude in C sharp minor (orch. Stokowski)
Symphony no.2 in E minor, op.27Artists
Sinfonia of LondonConductor
John WilsonWorks
Morceaux de fantaisie, op.3 » no.2 Prelude in C sharp minor (orch. Stokowski)
Symphony no.2 in E minor, op.27Artists
Sinfonia of LondonConductor
John WilsonAbout
John Wilson and Sinfonia of London release their second album of Rachmaninov. The Second Symphony was mostly composed in Dresden – where Rachmaninov was escaping the political and professional pressures of Russia – in 1906–07. An hour’s worth of music, the symphony is one of his largest works after the operas, and is widely viewed as one of his greatest works. It was possibly of some significance to the composer, following the less than auspicious début of his First Symphony (which he withdrew after the première). First performed in St Petersburg and Moscow, conducted by the composer, the Second Symphony was an immediate success with audiences and critics alike, and remains a mainstay of the orchestral repertoire to this day. Rachmaninov dedicated the score to his teacher Sergei Taneyev, who was a pupil of Tchaikovsky.
Rachmaninov composed the Prélude in C sharp minor in 1892, originally for piano, at the beginning of his career. Stokowski’s orchestration, performed here, whilst not the only one in existence, is certainly the best known and arguably the most successful.
The album is recorded in Surround Sound and is available as a hybrid SACD, and in spatial audio.
Rachmaninov composed the Prélude in C sharp minor in 1892, originally for piano, at the beginning of his career. Stokowski’s orchestration, performed here, whilst not the only one in existence, is certainly the best known and arguably the most successful.
The album is recorded in Surround Sound and is available as a hybrid SACD, and in spatial audio.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Prelude in C# minor (orchestrated Stokowski)
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2Symphony No. 2. I. Largo - Allegro moderato
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3Symphony No. 2. II. Allegro molto
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4Symphony No. 2. III. Adagio
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5Symphony No. 2. IV. Allegro vivace
Europadisc Review
Of all the releases marking the 150th anniversary this weekend of Rachmaninov’s birth, one of the most keenly anticipated must be the second instalment of the symphony cycle (emerging in reverse order) from John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London on the Chandos label. Over the past five years, since its resurrection by Wilson, the Sinfonia – a handpicked ensemble gathered together mainly for recordings, but which has also started giving live concerts – has earned an enviable reputation with their discs of Korngold, Respighi, Ravel and Hollywood. Its burnished sound seems ideally suited to Rachmaninov’s lush late-Romantic soundworld.
In Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, however, they face stiff competition, above all from Previn’s classic LSO account, now 50 years old. It’s a tribute to Wilson’s fastidious musicianship and the combined talents of his musicians that they succeed so well. Although the Previn recording remains top choice in most surveys, it is beginning to show signs of its age in a certain edginess (something which many will nevertheless welcome in Rachmaninov’s music). No such issues here, with Chandos’s fabled surround sound engineering and microphone placement achieving a natural balance with plenty of bloom, emphasising the Sinfonia’s gorgeous string tone.
Wilson rightly presents the score uncut (as Previn and most recordings since have done): in the bad old days, conductors were too ready to adopt a string of cuts which – whether tacitly approved of by Rachmaninov or not – became standard, doing violence to the work’s symphonic architecture. Wilson also observes the exposition repeat, which many feel to be redundant, but a good case is made for it here. In this formally most conservative of the composer’s symphonies, and one in which he finally faced down the demon of the First Symphony’s disastrous premiere, the work gets underway with a lengthy slow introduction which itself charts the emotional journey that is then undertaken over the course of the work as a whole. The repeat helps to balance this lengthy introduction, as well as compensating for the abbreviated recapitulation after the turbulent development section.
Right from the outset, the listener senses that Wilson and his players are at the top of the game as the symphony emerges from the depths, the quiet dynamics observed but not micro-managed. At fig. 2, there’s an early example of the music going into ‘swoon’ mode, which the musicians clearly relish, but they don’t lose sight of the onward momentum. Once the Allegro moderato has started, you begin to notice how naturally Wilson observes the rubato indicated in the score: the poco ritardandi that sound a shade forced under Previn feel more organic here, and this becomes a mark of the performance as a whole.
In the tempestuous development, brass snarl and the violas’ nagging semiquavers make their impact, while the timpani entry just before fig.14 has an elemental, Sibelian impact, as do the horn and brass calls at fig.17, building to a shattering climax and a gaunt diminuendo before the re-emergence of the second subject for the compact recapitulation. There is no unscripted timpani reinforcement to the celli and basses’ final notes.
Taken more briskly than Previn, the scherzo second movement has plenty of drive and bite without sounding hectic, and the second theme emerges with unforced radiance. Producer Brian Pidgeon and engineers Jonathan Cooper and Alexander James have done a superb job in ensuring that the details of Rachmaninov’s score emerge with unforced naturalness in the acoustic of St Augustine’s, Kilburn. The clarity of the fugato passages is particularly notable.
It's a shame that the solo clarinettist in the great Adagio slow movement is uncredited, for they do a fine job in the glorious solo, but there’s a sense that this is very much a team effort from all involved. Wilson keeps the tempo flowing (some 90 seconds brisker than Previn) while allowing space for Rachmaninov’s celebrated lyricism to glow. By contrast, he finds more to ‘dig into’ in the joyous finale, where keeping a close hand on the tiller pays all sorts of dividends in building up to the magnificent peroration. It sounds like the musicians are having a real field day as the peals of the glockenspiel – echoed in the other instruments – and no-one who has admired Wilson’s previous recordings with this orchestra will fail to respond to the full-on radiance of the closing pages. If you’re looking for a more glowing, less gritty Rach 2 than Previn, this is surely now the one to go for.
The ‘filler’ is an unexpected but fine one: Leopold Stokowski’s inimitably scored orchestral transcription of Rachmaninov’s piano Prelude in C sharp minor. From the gripping brass and percussion of the opening bars, which give way to a ghostly string tremolo, there’s loads to enjoy here, right up to the ominous, Mussorgskian chimes of the closing bars. Whether in solo or tutti work, Wilson’s musicians acquit themselves splendidly, transforming this particular Morceau de fantaisie into a veritable symphonic poem. It makes a most enjoyable curtain-raiser, but the main event is definitely the symphony, in a performance that makes an ideal 150th birthday present to Rachmaninov.
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