Yup. Unfortunately, his Rach 2,3 are not up to the same level. OTOH. they also did a dandy Ilya Muromets (Gliere).
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Classical Music Guides & Reviews
- Thread starter MRC01
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Second all these recommendations. Sometimes Amazon reviews are useful for details not found elsewhere, such as staging good operas as taking place inside a refrigerator.
Cheztumoé
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Thank you . Listening now to the Gliere on Tidal and later on to the Rach 1 on Idagio.
I’ll look forward to giving the Rachmaninov a listen this weekend. I’m always open to suggestions and I don’t know this symphony so it will be a nice introduction at the very least.I'm a professional classical musician new to this forum and proud new owner of a nice new DAC and headphones. I'm an Idagio subscriber and am very happy with the ability to find pretty much anything I'm looking for. Looking for something to challenge my new equipment I came across a recent recording of Rachmaninoff Symphony #1 and Symphonic Dances with the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nezet-Seguin. I think it's an excellent example of why new classical recording is still relevant. Even with the great conductors of the past nobody was making anything that sounds like this. The playing, interpretation, and recording are all exceptional. It's available on all the streaming services so give a listen. It will help you justify your nice audio equipment.
There's also a lot of great music "live" on line these days. The Boston Symphony, Concertgebouw, Berlin and many others are doing great live streams as are a number of chamber series. If you want to hear some great cello playing by a new star try Zlatomir Fung's recital at https://www.musicworcester.org/.
Let us know what you think of it. I remember when I heard it the first time but I'll reserve a description until you do.
Say what you will about Dave Hurwitz and his tam-tam obsession, but he's right about the Ashkenazy Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 1 on Decca. Once you hear the ending with the huge tam-tam sound, other recordings will be a letdown.
And you'll end up with a collection of boring, fussy recordings.
Over the past couple of days I listened to the Nezet-Seguin, Gergiev, and Feltz (couldn’t find the Previn on Amazon Music HD). I like the Feltz a lot. I was pretty tired when I listened to the other two so I’ll reserve my thoughts on recording quality.
I’m the sort that really needs to internalize a work and rarely just “gets it” on a first hearing. Probably should listen with the score in front of me. My early thought is that it makes me think of Tchaikovsky quite a lot. The brooding darkness wins out in the end and I don’t know how I feel about that. It’s not hopeless or anguished. Maybe defiant? The replay value is high for sure. I know this was an early work, but I don’t know what Rachmaninoff’s situation was when he wrote it.
I’m sure you, Kal, could say a lot more and say it much better.
I’m very interested in your take.
That's a much more charitable (and fair) assessment of Rachmaninoff's First Symphony than this one, rendered at its premiere:
"If there were a conservatory in Hell, and if one of its talented students were to compose a programme symphony based on the story of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, and if he were to compose a symphony like Mr. Rachmaninoff’s, then he would have fulfilled his task brilliantly and would delight the inhabitants of Hell. To us this music leaves an evil impression with its broken rhythms, obscurity and vagueness of form, meaningless repetition of the same short tricks, the nasal sound of the orchestra, the strained crash of the brass, and above all its sickly perverse harmonization and quasi-melodic outlines, the complete absence of simplicity and naturalness, the complete absence of themes."
-Cesar Cui (not Kal…)
I pretty much agree with you about it. Cui, on the other hand, lived in a different time.
My initial experience was with a radio broadcast which had just started when we turned it on. Of course, we did not know what it was (no metadata on FM back then) and kept speculating on what it could be. We both found it fascinating but we presumed it to be a short piece and though it had ended multiple times: at the end of the first movement, at the end of the 2nd and 3rd movements and several times within each movement. And yet it continued. In fact, when it finally ended, we were drained but anxious that it would come to life yet again. Had we known, as at a concert, that it was a full symphony, that would not have occurred, so we were on edge all the way through. Somehow, I still listen to it that way now. Long and somewhat repetitive, it remains gripping to me.
My initial experience was with a radio broadcast which had just started when we turned it on. Of course, we did not know what it was (no metadata on FM back then) and kept speculating on what it could be. We both found it fascinating but we presumed it to be a short piece and though it had ended multiple times: at the end of the first movement, at the end of the 2nd and 3rd movements and several times within each movement. And yet it continued. In fact, when it finally ended, we were drained but anxious that it would come to life yet again. Had we known, as at a concert, that it was a full symphony, that would not have occurred, so we were on edge all the way through. Somehow, I still listen to it that way now. Long and somewhat repetitive, it remains gripping to me.
Plus apparently the first performance was a disaster and the second performance didn't happen until after Rachmaninoff died. He was 22 when he wrote it. Quite a story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._1_(Rachmaninoff)
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@MRC01 — Thanks for your review (linked in the post quoted directly above) and for this thread!! Really as helpful as just about anything else on the net, it seems, so I’d say time well spent on your part. I just came across this during some leisure reading and listening.
I am trying out Primephonic now, probably as much because they don’t ask for credit card info for a trial as anything else. I must say, I seem to get to classical stuff I might (and in fact do) like much more quickly and naturally than with other streaming services. I gave some brief info about my tastes and was quickly escorted to some good stuff including a fantastic Mendelssohn release and now a wonderful Bruch release. So first impressions are quite good.
Any further observations anyone might have as a long-term user? Is the catalog filling in over time? Is Idagio keeping pace?
The things I like with Primephonic so far are ability to find classical CD-release type recordings quickly, and being able to listen to them in full without jumping through hoops, helpfulness with music discovery, gapless support, and the CD booklets.
Price, the technicalities of streaming, and sound quality between the different services are all close enough for me that those are not really relevant to my preferences.
Right now my inclination would be to subscribe to Primephonic to supplement and improve my classical streaming experience.
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MRC01
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Going back to look at that review, not much has changed. I used Idagio for nearly a year, switched to Primephonic and have been using that for nearly a year. Both are constantly expanding their catalogs. That and the quality of their metadata and customer service are both great. If sound quality is not a differentiator (understandable, as both support lossless CD quality or higher), then it's all about the catalog. Both open their catalog search to anyone, you don't need a subscription. Primephonic's recommendations are pretty good. Every week they update and while it's mostly stuff I've heard, I usually find at least something new. Last week it was Napravnik violin-piano sonatas, what a treat!