Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. 1. Grave - Allegro ma non troppo | |||
| 2. 2. Allegro animato | |||
| 3. 3. Larghetto | |||
| 4. 4. Allegro con fuoco | |||
| 5. 1. Non allegro - Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Vladimir Ashkenazy | |||
| 6. 2. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse) - Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Vladimir Ashkenazy | |||
See all 7 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. 1. Largo - Allegro moderato | |||
| 2. 2. Allegro molto | |||
| 3. 3. Adagio | |||
| 4. 4. Allegro vivace | |||
| 5. The Isle of the Dead, Op.29 - Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Vladimir Ashkenazy | |||
| Disc: 3 | |||
| 1. 1. Lento - Allegro moderato | |||
| 2. 2. Adagio ma non troppo | |||
| 3. 3. Allegro | |||
| 4. 1. Allegro ma non tanto (Silver Bells) - Ryszard Karcykowski, Chorus of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy | |||
| 5. 2. Lento (Golden Bells) - Natalia Troitskaya, Chorus of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy | |||
| 6. 3. Presto (Alarm Bells) - Chorus of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy | |||
|
See all 7 tracks on this disc
| |||
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have many recordings of Rachmaninov's Orchestral works, including archive recordings with the composer performing, or conducting, but as I was fortunate enough to play for Ashkenazy when he first started conducting I had to hear his interpretation of a fellow Russian genius.
Like all conductors, apart from Rachmaninov himself, Askenazy allows the music to be sentimental in places, and in fact at times it can be a wallow. It is always done with heartfelt sincerity, and his command of the not inconsiderable orchestral resources the composer writes for is masterly - most of the time! Just occasionally Vlad's emotional and enthusiastic musicality gets the better of his stick technique. This, howeve, is a fine collection of Rachmaninov's 'big' orchestral output in one package, and arguably the finest performances of some of the works; notably 'The Bells', the Symphonic Dances, and the 3rd Symphony.
The Concertgebow play with fire, warmth, and a total involvment. If you are 'into' Rachmaninov then you should not miss this CD.
Like all conductors, apart from Rachmaninov himself, Askenazy allows the music to be sentimental in places, and in fact at times it can be a wallow. It is always done with heartfelt sincerity, and his command of the not inconsiderable orchestral resources the composer writes for is masterly - most of the time! Just occasionally Vlad's emotional and enthusiastic musicality gets the better of his stick technique. This, howeve, is a fine collection of Rachmaninov's 'big' orchestral output in one package, and arguably the finest performances of some of the works; notably 'The Bells', the Symphonic Dances, and the 3rd Symphony.
The Concertgebow play with fire, warmth, and a total involvment. If you are 'into' Rachmaninov then you should not miss this CD.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I recently heard a live performance of Racmaninov's "The Bells" conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. This was a work I did not have, and in fact, had never heard it. The opportunity to get the work conducted by the same Conductor could not be missed,
Askenazy tends to take Rachmaninov faster than others, but I think that may be an advantage. Certainly the Symphonic Dances is the most exciting performance of that music I have heard, and the Symphonies are excellently done. The recording quality although not State of the Art, is very good. At bargain price for a three disc set, Good to great performances, decently recorded, how can you go wrong?
John Drew
Askenazy tends to take Rachmaninov faster than others, but I think that may be an advantage. Certainly the Symphonic Dances is the most exciting performance of that music I have heard, and the Symphonies are excellently done. The recording quality although not State of the Art, is very good. At bargain price for a three disc set, Good to great performances, decently recorded, how can you go wrong?
John Drew
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
29 reviews
76 of 77 people found the following review helpful
Focused and Clean Playing coupled with Russian conducting
11 Dec 2000
Format:Audio CD
This particular collection of Rachmaninov's symphonies is my personal favorite. In particular, the 2nd symphony stands out as being not only the highlight of the set but my favorite performance to date. Andre Previn's recording of the 2nd is a good one as well, but when you compare the playing of the Concertgebouw with the orchestra on Previn's recording, you can immediately tell there is a different level of ability in the orchestras. There is a strong cohesiveness in the playing that is not evident in the Previn performance. Also, Ashkenazy is more convincing in how he builds the Adagio (3rd movement).
The first and third symphonies are also very well played and are great performances. Although, neither have attained the status of popularity as that of the second, both are important pieces of music in the Rachmaninov repetoire. Ashkenazy brings as much attention to detail and feeling on these two symphonies as he does on Symphony No. 2.
The 'filler' pieces actually are some of the true highlights of the set. For example, you'll be hard pressed to find a better performance of "Isle of the Dead". First of all, it's not an often-recorded work, and second, Ashkenazy has a full sense of how this piece is supposed to work. Filled with darkness, the listener is sure to hear what Rachmaninov was trying to convey. The playing again is crisp, detailed, and full (due to the excellent recording of London/Decca)
36 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Definitive Recordings of Rachmaniov's Symphonies
9 May 2001
Format:Audio CD
Vladimir Ashkenazy's love of Rachmaninov's music is evident not only on the keyboard, but also at the podium. His conducting of Rachmaninov's music is absolutely first rate, with an ample mix of passion and precision. I am certain that these fine recordings undoubtedly helped raise his stature as a noteworthy conductor. Under his direction, Bernard Haitink's Concertgebouw Orchestra gives distinguished, technically perfect performances steeped in emotion. Their level of playing is superior to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's under Lorin Maazel's baton (Maazel and the BPO recorded a set of Rachmaninov's symphonies for Deutsche Grammophon around the time of Ashkenazy's recordings.). The best performance of Ashkenazy's Rachmaninov cycle has to be that of the Second Symphony, but the others, especially those of the tone poems, are almost as good too. Of course, Decca's sound engineers did a wonderful job capturing the Concertgebouw's (the orchestra's hall, that is) warm acoustics. If these aren't the definitive recordings of Rachmaniov's symphonies, then they ought to be.
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
"Rocky" Rules!
3 July 1999
Format:Audio CD
Three cd's, affordable price, quality recordings and most importantly beautiful music. All of the discs are worth your time but the best is the second one.The Isle of the Dead is entrancing. Its dark, foreboding theme builds and crashes time and time again. The second symphony can leave me in tears. The 3rd movement to me is what it sounds like to fall in love. A note played near the end of the piece breaks my heart everytime I hear it. The 4th movement ends with such an explosion that I sometimes laugh due to being overwhelmed by the pounding sounds of triumph!This is very powerful music. If you like lush orchestral works I can't think of a better set to own.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
