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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 58 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This performance of Rachmaninov's second symphony made quite a stir when it was released on vinyl back in 1973 and although that may seem like a generation ago (because it is, sadly!), this newly (1999) re-mastered version succeeds in recapturing the excitement which its original release created. Prior to this recording, Previn and the LSO had toured with the symphony to Russia, where the unexpurgated version had not been heard for years, and it caused a sensation. Listening to this recording, it is not hard to understand why. This is unashamedly beautiful and lyrical music, played by an orchestra and conductor who had no misgivings about whether the music was fashionable or not, and given its full measure of feeling, with great drama and passion. In its newly re-mastered version, it somehow grabs you again, like listening for the first time to the original LP release - and that's no mean compliment, as anyone who bought the LP in the 70s will attest. Great music and an historically important performance. The other items (Vocalise and two pieces from "Aleko") are well done too, but it's the symphony that's the thing! Go on, buy it, you know you won't regret it!
Retiefus
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I remember this recording when it first appeared on vinyl in the early 1970's and the huge stir it made. Up to this time the conventional wisdowm about Rachmaninov was that he was a piano virtuoso of prodigious skill who wrote music, most of which - excepting the Second and Third Piano Concertos - was over-lush and repetitive romanitc mush: film music for a Hollywood romance of the 1930's. But the early 1970's was also the period when in all the arts the enslavement to the driest of modernism was beginning to be overturned and people were finding it "all right" not to like Boulez and similar composers (just like new building did not have to look like "ocean liners in the sky" with lots of glass and very little wall!).
Previn and the LSO captured the zeitgeist with live performances in England and on tour of this most romantic of symphonies, presented in an un-cut form (though without the first movement exposition repeat - arguably an advantage to have removed as doing so helps the movement's forward momentum). This disc of the Rachmaninov Second is probably the greatest single achievement of the early Previn/LSO days. The string playing is out of this world, singing and stirring into rapture. This is one spectacular case where it is obviously not true that you have to be Russian to perform Rachmaninov!
If Amazon would let me I would give 7 stars to this wonderful disc. If you don't know the symphony then this is one of the very best ways of learning it and I urge you to do so. If you know Rachmaninov 2 then why have you not bought it already?
Previn and the LSO captured the zeitgeist with live performances in England and on tour of this most romantic of symphonies, presented in an un-cut form (though without the first movement exposition repeat - arguably an advantage to have removed as doing so helps the movement's forward momentum). This disc of the Rachmaninov Second is probably the greatest single achievement of the early Previn/LSO days. The string playing is out of this world, singing and stirring into rapture. This is one spectacular case where it is obviously not true that you have to be Russian to perform Rachmaninov!
If Amazon would let me I would give 7 stars to this wonderful disc. If you don't know the symphony then this is one of the very best ways of learning it and I urge you to do so. If you know Rachmaninov 2 then why have you not bought it already?
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
It is a delight to be reunited with Previn's performance which I previously owned on vinyl and which is now in this splendid, burnished remastering. In 2010 the world isn't short of excellent Rachmaninov Seconds and it's remarkable to think that when this recording was made Previn was considered a pioneer for recording the symphony uncut. Nowadays the idea of cutting a single note from this glorious work is unthinkable, if not positively obscene! I have long treasured Sir Alexander Gibson's recording with the Scottish National Orchestra (they weren't Royal at the time), a performance of utter commitment and integrity which brings back happy memories of queuing for student standby tickets at Glasgow's City Halls in the early 1970s. Nevertheless Previn is in a class of his own. This surely has to be THE definitive Rachmaninov Second and it's an absolute "must have" for every Rachmaninov lover's collection. If you don't have a recording of the Second Symphony this is the one to start with. Everything is right - Previn's direction is flawless, the recording is superb even 37 years on and the orchestral playing is beyond gorgeous. Jack Brymer's clarinet in the slow movement would melt the proverbial heart of stone. Even if you've got half a dozen recordings of it, buy Previn anyway for an object lesson in stunning music making which amply justifies inclusion in the "Great Recordings of the Century".
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Outstanding recording by Conductor and Orchestra
Rachmaninov 2 a big piece that has had many recordings - some wonderful, some mediocre and very many bad full of sentimentality and romanticism throughout with little or no... Read more
Published 1 month ago by SA Brain
Simply the best
Of all the recordings available of the gorgeous Rach 2, this remains the finest IMHO.
Recorded way back in '73 and re-mastered, it still stands head and shoulders above... Read more
Recorded way back in '73 and re-mastered, it still stands head and shoulders above... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. Chris Pearson
Rach 2 with Previn
This is a vintage recording and still for me the best performance of a much-loved piece. Jack Brymer's clarinet solo in the third movement would make the whole recording worthwhile... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jenny Thurman
Look no further....
This is reputedly the earliest un-cut recording (1973) of this beautiful and most voluptuous of symphonies, and it is unlikely to be surpassed. Read more
Published 9 months ago by wyburgh
Very disappointing -...
I adore this Symphony, but it sounds very often distorted on this C D - like a radio not quite tuned to the correct station. Read more
Published 9 months ago by M. Lavender
Revelatory Rachmaninov
All that other reviewers have said about this recording is totally true. In 1973 Previn and the LSO were blazing a trail as the best orchestra in the UK ; on the basis of this... Read more
Published 12 months ago by R. Stone
Romantic Rachmaninov
An excellent remastered recording of the uncut 1973 version of the wonderful Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony by Andre Previn with the LSO it has the added bonus of a beautifully played... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Tony R.
An Otherworldly Look at Rachmaninov's Great Masterpiece
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. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2010 by Michael Lee Davis
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