Rachmaninov Symphony No.1, Isle of the Dead

“Svetlanov’s volcanic 1966 recording … heartbreakingly intense yet grippingly coherent conception, brimful of insight and flair … shoots off like a rocket … finale enshrines as adrenalin-fuelled a ride to the abyss as you will ever hear … the pathos of the symphony’s Largo has to be heard to be believed (decibel levels defeated plucky Soviet engineers) … “if forced to take just one version down from the shelves, I’d plump for the great Evgeni Svetlanov’s unforgettably visceral first recording, warts and all” (Gramophone, 2006). (Isle of the Dead): “(Rachmaninov) later recalled the ‘massive architecture and mystic message of the painting made a marked impression on me’. …This inspired what is surely (his) orchestral masterpiece” © James Murray