Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2

With its carefully considered tempi, flexible rhythms and, of course, its wealth of wonderful melodies – which only a Rachmaninoff could have written – the Second Symphony is one of the Russian composer’s most popular orchestral works today. The LSO has a long tradition of performing the work with André Previn, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Valery Gergiev, among others, but in this concert recording from London’s Barbican Hall Sir Simon Rattle uses the unabridged version of the masterpiece, which is usually heard in mutilated “revisions” tolerated only grudgingly by the composer.