Serge Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1

RACHMANINOFF: SYMPHONY NO. 1 / THE ISLE OF THE DEAD / ‘YOUTH’ SYMPHONY

The first disc in Gianandrea Noseda’s Rachmaninoff’s series, Francesca da Rimini, was ‘CD of the Week’ in The Daily Telegraph, and The Times commented, ‘Noseda sculpts the brooding passions of Rachmaninoff’s dramatic score with thrilling intensity’. Noseda now turns his attention to Symphony No. 1. This work had become something of a personal quest. He decided to study the score, learning and finally performing the work. He says that he was astonished by the beauty in the melodic line, the refined harmony and controlled structure. The symphony is coupled here with the single completed movement of a symphony planned during Rachmaninoff’s conservatory years and by The Isle of the Dead, both works complementing the fluency of Symphony No. 1. Noseda will perform the First Symphony with the BBC Philharmonic at the BBC Proms in 2008, and at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in November.

Rachmaninov’s First Symphony of 1895… published only after the composer’s death. Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic have the work’s measure and their performance has a full-blooded… — BBC Music Magazine, July 2008