Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 & Balakirev: Russia

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Gergiev and the LSO capture the score's expressive beauty, and also the sense of its transience as chill winter encroaches — BBC Music Magazine, December 2015 More…

Release Date: 28th Aug 2015
Catalogue No: LSO0779
Label: LSO Live
Length: 56 minutes

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Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44

Work length43:24

Album only

London Symphony Orchestra, Valéry Gergiev

I. Lento - Allegro moderato - Allegro

Track length17:45

Album only

II. Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro vivace

Track length11:52

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

III. Allego - Allegro vivace - Allegro (Tempo primo) - Allegretto - Allegro vivace

Track length13:47

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

Balakirev: Symphonic Poem 'Russia'

Work length13:04

$2.15

$2.60

$3.20

London Symphony Orchestra, Valéry Gergiev

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Following his acclaimed LSO Live recordings of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2 and 'Symphonic Dances', Valery Gergiev conducts a scintillating performance of the powerfully emotional Symphony No 3, framed with a work by one of the Mighty Five: Balakirev’s 'Russia'. Rachmaninov’s third and final symphony was composed nearly 20 years after the composer’s emigration from his homeland. Often considered to be his most overtly Russian symphony, Rachmaninov makes subtle use of a motto theme which appears throughout the work and can be heard in the finale as a variant of the Dies Irae plainchant – a melodic tag used in Rachmaninov’s music as a dark reminder of mortality.

'Russia', an epic symphonic poem, is a reworking of an Overture on Russian Themes, collected during Balakirev’s expedition up through the Volga. It was composed in 1864 and is based on three folksongs – a slow wedding song and two round-dances which are varied, fragmented and combined throughout the piece. Gergiev's Rachmaninov cycle is due for completition in Spring 2016.

Reviews

December 2015

Gergiev and the LSO capture the score's expressive beauty, and also the sense of its transience as chill winter encroaches

September 2015

Gergiev's view is dark and stormy, his relatively slow pacing undercut by so many lugubrious inflections that the piece loses its overall shape.

9th August 2015

The band is on its best form, the playing imbued with affection and nostalgia as well as verve and drive.

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 & Balakirev: Russia

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