This month's crop of Eloquence focuses on Rachmaninov. Following much demand we have reissued Paul Kletzki's recordings of the Second and Third Symphonies (making their first appearance on CD) as well as Walter Weller's searing account of No. 1. Plus, also for the first time on CD, is Alicia de Larrocha's recording of the Second Piano Concerto. Charles Dutoit conducts, and, in turn, his recording of the Rachmaninov music for chorus and orchestra makes a welcome return to the catalogue on the eve of his tour with the Sydney Symphony.

Catalogue Number:
 476 7724
Barcode:
 0028947677246
Label:
 Decca Eloquence CD
Release date:
14 August

ARTISTS
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Walter Weller

TRACKLISTING
RACHMANINOV
Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 13
The Rock - Fantasia, Op. 7                                                          

Released for the first time on CD (outside Japan), this CD couples Walter Weller's searing performance of Rachmaninov's dramatic First Symphony (the piece that caused his breakdown) with his early symphonic 'fantasia' The Rock.
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Catalogue Number:
 470 6752
Barcode:
 0028947067528
Label:
 Decca Eloquence CD
Release date:
14 August

ARTISTS
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Paul Kletzki (Symphony)
Concertgebouw Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy (Isle of the Dead)

TRACKLISTING
RACHMANINOV
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27
The Isle of the Dead                                        

Receiving its first ever release on CD, this legendary performance of Rachmaninov's super-romantic Second Symphony conducted by Paul Kletzki will be seized up by collectors and bargain hunters alike. From Ashkenazy's remarkable survey of the Rachmaninov orchestral works comes The Isle of the Dead. Reviewing it, Gramophone magazine writes: 'a searingly powerful reading of The Isle of the Dead, which I count the finest performance of all in Ashkenazy's Rachmaninov series'.
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Catalogue Number:
 476 7692
Barcode:
 0028947676928
Label:
 Decca Eloquence CD
Release date:
14 August

ARTISTS
Concertgebouw Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy (Youth Symphony)
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande / Paul Kletzki (Symphony No. 3)
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano · London Symphony Orchestra / André Previn (Concerto)

TRACKLISTING
RACHMANINOV
'Youth' Symphony in D minor  
Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 44                                                                                                    
Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40    

Bringing together music from either end of Rachmaninov's career, this CD opens with the currently unavailable Youth Symphony (unpublished in the composer's lifetime, but regardless of its Tchaikovskian echoes, carrying sentiments of things to come). The Paul Kletzki recording of the wonderful Third Symphony is released for the first time on CD following many requests from enthusiasts and from around the same time in the composer's career, his fourth Piano Concerto. Writing of the Ashkenazy-Previn Rachmaninov partnership in Gramophone, Bryce Morrison concludes: 'Previn works hand in glove with his soloist. Clearly, this is no one-night partnership but the product of the greatest musical sympathy, of a mutual skill and affection ... if you want to hear playing which captures Rachmaninov's always elusive, opalescent centre then Ashkenazy is hard to beat. No more personal or deeply felt performances exist.'
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Catalogue Number:
 476 7702
Barcode:
 0028947677024
Label:
 Decca Eloquence CD
Release date:
14 August

ARTISTS
Alexandrina Pendachanska, soprano
Kaludi Kaludov, tenor
Sergei Leiferkus, baritone
Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
(Seán Deibler, artistic director)
The Philadelphia Orchestra / Charles Dutoit

TRACKLISTING
RACHMANINOV
The Bells, Op. 35
Spring, Op. 20                                    
Three Russian Songs, Op. 41

Asked in later life to name his favourite works, Rachmaninov chose not his orchestral masterpieces nor those for piano, but two of his choral works, the Vespers and this 'choral symphony' of sorts, The Bells based on verses by Edgar Allan Poe. It is good to welcome back Dutoit's spacious and beautifully recorded account and many will also be fortunate to discover his beautiful choral piece Spring (which 'builds up in Dutoit's fine performance into a magnificent climax and final coda fully worthy of being compared with the more celebrated works' Gramophone) as well as the Three Russian Songs. Writing about the disc on its first appearance, Gramophone said: 'Charles Dutoit's disc with the Philadelphia Orchestra conveniently couples all three of Rachmaninov's choral works with orchestra. The recording is one of the warmest and most refined to have come from Philadelphia in recent years, and with the composer's favourite orchestra Dutoit draws out comparable qualities in the music, with strings and woodwind solos sensuously beautiful.'
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Catalogue Number:
 476 7701
Barcode:
 0028947677017
Label:
 Decca Eloquence CD
Release date:
14 August

ARTISTS
Alicia de Larrocha, piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Concerto)
The Philadelphia Orchestra (Symphonic Dances)
Charles Dutoit

TRACKLISTING
RACHMANINOV
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18       
Symphonic Dances, Op. 45  

Recorded early in Dutoit's career and originally coupled with the Schumann concerto, this is the first appearance on CD of his Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 with Alicia de Larrocha as a fine and poetic soloist. No romantic gesture is spared and the performance is at once languidly spacious and commanding. For sheen, luxury and sophistication few can beat the 'Decca/Philiadelphia/Dutoit' sound. From their traversal of the Rachmaninov orchestral repertoire comes this sensuous version of the Symphonic Dances - different from the rawer, more dramatic accounts of Ashkenazy or Kondrashin, but holding their own through sheer seductiveness coupled with glorious sound.
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Catalogue Number:
 476 7671
Barcode:
 0028947676713
Label:
 Decca Eloquence CD
Release date:
14 August

ARTISTS
András Schiff, piano; Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Sir Georg Solti (Dohnányi)
Peter Katin, piano; London Philharmonic Orchestra / Jean Martinon (Liszt)
Peter Jablonski, piano; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy (Rachmaninov, Lutoslawski)

TRACKLISTING
DOHNÁNYI : Variations on a Nursery Song, Op. 25    
LISZT : Totentanz                                                                                                 
RACHMANINOV : Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43  
LUTOSLAWSKI : Paganini Variations

Four sets of 19th/20th century variations for piano are presented on this disc, starting with Dohnányi's mock serious Nursery Variations (in a Schiff/Solti recording long out of print) and concluding with the 20-year-old Peter Jablonski's fantastic reading in the rarely recorded piano-and-orchestra version of the Lutoslawski Paganini Variations. 'Jablonski, whose credentials include having been voted best jazz drummer in Sweden at the age of seven (!), revels in its high jinks, and Ashkenazy and the orchestra just manage to hang on to his coat-tails - an exciting end to an admirably played and recorded disc' wrote Gramophone on the CD's first appearance.

Also taken from that (now deleted) CD is another set of variations based on Paganini's 24th Caprice, the Paganini Rhapsody of Rachmaninov. Again Gramophone was full of praise for Jablonski's 'singing tone' and musicianly qualities, concluding that 'Decca's superb recording help to make this one of the more satisfying accounts on record'.

The remaining piece, Liszt's set of variations on the Dies Irae entitled Totentanz (Dance of Death) receives its first general release on CD from a 1950s performance with Peter Katin with Jean Martinon wielding the baton.

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