# 100 Favorites: # 62



## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

*Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1; Isle of the Dead
Mariss Jansons, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra (EMI)*










It's hard for me to choose between these Rachmaninov recordings by Jansons and Ashkenazy's with the Concertgebouw. Honestly, I wouldn't want to be without either set. For these two particular works, I decided to go with Jansons just because I've been listening to this disc more frequently.

I'm still amazed that Rachmaninov's First was an epic failure when it premiered. The trauma of the experience led to a two-year (!) period of writer's block for Rachmaninov. The sad irony is that the symphony is a fascinating, terrific work. Also incredible is the fact that the symphony was presumed lost after Rachmaninov's departure from the Soviet Union in 1917 -- until the instrumental parts were discovered in the 1940s. The parts were then used to reconstruct the score, and the "second premiere" took place in Moscow in 1945 to great success. Of course, by then Rachmaninov was dead.

As for _The Isle of the Dead_, it certainly ranks as one of my favorite tone poems. I've never heard anything else quite like it.


----------

