LPO, Vladimir Jurowski, Vsevolod Grivnov - Serge Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) (2016)

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LPO, Vladimir Jurowski, Vsevolod Grivnov - Serge Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) (2016)

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If you think of Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony as an orchestral showpiece which occasionally falters, Vladimir Jurowski’s interpretation may change your mind. It did mine at the concert that concluded his Rachmaninov season with the LPO, an impression confirmed by this recording of that occasion. The composer himself conducted a great but very different recording, and Jurowski follows him in omitting the first-movement repeat and a couple of bars; there’s no need to hear the exposition again when the depths are plumbed. The momentum then builds to anguished violins writhing at the ultimate cataclysm. A hint of Rachmaninov’s beloved Philadelphia string sound surfaces in a few portamentos, but there’s no gloss. The beautiful, sombre line continues in a chain of superb solos for the central movement and the finale, for once, has no longueurs. So this stands with Rachmaninov’s own performance at the top of a long list.

Earlier in the same concert, Jurowski featured his distinguished grandfather’s orchestrations of ten Rachmaninov songs for the great Russian tenor Ivan Kozlovsky. That’s reason enough to entrust them all to a contemporary counterpart, the excellent Vsevolod Grivnov, and though a soprano might have been welcome in the more introspective raptures, Grivnov scales down heroics to a touching intimacy. Darker colours are required for negative images, and the most exquisite touches are reserved for Rachmaninov’s bewitching masterpiece The Dream. The poets aren’t credited; you should recognise ‘We shall rest’ as Sonya’s final speech in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. An added bonus of the CD is that you’re spared the sprinkling of applause which followed each song.

Review by David Nice, BBC Music Magazine

The quintessentially Russian melancholy of Rachmaninov’s third symphony was first heard in Britain in November 1937 when Sir Thomas Beecham conducted it with his new London Philharmonic. Today’s LPO plays the exiled composer’s 1939 revision in this live recording made at the Royal Festival Hall last year, Vladimir Jurowski drawing some delightfully seductive playing from the strings and woodwind. He adds an intriguing, though occasionally cloying, curio: his grandfather’s orchestral arrangement of 10 Rachmaninov songs, sung with crystal clarity by Vsevolod Grivnov, a comrade of Jurowski’s from the days of the conductor’s debut at Wexford in 1995.

Review by Stephen Pritchard, The Guardian

Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op 44, doesn't have big tunes in the abundance of some of his other works, although the slow movement is a delicious Mussorgskian nocturne. Instead, the outer movements consist of patchworks of folkish motives and crisp orchestral writing that makes one wish one had attended the premier performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. The finale has a great deal of nervous energy that coalesces into a triumphant conclusion, and in this live recording by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski it packs a punch that is rewarded with substantial applause at the end. The LPO keeps up with all the detail, and if there may be less of an overall line here than in other performances, it's counterbalanced by a high level of energy throughout. Another attraction is the set of ten orchestral songs that rounds out the album: they are given in the graphics as "arr. Jurowski," and the arranger is indeed Vladimir Jurowski, but it is the conductor's grandfather, not the conductor himself. This may be worth the price of admission in itself; Russian tenor Vsevolod Grivnov soars above the orchestra, and the songs (one sacred, nine secular, all metaphysical to a greater or lesser degree), never terribly common, deserve more performances in this medium. Sample the idyllic The Little Island (track 7), with its delicate orchestral accompaniment. This is an above-average Rachmaninov release, even within the context of the flood of fine Russian music recordings coming from London in the 2010s.

Review by James Manheim, Allmusic.com

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LPO, Vladimir Jurowski, Vsevolod Grivnov - Serge Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) (2016)

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LPO, Vladimir Jurowski, Vsevolod Grivnov - Serge Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) (2016)

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LPO, Vladimir Jurowski, Vsevolod Grivnov - Serge Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) (2016)

Close

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LPO, Vladimir Jurowski, Vsevolod Grivnov - Serge Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; 10 Songs (arr. Jurowski) (2016)

Close