The Best of Rachmaninoff

The Best of Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 -- 28 March 1943) Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way to a personal style notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff’s compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument. (0:00) Piano Concerto No.2 in Cm - I. Moderato (9:19) Piano Concerto No.2 in Cm - II. Adagio sostenuto (19:50) Piano Concerto No.3 in Dm - I. Allegro (34:46) Piano Concerto No.4 in Gm - III. Allegro vivace (43:26) Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1:04:04) Symphony No.1 in Dm - I. Grave - Allegro ma non troppo (1:17:52) Symphony No.2 in Em - III. Adagio (1:33:00) Symphonic Dances - I. Non allegro (1:44:59) Prelude in Bbm - Maestoso (1:48:41) Prelude in Gbm - Largo (1:52:49) Morceaux de Salon - No.5 in G - Humoresque (1:59:57) Etudes-tableaux - Allegro moderato - Tempo di marcia in D No.9 (2:03:37) Cello Sonata in Gm - III. Andante (2:09:19) The Bells - III. Presto (2:18:10) Vespers - Bless the Lord, O my soul (2:23:03) Francesca da Rimini - I. Prologue Performers: Piano Concertos No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Earl Wild (pianist) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Jascha Horenstein (conductor) Symphony No.1 in Dm - I. Grave - Allegro ma non troppo (USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor) Symphony No.2 in Em - III. Adagio (London Symphony Orchestra and Gennady Rozhdestvensky (conductor) Symphonic Dances - I. Non allegro (Russian State Symphony Orchestra and Valery Polyansky (conductor) Prelude No. 2 and No. 10 (Santiago Rodriguez (piano) Morceaux de Salon - No.5 in G - Humoresque (Alexander Ghindin (piano) Etudes-tableaux - Allegro moderato - Tempo di marcia in D No.9 (Nikolai Lugansky (piano) Cello Sonata in Gm - III. Andante (Yakov Flier (piano) Daniil Shafran (cello) The Bells - III. Presto (Olga Lutsiv-Ternovskaya (soprano) Leonid Bomstein (tenor) Vyacheslav Pochapsky (bass) State Symphony Capella of Russia and Valery Polyansky (conductor) Vespers - Bless the Lord, O my soul (Olga Borusene (soprano) Yuri Korinnyk (tenor) Mykhaylo Tyshchenko (tenor) The National Academic Choir of Ukraine “Dumka“ and Valery Polyansky (conductor) Francesca da Rimini - I. Prologue (Bolshoi Orchestra and Andrei Chistyakov (conductor)