While “Orchestral Works” is accurate, the cover really should reveal Rachmaninov’s Three Symphonies as being the bulk of the contents, and with it Cristian Măcelaru and the Cologne-based WDR Sinfonieorchester continue their excellent output for Linn, handsomely recorded. This is red-meat Rachmaninov, sometimes raw and brooding, as befits the music, certainly romantic in terms of lingering and impulsiveness, the end of the First Symphony tremendously powerful. Its successor (the highlight of John Wilson’s recent cycle) is especially successful from Măcelaru, a flowing first-movement exposition (repeated and made inevitable) but he adds a crass timpani stroke to its very end (did you hear me scream!) as do others, but at least Leonard Slatkin changed his mind between St Louis and Detroit. Măcelaru continues with a nippy Scherzo, then an Adagio sporting a beguiling clarinet solo (subtly underpinned) and soaring passions, and an exuberant Finale ending gloriously. It seems that Măcelaru loves the great Third Symphony (understandable), Previn’s first recording my very fortunate introduction, the Romanian maestro indulging some rather slow tempos, and wide contrasts of speed while relishing the superb orchestration. if Măcelaru’s approach doesn’t always add up he certainly has an ensemble that does his total bidding, not least half-lit unanimous agility from the strings. Also the Caprice bohémien, potent and exciting (if not preferable to Slatkin, Vox) and a spaciously inhospitable Isle of the Dead, a score that appeals to conductors who otherwise left Rachmaninov’s music alone, such as Ansermet and Gielen. This Linn release (CKD778, 3 CDs) is very collectable, especially by those already sated with these compositions.
Ansermet/Paris Conservatoire Orchestra; 1954.
Gielen/SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg.