Rachmaninoff: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3; Isle of the Dead

No ensemble has greater pedigree in the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff than the Philadelphia Orchestra, with whom the composer made a series of landmark recordings in the pre-LP era. The Philadelphia’s Rachmaninoff tradition continues in this superbly played double album of orchestral music led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the orchestra’s current music director. While respecting the fabled lushness of the Philadelphia sound, Nézet-Séguin’s approach to the Second and Third Symphonies focuses on a tingling transparency of texture. In both slow movements he carefully avoids over-romanticising the music, while phrasing with considerable warmth and flexibility. The tone poem Isle of the Dead is appropriately dark-hued and brooding, without overburdening the piece with morbidity. All told, these are wonderfully direct and refreshing performances.