These live recordings were made in 2016-2017, and bear witness to conductor Mariss Jansons’ deep affinity with the music of Rachmaninoff. The Bells dates from 1912, and sets a poem by Edgar Allan Poe exploring four different stages of the human life cycle. Jansons’ approach to the opening movement teems with the vitality and optimism of infancy, but as adulthood impinges the shadows of the music gradually darken. The Bavarian Radio Choir excels in the turbulence of the third movement, and baritone Alexey Markov is a gravely imposing presence in the death-haunted finale. The orchestral Symphonic Dances, the last work Rachmaninoff completed, make an apt coupling. Jansons’ approach is boundingly athletic, and the outstanding Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra responds with playing of rich color and refined muscularity. Of the numerous recordings Jansons made, this is unquestionably one of the finest.