The works on this disc were recorded live in concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor, Vladimir Jurowski. The Isle of the Dead, Rachmaninoff’s dramatic tone poem, inspired by a reproduction of Austrian painter Arnold Böcklin’s work of the same name, darkly charts a soul’s journey to its final rest. In contrast, much of the drama of the First Symphony happened off the pages. Its disastrous premiere left the young Rachmaninoff with crippling self-doubt and writer’s block. Removed from its unfortunate history, the youthful First Symphony shines, full of exhilarating themes hinting at Rachmaninoff’s mature work yet to come.
London Philharmonic Orchestra: Music of Rachmaninoff
