Rachmaninov: Symphony No 3; Balakirev: Russia

Valery Gergiev conducts a scintillating account of Rachmaninov's powerful Symphony No 3, often considered to be the composer's most overtly Russian symphony despite being written some two decades after he emigrated to America. Concluding the programme is Balakirev's Russia, an epic symphonic poem derived from themes collected during an expedition up the Volga.

LSO0779  56 minutes 30 seconds
'Valery Gergiev’s view is dark and stormy … some will admire the passionate Mahlerian outburst at the heart of his first movement, relishing the extreme contrasts of tempo and mood in the tripart ...
'[Concert review] For the Third Symphony to make its true impact, it needs a reading of great penetration and depth, which is precisely what it obtained on this occasion. This was Gergiev and the LSO ...