Efforts to find a cheaply downloadable (ie, available on eMusic) recording of Rachmaninov's Symphony no.1 brought me to a 1979 performance by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky with the BBC SO, released on BBC Legends.
Bob Briggs on MusicWeb:
...at the time, this performance was a revelation. It’s high powered, passionate and forthright... this is an interpretation of great stature and one of the best performances of the work currently available.
Barry Brenesal in Fanfare:
...an impressive affair, buoyed along by the conductor’s attention to detail and the grandly theatrical gesture. ... This recording has quickly moved to the front rank of my favorites, alongside Svetlanov
Andrew Achenbach in Gramophone:
...a perplexing letdown. Rozhdestvensky presides over a fitfully involving but at times uncomfortably rowdy display that does his reputation no favours at all... the performance as a whole pales next to the towering splendour of Svetlanov's volcanic 1966 recording
(And now it's time for my semi-regular apology for not blogging. Many many circumstances have been intervening. But in a couple of weeks I hope to have a spectacular retrospective Nereffid's Guide Awards thing. Stay tuned.)
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